A New Reason American Airlines Is Getting Even Less Of My Cash

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I’ve been avoiding flying with American Airlines as much as possible this year because I don’t want to be one of those flyers who complains, complains and complains about an airline and yet still gives that airline his business. That’s been the main reason why American has been seeing less of my cash lately but, even when I’ prepared to bite the bullet, American is still getting less of my money that it would have done in the past.

I’m fortunate in that I’m not forced to fly with American Airlines by an employer so I have no real reason to give American Airlines my money other than when it suits me to do so….but right now it suits me to do so.

I will have Executive Platinum status for one last year in 2018 and with that status comes 4 systemwide upgrades that I’d like to use. Three of the four upgrades I got this year will go unused (unless I find someone I’d like to donate them to) and I’d like to avoid that happening next year if at all possible.

To use those systemwide upgrades I will need to book flights marketed by and operated by American Airlines and, as I have a transatlantic trip to book for the middle of next year, I figure I may as well try to book it with American to use some of those upgrades up….but right now I’m holding off booking when in the past I would have pulled the trigger by now.

American Airlines’ New Upgrade Rules Will See It Get Less Of My Money

In the good old days (which now seem a long, long time ago) your place on the American Airlines upgrade list was determined by two factors:

• Your status
• The time you requested the upgrade

As I’ve had top-tier status with American for quite a few years the key to me getting to the very top of the upgrade list has always been to book early…but not any more.

American’s new upgrade methodology still sees status as an important element but now the other differentiating factor is the number of Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD) each member has built up in the 12 months leading up to when the upgrade becomes available.

I’m a cheapskate so I spend as little as possible to fly around the world in a modicum of comfort so my 12-month rolling EQD number is never going to be very high….so I’m never likely to be all that high up on an international upgrade list.

Buying transatlantic fares like this one will never get me up the upgrade list!

I will still rank above all other flyers with status lower than Executive Platinum but now, within my status group, I’m probably somewhere right near the bottom and that’s now affecting when (or if) I purchase fares.

Right now the fare for my planned journey is ranging between $900 and $1,000 depending on which routing I choose to book, but, in the past, the fares on this route have been as low as $650 – $700 for the same time of year…and that’s giving me pause for thought.

In the past I would have paid $900 for a fare that I knew could fall to $700 if I was purchasing the fare so far in advance that I knew I’d have a very good chance of being in the top 2 -3 people on the upgrade list….but now American has taken that incentive away.

American Airlines Business Class – what the upgrades are all about

Because the time of purchase no longer makes any difference to my chances of being upgraded I have little reason to book now and even less reason not to wait to see which way the fares go in the next few months.

The upshot of this is that….

• There’s a good chance that if I see a significantly cheaper fare elsewhere I’ll now book away from American rather than wait to see if it reduces its fares (I don’t have to use the upgrades) – that’s cash that American would have got before the upgrade policy change that it now isn’t getting.
• Even if I eventually book with American it’s likely to be at a lower price than I would have been willing to pay under the old upgrade rules – that’s lost revenue to the airline.
• Even if I eventually book with American it isn’t getting my money anywhere near as early as it would have otherwise done. That’s money it could have used to feed its cashflow or that it could have invested to make more money.

Of course how I spend money makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to American Airlines…but I’m not alone. There are thousands of travelers just like me who no longer have an incentive to book early (and pay a bit more) as they would have done in the past….and I’m not sure that’s a good thing for the airline.

Final Thoughts

If a large enough group of American’s flyers realises that they’re no longer losing out by holding off booking a fare (and eventually possibly not booking the fare with American at all) that’s going hit the airline where it really hurts….eventually.

And it’s not just the issue of the upgrades.

I strongly believe that there’s a very large percentage of people who fly with American and who have yet to fully realise just how badly some of the changes to AAdvantage are affecting them.

Those of us writing and reading blogs like this one are in a small minority of informed travelers…the vast majority are relatively clueless when it comes to what the airlines (yes, all of them) have been and are still doing to the loyalty programs.

When those travelers realise the full extent of how their benefits have been eroded and devalued then there will be a lot more “free agents” out there and, amusingly, the airlines will have to start all over again with their efforts to entice those travelers back into the fold.

Wouldn’t it just be simpler if they just kept them in the fold in the first place?