With American Airlines elite upgrades becoming just as ephemeral as those on United and Delta, and with Southwest introducing lounges and making other changes to become more like American, I’m increasingly thinking that my flying and loyalty strategy changes.
- I don’t like the changes to Southwest’s business model! But they’re 41% of the departing seats out of my home airport in Austin.
- I’m an American AAdvantage Executive Platinum member and a Rapid Rewards A-List member (thanks to Chase). I’ve had good luck getting free extra legroom seats 48 hours out on Southwest, but that’s not what I’m looking for when traveling with my family.
- I’m thinking about whether I should aim for A-List Preferred status and prepare to get a new premium credit card that they will introduce with Chase.
Executive Platinum status doesn’t actually get me very much on American Airlines. I am not upgraded often. Platinum Pro status is oneworld emerald and comes with most of the benefits of Executive Platinum. And I’ve written that I believe the ‘sweet spot’ for status has become mid-tier, in American’s case mere Platinum, because that gets you:
- Confirmed extra legroom seats at time of booking
- And you still get free checked bags, check-in priority, enough boarding priority to avoid gate checking your carry-on, and some priority during irregular operations.
I do like being able to add segments to a reservation during weather, mechanical and other irregular operations events without giving up my existing flights – the ability to hold backup flights in my reservation, like an extra flight from Dallas to Austin in case I misconnect, is really helpful.
I can still try to make my original flight, without having to worry about whether there will still be seats left on a later one if I miss it. That’s supposed to be allowed for Executive Platinum and not Platinum Pro (EXPs don’t have duplicate segments auto-cancelled). But it’s not something I use more than a few times a year.
And I don’t mind an exit row aisle on a 3-hour flight with decent wifi. I just plug in, work and ignore everything around me. I’d still get free drinks if I cared about that (I don’t), the food up front isn’t that good. And being stuck in coach #15 on the upgrade list instead of #5 doesn’t change my experience.
Since it looks like Southwest will have a lounge in Austin next year maybe I really do want A-List Preferred for free extra legroom seats at booking for my family. And that may mean I need to lay off the non-business credit card applications for a bit so I can get approved for a Chase premium Southwest card with lounge access when that comes! Free extra legroom seats plus lounge access is probably what I need to make family travel easier from Austin.
Since I’m at 3.9 million lifetime miles with American I’ll soon hit Platinum Pro for life. It’s just that I still have enough ‘AActivity’ with them that I’m already at Platinum Pro for next year so I’ll still hit Executive Platinum. I just am not shooting for the 550,000 Loyalty Point Rewards level (200,000 or 250,000 is plenty).
Of course if they published ConciergeKey at 1 million Loyalty Points I’d change my strategy entirely and focus on that.
Currently there is no reason to be loyal to any airline when they now show no appreciation for us unless we spend BIG money on a seat. As we all know there are very few first or business class seats on most planes which means those seats cost less. Those are the very seats that the airlines no longer value, yet fill the majority of aircraft. Until CEO’s see value in every seat sold, which pay their salaries, loyalty by us should no longer be important.
May? We’re way past that. Domestic status is useless unless your employer is paying for it.
Since flights are generally full the airlines likely now view loyalty programs as a cost. Elites are an annoyance. Why spend money on customer retention when the seats will sell anyway? But that is a short sighted strategy. Customer acquisition costs are usually higher. And when the loyalty program is devalued, why would pax bother with airline co-branded credit cards? When that shoe drops, the airlines will find the financial waterfall of selling miles suddenly runs dry.