RIP AA Award Program

[hummel]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

I still think 40k OW J to Asia is pretty good!

Am I right in thinking this includes NRT now that Asia 1 and Asia 2 are merged?

 

[Limewood]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Yes agree, doing our 3rd CX AA award redemption HKG April, got in before increase but as said still good buy in J.

 

[drewbles]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

I totally agree

Me Three.

The amount of 'oh woe is me! AA is falling!' around is absolutely annoying.

It still leaves QF for dead. Don't like AA? Feel free to move to DL. Then you'll know how good AA is

 

[drewbles]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

But you can't earn Aadvantage miles from Everyday rewards or credit card signon bonuses or Bankwest 1c payments.

Ability to earn miles is just as important as trying to work out how to spend them.

Amex Platinum Edge earns up to 3 MR points per dollar. MR transfers to SPG. SPG washed to AA with 5k bonus. You can actually get 1.5 AA points per dollar (if you shop at the grocery store a lot).

Buying on eBay earns 1 AA mile per dollar. Not being in the USA does not preclude you from earning miles, you just have to be smart about it.

 

[burmans]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Ability to earn miles is just as important as trying to work out how to spend them.

True but the above are not the only ways to earn!

 

[hummel]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Amex Platinum Edge earns up to 3 MR points per dollar. MR transfers to SPG. SPG washed to AA with 5k bonus. You can actually get 1.5 AA points per dollar (if you shop at the grocery store a lot).

Buying on eBay earns 1 AA mile per dollar. Not being in the USA does not preclude you from earning miles, you just have to be smart about it.

Care to elaborate on the eBay thing? I may be missing out a bit...

I need to go back to buying giftcards at woolies...

 

[burmans]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Care to elaborate on the eBay thing? I may be missing out a bit...

I need to go back to buying giftcards at woolies...

This maybe https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/me____.htm?keywords=ebay&gmid=5201

 

[snabbu]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

I still think 40k OW J to Asia is pretty good!

Am I right in thinking this includes NRT now that Asia 1 and Asia 2 are merged?

Yep down from 45k.

 

[wandering_fred]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

The real kicker will be the review once the RDM earn starts to hit AA member accounts late 2016 or early 2017. Partner earn is still not announced. Unfortunately my next serious travel dates are outside of the redemption windows for another 4-5 months.

And I still haven't had a good go at the upgrade awards with CX... So the options are still flexible.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[Danger]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

I still think 40k OW J to Asia is pretty good!

Am I right in thinking this includes NRT now that Asia 1 and Asia 2 are merged?

Yep down from 45k.

Note, though, that Asia 1 and Asia 2 have not been merged.

 

[Moindardt]

Just redeemed 240k for 2xF EY BNE-AUH (will go via SYD when seats open up). Leaves 300k over the 6 accounts but nothing really urgent to book.

Personally I am looking forward to the devaluation. Most of our points earned are on paid J tix with the bonuses. Any ticket out of Australia isn't going to be cheap so 11x is a decent base and then add on whatever the current offers are and you build up pretty quick. Yes, the points value goes up but that means more availability. It mainly hurts the cheap Y tix. Don't forget all travel on other carriers is still based on miles so you do your mileage runs on them not AA. The massively cheaper taxes also makes the points increase still a lot lower than QF.

 

[drewbles]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

This maybe https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/me____.htm?keywords=ebay&gmid=5201

Yup. Takes you to the USA site. I find what I want, copy the item number in the URL to the notepad, then go to the eshopping portal, which re-directs to the USA eBay. Enter the item number in the search box, and complete the purchase (not tried it bidding, I typically use buy it now). Charges to PayPal in AUD, but hits AA as a USD amount (eBay feeds that back to AA). Worked every time and i've done it a lot They had 3 points per dollar last year, I may have spent a large chunk of change!

 

[hummel]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Yup. Takes you to the USA site. I find what I want, copy the item number in the URL to the notepad, then go to the eshopping portal, which re-directs to the USA eBay. Enter the item number in the search box, and complete the purchase (not tried it bidding, I typically use buy it now). Charges to PayPal in AUD, but hits AA as a USD amount (eBay feeds that back to AA). Worked every time and i've done it a lot They had 3 points per dollar last year, I may have spent a large chunk of change!

