American Airlines changes how travelers can earn rewards points. Jonnelle Marte, Washington Post
On Tuesday, the airline announced a series of changes to its AAdvantage loyalty program, adjusting how travelers can earn rewards miles and what it takes to redeem them. Under the new rules, which will take effect in March, certain types of flights, such as first-class trips to Europe, will require more miles than they did before, while others, including business-class flights to the Caribbean or Central America, will require fewer rewards miles.
One of the biggest changes is that consumers will now earn rewards miles based on how much they pay for their flights and not how far they travel.
The airlines are now finished rewarding passengers for finding the lowest cost flights with the highest number of miles. As you can imagine, this has it's frequent-traveler program members pretty upset.
Why American Airlines Passengers are pretty ticked off. Jonathan Chew, Fortune.
rather than actual miles you'll be losing those customers like me who were loyal only for the mileage program
The reality is, the airlines don't care. To those passengers they are willing to risk losing filled seats in the open market to cater to first class and business travelers. Sure, they'll talk a good game (as United and Delta did when they made changes.) as they do here:
We don't want you to be upset with us, our goal is to continue to have the best frequent flyer program.
and here...
The focus is to evolve onto building a rewarding program for all members, benefiting our Elite members with great perks.
..but what this really boils down to are attempts by the airlines to cull their list of Elite (higher tier) members to reward only those passengers who are the most profitable. This doesn't mean that they won't still take your business, only that they're not going to reward you for it with free premium cabin trips and other perks as they did in the past if you're not spending a ton of money with them.
American was seen, by those who play the miles game, as the last adherent to the old ways. They were the last place where "mileage runs" made sense and where perks could be attained by finding 'mistake fares' which rewarded many miles for a low number of dollars. The old metric (miles per amount spent) is no longer applicable. This has made many travelers angry as the airlines have transitioned to this new business model that is highly skewed toward travelers with deep-pockets.
Sure, there will be much anger and gnashing of teeth (as we've seen above) and the airlines will wring their hands and say "we don't want to lose you" but they really don't mean it. When United made the change I ended my loyalty to them and, on Twitter, they acted aggrieved, but then their multi-Billion dollar life moved on and my multi-thousand dollar travel habit changed. United's bottom line didn't change on penny, but my travel life did.
Today, I no longer carry "elite" (or premium, whatever) status with any airline. I'm a member of 4 programs (United, Southwest and American and Spirit [which I've never flown and probably won't]) but I don't actively chase elite status with any of them. For the most part, the spending minimums are much higher than what I was spending to achieve status (or, in the case of American, there is no "official" spending minimum [yet]). When running the cost/benefit analysis, it just didn't matter.
For me, in the new environment, airline travel is a commodity. It's similar to buying a toaster or an appliance. I have no specific brand loyalty and price, while not the primary concern, is certainly a factor. The reason I don't fly Spirit, despite giving them a look, is that they are the off-brand, bargain basement television, the one that looks good on the surface but has too many drawbacks in practice.
So I stick with the name brands, and price shop those hoping to find sales and deals. Prior to these changes I would compare flights, give preference to United (with which I held status) and keep an eye out for long-haul flights that came in at 3 cents per mile (or less). Those deals were harder to find, but they were out there. Often in the form of 'mistake' fares or flights to places I didn't necessarily want to go.
The upside of this is that I visited a few places that would not have been on my radar otherwise. I got to see Dubai, Singapore and spend a birthday weekend in the Virgin Islands. These are cities and regions that would not have been high on my places to visit had I not found good deals. I would return to all of them, except Dubai. (I've seen it, have no desire to go back) And I'm glad that I got to visit them as they enhanced my cultural knowledge.
Travel today is much more focused on finding the best deal to places I want to visit. Instead of worrying about miles and status I worry about what the flight costs regardless of whether or not I have a membership in the airlines' frequent flyer program. I'm a travel free-agent if you will and life has actually been pretty good for me.
Of course, there are changes that need to be made. For one, travel is a lot more a la carte now. You find creative ways to pay for lounge access, branded credit cards get you one checked bag and so-called "priority boarding". On some airlines you pay for better seats in enhanced economy etc. You buy cheaper, usually, better food in the terminal and drinks, and bring them on the plane. In short, you're much more likely to have to ensure that your own travel experience is what you want it to be, and that's not entirely a bad thing.
For all of the wistfulness surrounding the "good old days" of air travel one important factor is frequently overlooked. Today, and this is something the political class is trying to do away with, air travel is much, much cheaper today than it has ever been, allowing many more people to fly to destinations they couldn't afford before. This means that an expanded group of people can visit Europe, Asia and other destinations which I view as a net positive.
Because travel is the best way to expand your horizons and make yourself a better citizen. You see different things that other countries do and you realize that they are not entirely wrong, and America is not totally right. But you also see that America does a lot of things right as well, free speech for one, the free market for another. (depending on your point of view I guess). It also provides you with a level of freedom that's not available to most people in the world. This is a net positive in my opinion.
Of course, there are downsides to all of this. For one, airlines are increasingly treating economy class passengers like cargo. However, if you understand this, and are willing to take more control of your flight experience, and adjust your expectations, then you can survive this new travel environment without much stress at all. Gone are worries about amenities and perks (something I care little about any longer), replaced with the bones of travel, is the airline clean? Did they get me to my destination on-time? Did they get my luggage to the right place, undamaged? It's the bones of travel that I'm concerned about, and a decent level of customer service when things get squirrely.
If the airlines can keep prices low, charge me fees on things that I can easily avoid, and run a decent airline then I'm OK. Sure, I won't have any loyalty to any of them any longer, but they are going to be OK with that and, to be honest, so am I.
