Ideas and suggestions for AAdvantage enhancements on AA.com?

Hi All,

We’d like to get your ideas and suggestions for what enhancements or new features you’d like to see on AA.com related specifically to AAdvantage. By specific to AAdvantage we mean those areas of AA.com related to earning miles, redeeming miles, viewing your mileage account balance and tier status, signing up for AAdvantage promotions, enrolling in the program, and air and non-air partner information (so it’s not about booking a revenue ticket, gate information, checking in etc. We may ask about that in the future but this is specifically about AAdvantage). Are there new ideas you have for these AAdvantage areas on aa.com? Something you’ve always wanted to see? Or maybe something that’s not working the way you think it should? Let us know what’s most important to you and while we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to deliver these ideas, we’ll certainly read and consider each one.

Thanks,
Maya and the AAdvantage Team

Ability to view/book award tickets online on more partner carriers specifically CX and QF since I'm sure they are quite popular.

There could be a offers TAB where you could select those promotions to sign up for (i.e. Bonus/triple miles, DEQMS, others), which today is a very small link on the front page.

Also, a login on the main page would be nice, so you be promped login instead of waiting for another page to load up. You could access your account faster.

And to finalize, the EVIPS upgrade could be more detailed as to the redemption flight like the stickers.

Thanks for Asking AA!

I'm not too picky, and redeeming partner awards online (including OW awards) would be pretty much my only wish list item.

Thanks for asking, Maya and all!

MY opinions, no more...

I would really like to see the breakdown of my mileage and points, such as BIS miles, Class of Service Bonus, Elite Bonus, EQPs, etc. I have a ridiculous spreadsheet set up to track it all and make sure it posts correctly (especially as much of my travel is on oneworld partners) which I would like to do away with. Understandably this goes against the KISS method, but I prefer more information to less. Maybe it could be a click-through option from the current high-level earning summary to keep it simple for those who want to see just one or two numbers and nothing more, and add the option to see details for persnickety folks like me?

As well, my reservation preferences have been set on my AAdvantage account and don't often change. I would prefer that the first screen that I see when I log in is my AAdvantage Account, or that there be an option to select which screen is the home screen for my account.

It would be nice to view current reservations from the account area, as well. Just to see everything all together, rather than clicking into Reservations, My Reservations, etc.

I hope this is useful!

I've got to reiterate this comment. The ability to search for (and book) partner awards would be greatly appreciated!

In addition:

Ability to apply upgrades to a friend's itinerary (much like United's website).

Is there a way currently to see what mileage promotions you have signed up for? If not, I would certainly propose one.

Add me to the chorus: I can go to CO's website and see much more availability for Star Alliance award (and paid) flights than I can see for OneWorld flights on AA's website. And you've seen how much people like the ANA Tool....

Not that I ever fly any airline other than AA.....

Maya thanks for asking!

First I agree with jimgotkp's post with regard to viewing and booking partner awards. That would be very helpful.

Second as a lifetime AAdvantage gold member and a lifetime Admirals club member I sometimes feel I am dealing with two separate companies. From a business perspective I think it would be very advantageous for AA to provide a more integrated experience which would also allow both departments to more effectively cross sell among their best customers. To the extent that a customer belongs to both groups it would seem to make sense that they are recognized as one of the airlines more valuable and loyal patrons and recognized with special promotions/benefits.

A perfect example of this disconnection I discuss in Milepoint's Introducing the Brand New Citi Executive / AAdvantage World Elite MasterCard thread about the rollout of one of AA's new premium products. While one would think that these most loyal and valuable clients with very significant spending habits would be the first prime targets for this new premium card they seem to be more an afterthought taken for granted and actually specifically excluded from reimbursements provided annual members. It seems particularly senseless because these members already have access to your clubs, free baggage, etc., that the card provides so there is no cost to AA--- yet the goodwill is significant.

I have found you to be very thoughtful and creative and would love to see a more integrative friendly across the board customer experience.

How about a "contact" link for Aadvantage shopping issues?

I would like to continue using Award Wallet for quickly and conveniently keeping track of my AA miles.

Excellent point! Awardwallet truly is invaluable and I would be quite disappointed it AA prevented Awardwallet from tracking our miles.

Thanks for asking! I have to second (or third) this comment as well. I have been resorting to the user-UNfriendly British Airways engine for guidance. Integrated partner awards would be awesome! CX, QF, LA top requests.

Another +1 on adding OW and all partner award booking to aa.com. Actually, I thought I had read that this was eluded to as a planned future offering in comments by Maya on her Milepoint chat (or maybe it was just my wishful thinking on the part of my limited but optimistic recall capacity)

It was mentioned as something they're working on, and AS award availability was added on AA.com yesterday. Hopefully this keeps rolling!

That's great news!

I am happy that my big wishes are already on the list! OW award booking would be so very useful, as would be viewing those award reservations.

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone. Keep them coming!

Another vote for:

1) OW and Partner Award bookings
2) Continue tracking my AA miles using sites such as AwardWallet.

I consider the ability to use AwardWallet to keep track of my miles/points with over 45 programs (and for multiple people) an absolutely CRITICAL item. When Southwest stopped blocked AwardWallet it was one (of a few) reasons I stopped flying with them almost 100%.

Not only this, but I truly wish aa.com would allow read only special usernames/codes for these sites to use so we don't have to give them our full on password/usernames.

