There, justifiably, have been a lot of uproar about the latest American Airlines devaluation. But did you know? Our online malls/portals that we love to shop with change their rates without any notice. The data is emailed to me every 12 hours at midnight and noon EST.
The formula for the comparison is to compare within the mall the last 5 pulls. Here is the data set from April 10 to April 11:
Format is old rate / new rate:
Notice that when one mall changes within the same operator, it is likely that other malls will change as well. I have color coded the same vendor that changed on the same day. The old theory went as far as saying there were month-long specials, it’s true there were, but it also looks like there’s mid month corrections as well.
*As a note I have yet to see the Discover portal show up on the comparison
When AA makes it more expensive to get to Chengdu, the goalposts move. I’ve invested money, time, and effort into reaching that amount, in a non-fungible currency that is suddenly worth less, and I have to work harder. If I was planning for an Explorer Award, I’m now SOL. I can’t transfer my AA miles to ANA miles or another currency.
When a portal changes, I can either look for another portal (thus shifting to another currency and diversifying), decline to make a purchase, shift the store I shop at, or figure out another way to earn. It’s far less time invested, and the value of my currency doesn’t shift. I’ve only lost the time it takes to make an alternate choice, no money and little effort.
Think of a currency devaluation (like the MIT economies in 1998) versus a severe drop in savings or CD rates. In one case, your savings are now worth much less; in the second case, you can move your money into alternate investments. (Warning: may not be a good analogy.)
Very valid point, having all the portal choices help alleviate some of the hurt when a program devalues
You can’t compare the two.
One is a currency, AAmiles, in a closed economy.
Portal points are like 5 cents off when you buy x coupon that gets doubled at a specific store. You don’t have to shop at that store, if the decide not to double coupons anymore
you can take your coupon somewhere else.
Interesting perspective that you have – my mindset is not to shop at a specific store, but to use the specific mall for the currency.
I look at opportunities to generate extra points for manufactured spending versus shopping online and the store found on a portal is like gravy.