American AAdvantage has announced a couple of updates today. Ive already covered how changes are coming to complimentary upgrades on flights within North America, and in this post Id like to talk about what I consider to be the other biggest announcement, regarding the introduction of cash and miles redemptions. However, as of now, all we can do is speculate
How will using a combination of cash and miles to buy a ticket affect earning miles and loyalty points?
I said something similar over at VFTW, but overall redemption rates are often low enough on domestic flights (if you're sonewhat flexible) that I want to ask why they bothered. If anything, I consider this to be a probable devaluation.
The only question that lurks is how this might interact with crediting a ticket to a partner...does anyone have any insight?
BA has the same sliding bar - and it usually isn't a good deal. I guess a way to drain miles you can't use.
True @Randy. And the BA sliding bar can dynamically show different combinations/options for the same city-pairing. IME it is best to account for the cash price that you're redeeming miles for to determine which option is providing a decent redemption value. As usual this is a program devaluation cloaked as a benefit enhancement. Airlines don't need to fool all their customers all the time with these "enhancements" - only some customers need to be convinced that this is an enhancement to be deemed a marketing success.
Hi Ben. Thank you for the article and perspective. It would be also interesting to know if LPs will accrue based on the fare pre-mileage application, or the net cash fare post-mileage application. Any insights?