Learn something new in this game all the time, wll check it out - cheers

 

[hummel]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

Note, though, that Asia 1 and Asia 2 have not been merged.

That is a valid point, no transiting through 3rd region strikes again!

 

[JohnK]

Re: RIP AA Award Progaram

True but the above are not the only ways to earn!

True but AAdvantage isn't the best by a mile either.

It suits some people. Doesn't suit everyone.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Personally I am looking forward to the devaluation. Most of our points earned are on paid J tix with the bonuses. Any ticket out of Australia isn't going to be cheap so 11x is a decent base and then add on whatever the current offers are and you build up pretty quick. Yes, the points value goes up but that means more availability. It mainly hurts the cheap Y tix. Don't forget all travel on other carriers is still based on miles so you do your mileage runs on them not AA. The massively cheaper taxes also makes the points increase still a lot lower than QF.

Everyday your miles go down in value. More miles are created into existence and there's no way airlines could ever fly the miles required to fulfill everyone's balances. The rate which points are created into the world far exceed new biz/first class capacity put on my the major airlines. This means not only do the points reduce in value, but they become more difficult to spend every day. Additionally as FFPs enable the very top-tier members the best award availability - this means large balances without status become even more difficult to spend. The game will only become more difficult for mile collectors.

AA award devaluation combined with revenue mileage earning coming will mean some Australian flyers may find it more beneficial to switch to QFF.
Combined with more services popping up to instantly snap up award seats as they become available - and the future isn't all roses and butterflies for anyone who is saving up for a big trip years from now.

Add in at least 2 more Oneworld devaluations coming this year and there is a real reason to burn points at the lowest rate possible ASAP.

Asia Miles now represents better overall value for Au based flyers on Oneworld redemptions over AA when factoring in ease and cost of obtaining miles.

For the data nerds there - this is what an AA mile was worth under the old redemption system: http://flyora.com/analysis/

 

[Moindardt]

I seem to be the exception and disagree. Maybe it's the accountant in me, but analysis like that unfortunately is biased towards whY travelers. It doesn't take into account the fees and taxes and the corresponding cost in earning points and the limited earning possibilities of points (and if you don't have them you have to buy them at a premium). For premium travelers, it is a very different story. The decrease in earnings for cheap flights (predominantly whY and MR J/F) and the increased cost means less demand on seats which means you can be more picky and less time sensitive (which is far more important to a time poor premium traveler, excluding our esteemed older members of course). If I fly SYD-LAX on AA, I will actually earn double the points on the revenue system. Also, points are still earned by miles on Partner airlines still, revenue is only on AA coded flights. Let me give an example of the flights redemption:

BNE-DXB on QF/EK: 2 x F r/t = 576000 points and $1541.12 in fees and taxes
BNE-AUH on QF/EY: 2 x F r/t = 400000 points and $293.00 in fees and taxes (this is post-March 22)

Despite the fact we can only earn points in AA via SPG & Amex, I have earned way more points flying with AA than with QF (I keep SPG points with SPG). The primary reason is bonuses given to long haul flyers in premium classes when you fly on AA flights or codeshares (J on AA JFK-LHR one way in January was 12500 longhaul bonus + 12000 UK bonus). A very intelligent move by them to earn more, even if you are flying on QF, BA, etc metal.

Another example is SWUs (Sector wide upgrade) which is basically the same as upgrade bidding for free. ExP gets 4+ a year. Combine the AA LAX-SYD flight with earning a min of 1EQM per mile on AA codes and you can end up flying J for the cheapest Y ticket and still earning a full balance of miles and bonuses. I do like that QF is 353 days out, request seats and QP access. Family transfers is also a huge thing for QF. If your international travel is more towards the US, I think AA is an excellent option, however, if it is QFd or towards Asia/Europe, it is not very good (lack of AA flights and codeshares).

Naturally I believe 2 programs are better than one and find it very easy keeping QF WP with cheap F flights in the US. YMMV.