2016 Changes to AAdvantage

H

HGF

Level 2 Member
JonNYC from travelingbetter is reporting the changes that will likely be made the AAdvantage program in 2016.

Here are the basics:

Elite status (source: http://www.travelingbetter.com/showthread.php?t=5972):
  • No spend requirements
  • EQPs are gone and there are only EQMs where higher fares earn more EQMs
    • Full fare First/Business F/J 3 EQMs per mile flown
    • Discount fare First/Business 2 EQMs per mile flown
    • Full fare Y/B 1.5 EQMs per mile flown
    • Discount Main Cabin 1 EQM per mile flown
  • 4 500 mile upgrades are now earned at every 12.5 EQMs
  • SWUs given will be 4 when achieving ExPlat, but there will be incentives to earn more with incremental travel
  • Take effect for 2016 earning year
RDMs (source: http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/11/06/americans-2016-aadvantage-changes-leaked-including-details-not-yet-reported-anywhere-else/):


  • Take effect later in 2016
No word yet on any award chart devaluation
 
smittytabb

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
HGF said:
JonNYC from travelingbetter is reporting the changes that will likely be made the AAdvantage program in 2016.

Here are the basics:

Elite status (source: http://www.travelingbetter.com/showthread.php?t=5972):
  • No spend requirements
  • EQPs are gone and there are only EQMs where higher fares earn more EQMs
    • Full fare First/Business F/J 3 EQMs per mile flown
    • Discount fare First/Business 2 EQMs per mile flown
    • Full fare Y/B 1.5 EQMs per mile flown
    • Discount Main Cabin 1 EQM per mile flown
  • 4 500 mile upgrades are now earned at every 12.5 EQMs
  • SWUs given will be 4 when achieving ExPlat, but there will be incentives to earn more with incremental travel
  • Take effect for 2016 earning year
RDMs (source: http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/11/06/americans-2016-aadvantage-changes-leaked-including-details-not-yet-reported-anywhere-else/):


  • Take effect later in 2016
No word yet on any award chart devaluation
Click to expand...
Of course none of this is confirmed to date.
 
jmw

jmw

Level 2 Member
Award chart is the only thing that matters to me.

EQM = I really don't care. I pay (usually with miles) for first class if I feel the need to be pampered. Usually, I'm fine with sitting in the back of the plane. The AA credit card takes care of the bag fee, so elite status is pretty worthless to me.
RDM = I really don't care. That is what an AA credit card is for.

award chart = I care a lot. Award chart changes could devalue the AA credit card and my stash of AA miles.
 
R

rizwank

Level 2 Member
This is not terrible - but it does raise concern about 2017. Then again, why worry about 2017 now? =)
 
V

Voyaging Doc

Level 2 Member
holy moley talk about a massive devaluation of the award chart... 67.5k->110k??? the only thing going down is europe travel on premium
 
italdesign

italdesign

Level 2 Member
I intend to burn most of my balance on premium cabin before they go semi-extinct. The million dollar question is 1) will they change routing/change rule from the generous state today; 2) if I change route/date after 3/16, will it reprice to new level?
 
Maverick17

Maverick17

Level 2 Member
partner chart is also here:
aa (dotcom) /i18n/AAdvantage/redeemMiles/all-partner-chart2016.jsp

Looks like Asia 2 goes from 55k to 70k one way in J. Asia 1 in J is 60k, and below stated as 50k in old chart (h/t milesjunkie).

Offpeak Asia 1 goes up to 32.5k from 25k. Plus is the off peak includes Asia 2, but not sure if includes partner airlines anymore or just the AA flight to HKG.
 
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M

MilesJunkie

Level 1.66 Member
Maverick17 said:
partner chart is also here:
aa (dotcom) /i18n/AAdvantage/redeemMiles/all-partner-chart2016.jsp

Looks like Asia 2 goes from 55k to 70k one way in J. Asia 1 in J is 60k, but I don't know what it used to be for sure.

Offpeak Asia 1 goes up to 32.5k from 25k. Plus is the off peak includes Asia 2, but not sure if includes partner airlines anymore or just the AA flight to HKG.
Click to expand...
Asia 1 in J is/used to be 50k.
 
Matt

Matt

Administrator
Staff member
Might just apply for 2 more cards to round out my return from London.. Plenty of time... :)
 
N

nickelfish1

Level 2 Member
Hubs and I each have 420k after booking the four of us one way in first to SPU. Now thinking I might as well book first home when I figure out from where to fly home from. I just did the AA we card so another 50k should post by months end, too. Of course I also have 320k with Marriott that I wanted to do the pts and stay cert for spring 2017. I have no where to go for a week before then. The only other program I didn't burn up yet is....yep! SPG. Not much...like 80k.
I don't ms a huge amount but these are the programs I do it in.
 
ukinny2000

ukinny2000

Level 2 Member
I have a considerable stash of miles, and won't be rushing to burn up my miles. In part that is due to the fact that I have already booked a daft-load of trips for 2016 and have no way to add on any more. The other considerations are that I hope that by the middle of next year as CX & EY sees fewer new bookings in First coming from AA they may open up space on a more regular basis again, and also that AA may, after March 2016 at some point loosen routing rules. Yes, that's a lot of hope, but call me an optimist :)
 
italdesign

italdesign

Level 2 Member
ukinny2000 said:
I hope that by the middle of next year as CX & EY sees fewer new bookings in First coming from AA they may open up space on a more regular basis again, and also that AA may, after March 2016 at some point loosen routing rules. Yes, that's a lot of hope, but call me an optimist :)
Click to expand...
Didn't happen for *A after UA deval. The overall trend for a while has been rapidly diminishing value in programs. The only good value going forward are going to be small, new programs that haven't caught on, but who will catch on faster b/c of the swarm from all of us.

That said, I see no need to force-deplete a high balance. The value remains mostly the same for domestic Y (and some others), which is a need that never goes away for me.
 
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