Kralev article on AA's Executive Platinum status match of United 1Ks

No faith in E express for JFK? It's certainly not leaving much room for either EWR or JFK, but both are quite doable.

So long as you're headed to one of the 17 destinations they serve non-stop.



And I believe that EGE is seasonal Saturday-only service when they can get around the perimeter rule.

They're plenty strong if they happen to fly to one of the cities you want to visit. But they don't fly to all that many destinations.

A lot of these are seasonal, once or twice a day operation. I need choices and flexibility. Even if I did all 100% domestic flying, AA lost me with the twice a day JFK-LAS flights. Twice a day?

The only reliable route, with enough frequencies to mean anything on this map are LGA-DFW, LGA-ORD and LGA-MIA.

Effectively, this makes LGA an outstation, no better than PDX or RNO in the UA system.

And that's why I only fly AA if I go to South America or maybe Central Am./Caribe.

I think the only cities where I consider AA seriously is DFW and ORD, assuming I only needed to get to China and London. And South/Latin America. Thats it.

There are some disgruntled former UA people who live near SFO who switched. They must have lots of time and patience.

I think it wasn't for AA's LATAM network, I think AA would be out of business a long time ago.

Isn't MIA their LatAm hub?

Yeah, from JFK you can fly nonstop to Rio, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Caracas, and Cancun. There are also a few destinations in Caribe that they fly nonstop to from JFK.

I believe EWR has all of that, and more, except Rio (GIG). I had to detour at IAH the last time I went to GIG

I don't know if I would categorize 17 daily to ORD, 13 daily to DFW and 8 daily to MIA, all on full size jets as the levels Reno or Phoenix gets served by United.

That is correct, especially northern South America and Central America. There are many non stops from EWR to the region, where as on AA you would have to connect.

Indeed. If those three destinations are what you need then AA is great ex-LGA. Otherwise, however, they are quite limited.

It appears AA may be playing games with the status match for 1Ks. In short, there are expectations for the status match to come with 8 SWUs. Some report getting them, but others report now receiving a response that they have to fly 30,000 miles to earn the SWUs. By creating a 2 class status match, AA is starting of their business relationship with attractive customers on poor terms.

Hopefully UA will improve aspects of Mileage Plus like not posting SWUs immediately upon reaching 100K and giving a choice as to when they are deposited. It would be even better if they had the same validity as AA's SWUs which are valid until February two years from the qualifying activity year(e.g qualify April 2012, SWUs valid until February 28, 2014).

On the reverse end of it, CLT connections to teh East Coast with AA are tough. Essentially means going to ORD to go East again which is the main reason I am not an EP anymore. As I said before, at the top level an amazing FFP, for route structure not as strong as the other legacies (in the CONUS at least).

I think it would have been appropriate to offer 1-2 SWUs to start and the rest of the 8 when one flew a challenge, but the change mid-stream is going to send some people back to United. Not that I mind that, frankly.

Anyone know how long the status match takes? I sent in a copy of my 1k card two weeks ago. No acknowledgement from Aa nor change in status yet.

Took less than 1 week for me, but they said it could take up to 10 (presumably business) days. Did you manage to get in before they required challenges?

Seems to be around 1-2 weeks now (only a few people work on the matches versus larger numbers that send you the information email). Of course, hard to say how big of a backlog they have.

Challenge isn't necessarily bad - all depends on your travel patterns. Instant eVIPs are expiring start of 2013, whereas the challenge ones are 2014 (at least based on email correspondence). And of course there is a question of how much of your travel is domestic versus international.

I'm watching this with a big LOL.

Aside from the fact that AA has a weakest network compared to Delta and United (excluding ex-DFW, ex-MIA, & LATAM) the airline is now in Chp 11 "debtor in possession".

AAdvantage has the most generous frequent flyer benefits, which the larger competition, both United and Delta has decided to ignore.

I'm not an airline exec. But this is basically giving the store away (see below)

Benefits :
- SWU's valid on any fare, including the cheapest. Q (Coach) and I (Business).
- Upgrade based on time of request, not fare class?. This is effectively hosing the business flyers who buy last minute fares, while rewarding the chepo flyers. In fact an MCK consultant I know never flies AA where possible, for this very reason. He never gets upgraded, even though he is usually on full fare Y/B.
- Upgrade co pay to intl destinations only $350? . Why bother paying for Business Class?
- Complimentary upgrades for EXP, but stickers for everyone else? ( Who uses stickers anymore?. DL and UA/CO discontinued them)
- DEQMs every other season.
- Liberal matching policies, as evident here.

Enjoy it while it lasts. It will be interesting to see if any of the benefits survive the Chp 11 exit.

I fully expect a bait and switch, come September, when Horton has to divulge his reorganization (ahem : merger) plan.

It might be useful to better look at how it works before making judgements. Upgrade priority is status, connection, fare, date of waitlist. Date of waitlist plays as much of a factor as on United - i.e. very little. At least this is assuming we're talking about domestic upgrades. SWUs on AA work in a very similar as on UA. Matches, this single targeted jab against UA excluded, AA has a far less liberal matching policy than either UA or DL (granted there's less of a hubbub about those since well... DL miles are low value/no reasonable SWUs, and UA has technology issues and a few other concerns).

All of your comments are about differences of philosophy that an outsider wouldn't be able to accurately gauge anyways. Is it better to have cheap F and many sales (e.g. AS/DL) or fewer expensive F sales (e.g. UA)? Is is giving away the store allowing SWU's on sub-YB fares (e.g. UA) or require full fares (DL)? What's the price of elite loyalty versus incremental fare differences on a specific day's flight? Is giving away a once-in-a-blue-moon upgrade to a silver for free better or worse than giving those more frequently to those willing to pay a little bit for the upgrade (which also means those high value flyers can switch to a different flight and still find an empty F seat)? Is it better to reward a 100k flyer on a mid-fare, or a 25k flyer on a full fare?

There are always changes down the road - in AA or even in UA. Look at how the programs work for you and decide. BK shouldn't be a significant impact on the loyalty program - it will be either a merger, or improvements to long haul product.

Reminder: AA will be going 10-across on the 777s in the back; UA is 9-across.

Got acknowledgment f my AA status. Will be interesting checking it out. Slim pickings out of SFO tho.

Hey, an extra 500 EQM on every flight by connecting in LAX... it's not all bad

This is actually not true, date of waitlist/request is a HUGE factor on AA. The only time fare is taken into consideration is if you are on a full fare ticket (Y or B), and that puts you ahead of others within your status level. Domestic upgrades on AA are based on status, whether or not you are connecting, and are prioritized based on when it was requested.