Also, seeing more award options online would be nice, but if that isn't done, at least waive the fee for calling in. It is wrong to charge us for something you do not provide an alternative for.

I second that!

We all second that!!!

Maya and Team, First of all happy holidays to you and your families. Thank you for your presence here and for asking our opinion. Here are some of my wishes for AA.com and AAdvantage -

Longer login times at AA.com. It would be nice not to have to keep logging back every few minutes. Can’t we just specify at the login screen when we are at a safe computer, eg, in our home?

More Information. I would like to see account activity and related info in my account page. Which promotions I am registered for, which miles/points/segments have posted, progress of a challenge, etc. For flights booked, I’d like to see the PNRs (AA as well as partners) as well as RDM/EQM I’d earn. (Not suggesting you clutter up the account home page, but one should be able to click through to all such details.)

In general, minimize the need to call. It is clearly a stress both on your customers and phone agents when we need to keep calling over and over to check certain details or make certain requests. Even if we were to forget about the variation in accents and articulation, written transmission of details is inherently more precise.

So for example, one should be able to search for and book all award travel online. This includes partner awards, OW awards etc.

Similarly, as a general rule, one should be able to waitlist for anything that one would be entitled to if it was available. That would avoid the need for dozens of calls just to check if it became available.

Other improvements to awards. A few illustrative suggestions -

Ged rid of the change fees. I know that your website or phone agents are available to me for months if the need be before I buy my ticket. So why is it that after you have my money, a small change costs hundreds of dollars?

Overseas stopovers. If there are no nonstops to some destination and we must connect, then stopover seems fair compensation for the trouble, and the resulting rest/sleep also better for health and well-being.

You'd agree that if you don't offer a nonstop, or a good connection, it is cruel to make somebody sit at an airport for 11 hours instead of permitting him to go sleep in a bed. Star Alliance, which not only has more nonstops but allows stopovers on top of that, begins to look a lot more attractive. And no, OW carriers are not that much better to make up for such torture.

Eliminate YQ from awards, ditch BA if necessary. We can debate the wisdom / fairness of concealing part of the cash fare as YQ, but there is no excuse for imposing this surcharge on awards. It violates the understanding that if people earn certain number of miles, they’ll get a free flight. I guess we needn’t exactly ditch BA, but I would support posting a red-letter warning at your site that BA charges hefty YQs.

Get rid of policies that are manifestly idiotic. Someone who wants a partner award from SFO to DEL is not allowed Asian connection but must fly via Europe. Even though SFO-LHR-DEL is longer than SFO-HKG-DEL. Even though for several months a year there is much greater possibility of weather related disruptions in ORD/NYC/LHR. This is not even worth defending; get rid of such rules and pretend you never had them.

Anyone who has already paid for First Class, in whatever currency AA chooses to accept (cash or miles), should have priority over anyone who paid for economy and is seeking upgrade. When I buy coach, it is not inherently unfair if I have to fly coach. I get that. On the other hand, when I purchase a first class award, I have already paid for first class. In this case, having to sit in economy just because you don’t feel like releasing a particular inventory for a particular segment seems inherently unfair.

Replace 500-mile stickers by 1-mile stickers. Simpler and fairer. (If someone has purchased a First Class award but had to fly a segment in economy, compensate them with suitable number of 1-mile stickers.)

Partially recover from a recent error. I don't get it. Your competitors---oops, partners---got to keep their advantages. BA has not done away with premium economy just to “align” their cabin configuration with yours. CX have not "aligned" their fabled cabin service with yours. (Or perhaps these agreements are about to be announced? ) Anyway, for some odd reason, you got rid of your competitive advantage, the LT elite program that used to blow others out of the arena. Frankly I don’t know how you recover from this completely. At least, start including bonus miles, those that result from flying, in the MM counter.

(I realize that some in your staff must have told you that the number of people who expressly analyze and appreciate all this is small. That is true, but in the Internet age the opinion of such people travels across the globe very fast. That includes which airline has the best loyalty program, which one is worth giving your business to, etc.)

Give me a reason to keep flying AA. It is November. I have already flown 51K miles and made Platinum. Thanks to holidays and resulting guests, I can’t fly another 49K miles by December end, but I need to and will fly another 25K. Those yet-to-be-booked 25K will make me an elite on UA or DL. By contrast, there is zero incentive left to prefer AA until next year. However, I would have an incentive to keep flying AA if these excess EQMs would roll over to next year. Or some variation. Makes sense?

Anyway, thanks for seeking our input. If you want further clarification on anything, just ask. Please remember that as a general rule, we don’t want legalese, but the feeling that we are dealing with business partners who are smart and fair. I watch with amazement an industry that relentlessly pursues minor short-term gains, and without fail accumulates major long-term losses. I hope your leadership and efforts will help reverse that for AA---and if we can assist, just ask.

I just wish that reservations that I booked using my AAdvantage miles but that don't contain any segments on AA would still show up under My Reservations. It's annoying to have to remember/find and enter in the PNR to pull them up.

+1 Longer login times at AA.com

+1 More Information ... Which promotions I am registered for ... see the PNRs (AA as well as partners) ... RDM/EQM I’d earn.

+1 In general, minimize the need to call... one should be able to search for and book all award travel online... waitlist for anything that one would be entitled to if it was available.

+1 Get rid of the change fees.

Thanks for seeking our input

That and GoMiles.