Comments

1. As for the MIA-LAX fares, this is a perfect reminder of how much “value” the AA-B6 partnership will create.

2. The $31 fares even include AA premium economy seats (US First class ) for free if you have status on AA. I have bought two r/t of these for May and June.

3. LOL You’d have to take 134 flights just to earn the lowest status!

4. Remind me how I’m supposed to meet airline ‘elite qualifying dollar’ requirements with $31 transcons (and this isn’t even basic economy)?

   Answer: OK. I did the math. American Airlines made it super easy to earn top elite status, including complimentary oneworld® Emerald status. To qualify for AAdvantage® Executive Platinum status with a $12,000 elite qualifying dollar requirement, and at only $30.40 per passenger for this flight, fly a minimum of 395 of the $30.40 nonstop flights from Miami to Los Angeles.

5. You can also meet elite qualifying dollar requirements the easy way with the waived EQD requirement for select elite levels if you spend $30,000 on purchases with your eligible AAdvantage® credit card

   “For 2021, we’ll waive the EQD requirement to qualify for Gold, Platinum or Platinum Pro status if you spend $30,000 on net purchases with an eligible AAdvantage® credit card that post to your account between January 1 – December 31, 2021.”

6. A perfect example illustrating how flyers benefit and why meaningful/robust competition is indispensable in any industry – especially the airline industry – instead of the far less vigorous competition, and in many city-pairs, oligopolist business models featuring obscenely high fares, an abundance of onerous rules, penalties and punishments, or of course, an ever expanding, ever increasing in cost, array of “options” at outrageously high fees that progressively took root as competition all but disappeared between 2008-2016 as Northwest, Continental, AirTran, US Airways* and Virgin America were taken over by Delta (2008), United (2010), Southwest (2011), American* (2013) and Alaska Airlines (2016), respectively.

   Proving yet again “Oligopolies are great!” – said by **NO ONE** except the oligopolists who profit handsomely from the absence of meaningful competition that allows them to rig the market in their favor.

   In fact, the next time anyone hears the words “pricing discipline” or “rationalizing capacity” uttered by airline CEOs, Wall Street Analysts, or their brown nosing sycophants, that’s when flyers must gird their loins to protect from the screwing that’s sure to come if flyers fail to unite and demand that vigorous, robust, but most importantly, HEALTHY, competition be preserved and enhanced instead of allowed to wither away and die as it was well on its way to becoming from 2014 until March last year when the Covid19 pandemic abruptly ended the oligopolists’ stranglehold over the airline industry that we’re seeing now as airlines actually COMPETE for flyers’ cash instead of taking us for granted because they had erected a cozy oligopolists’ club they profited all the more from the LESS they competed against each other with their “pricing discipline” and “rationalized capacity”.

   Obviously, $31 fares MIA-LAX are not sustainable.

   Yes, I get that.

   But, somewhere between ruinous and unsustainable fare wars and an intensifying, not to mention increasingly arrogant and abusive industry suffocating under the weight of oligopoly lies the appropriate balance between flyers/consumers and shareholders – as it should be.

   *technically, Doug Parker and his management team at US Airways orchestrated at takeover of American Airlines, which after decades of labor strife filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in November, 2011 after its largest rivals, Delta and Northwest, and United and Continental all filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcies and Restructurings, followed/accompanied by mergers that left OG/standalone/legacy American outflanked by its much larger rivals in terms of network, and also with much higher costs as the others exploited their bankruptcies to negotiate much lower labor costs, or for some, to fob off their underfunded pension plans to taxpayers via the US government back Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC).

   However, the American Airlines brand, which was much better known worldwide, and also enjoyed a better reputation than US Airways, was kept despite AA actually being taken over by US during its bankruptcy proceedings instead of the standalone restructuring proposed by AA’s managers, whom had long before its bankruptcy filing lost credibility and trust with its unionized employees.

   And although it had not filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection to “restructure” labor contracts far more favorably than could ever be possible outside of a bankruptcy filing, or to unload underfunded pension plans, Southwest’s takeover of AirTran in 2011 also impacted American’s competitive position in the markets they competed in, as well as the increased national network (including Dallas, where elimination of the Wright Amendment loomed in 2014, and especially AirTran’s east coast/southeast USA, which was in US Airways back yard) where American’s labor costs would be uncompetitive absent a negotiated reduction, which failed and triggered the bankruptcy filing on November 29, 2011 shortly after Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

7. Actually, about 50% of $31 MIA-LAX airfare are taxes and fees
   and only $14.88 in EQD.
   So the number of flights should be increased accordingly to qualify for EXP!

   Fare 1: Carrier AA O7ALZNN3 MIA to LAX (rules)
   Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code O
   Covers MIA-LAX (Economy) $14.88
   US Transportation Tax (US) $1.12
   US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50
   United States Flight Segment Tax Domestic (ZP) $4.30
   United States Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee (AY) $5.60
   Subtotal per passenger $30.40

8. Yes, takes some really bright people to fly back and forth between florida and california. California with the west coast variant that explains why they got soo overwhelmed with covid and Florida with their nonsense that just allows variants to spread unchecked. What could possibly go wrong?

9. If you’re already going to hit EXP anyway, those might be a good way to pick up some extra miles to get you to 120K EQM for a few more SWUs. Mileage running isn’t TOTALLY dead.

   Also, if you clear upgrades, a direct turn could make for a hell of a Sunday Funday.

10. @Alex_77W: You are correct. To qualify for AAdvantage® Executive Platinum status with a $12,000 elite qualifying dollar requirement, since only $14.88 of the $30.40 ticket price is credited to earning elite status, one must fly a minimum of 807 nonstop flights to earn EXP status. I believe this is one galactic American Airlines’ frequent flyer value. How will American Airlines ever top this offer?

    To overcome public vaccine hesitancy to receiving a SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) immunization, drug companies could-demonstrate the efficacy of their immunizations by sending vaccinated volunteers on 807 low-cost American Airlines flights. This should help prove that vaccines are safe and effective in reducing disease and help restore confidence in air travel

11. I used to make quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches in my hotel room with the iron and ironing board. Make sure you turn off the steam function on the iron or otherwise the quesadilla or grilled cheese sandwich will become soggy.

    This was my way of maximixing my per diem.

12. Hey this seems to be a cheap way to get FLYON points. For $180 I can get halfway to the lowest elite status.