Citi and Barclays AA cards devaluation coming

[Shadowfactor]

It’s been “confirmed” that American is now working on dynamic award pricing.

This seriously affects the CC earnings as 2X miles on purchases wasn’t all that great to begin with.

If your sitting on a pile of AA miles I would start considering how to use them in the next 6- 8 months.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.doctorofcredit.com/rumor-american-airlines-working-on-dynamic-award...

JonNYC also posted on Twitter about AA program changes on July 31st.
JonNYC is a very reliable source, so I expect these rumors to come true sooner or later.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/1971999-rumor-aadvantage-program-devalu...

[mongstradamus]

I have a very naive question but how does this affect if you use aa miles for one world partner redemption. I tried reading the tweet and through the thread and didn’t really understand what this nerfing entails.

[Shadowfactor]

No one knows for sure how exactly dynamic pricing will roll out but I would expect AA to follow Delta/United’s rollout.

If that were to happen, partner awards would still be chart based for a little while longer until the “kinks” were worked out on their own metal. Then the partner chart would go.

It’s hard to know at this stage. I would imagine AA’s “ideal” program would be similar to Delta’s current program given how UA/AA seem to copy almost everything Delta does.

[MAZDA3]

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
No one knows for sure how exactly dynamic pricing will roll out but I would expect AA to follow Delta/United’s rollout.

If that were to happen, partner awards would still be chart based for a little while longer until the “kinks” were worked out on their own metal. Then the partner chart would go.

It’s hard to know at this stage. I would imagine AA’s “ideal” program would be similar to Delta’s current program given how UA/AA seem to copy almost everything Delta does.

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Partner awads on Delta aren’t really variable like they are on Delta metal. For instance, US-SE Asia in J on KE, MU, or CI will always price at the current lowest mileage level at 85k one way. There are no variations of O class on partners. It’s O at 85k or sold out - those are the only options. There is no OZ, OS, OI, OC, etc... on partners. Now, if a Delta segment is involved to get to the gateway, say ATL-JFK on Delta and then KE to ICN to SIN, if OZ is available on the Delta segment then it’s still 85k. If other variations of O on the Delta segment then pricing will he higher. 

What Delta does do on partners and Delta metal alike is advanced purchase requirements for the lowest levels. Have a look at JFK-LHR on VS metal for February in economy. A class is always the lowest at 25k one way, however, it’s 47.5k just three days from now because the 25k fare basis requires an advance purchase. It’s still just A class, no variation, but award inventory now prices with different fare basis codes based on how far out you book. On the same day the 47.5k VS shows available, the Delta metal flights price at 130k one way in economy, because plain N class is not available, instead only NY is available (plus the advance purchase issue as well).

Delta does make it very complicated on Delta metal, but partner metal is pretty straight forward. I am a million-miler and rarely use my miles on Delta metal. I’ll book a cheap WN flight to the partner gateway a day before the flight and get a hotel room for the night before i’ll pay Delta metal prices.

Delta does make it extremely difficult to book partner metal both online and over the phone, if a connection is involved. If you just want to go to ICN or TPE, no problem - nonstops show up. Simple routings like JFK-ICN-BKK never show up online, instead Delta forces you onto Delta metal across the water jacking up the price. Calling in and getting an experienced agent works but even then you sometimes have to spoon feed them what you want. And then they can’t price it and usually have to call their help desk.

[MrDisco99]

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@MAZDA3 wrote:

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
No one knows for sure how exactly dynamic pricing will roll out but I would expect AA to follow Delta/United’s rollout.

If that were to happen, partner awards would still be chart based for a little while longer until the “kinks” were worked out on their own metal. Then the partner chart would go.

It’s hard to know at this stage. I would imagine AA’s “ideal” program would be similar to Delta’s current program given how UA/AA seem to copy almost everything Delta does.

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Partner awads on Delta aren’t really variable like they are on Delta metal. For instance, US-SE Asia in J on KE, MU, or CI will always price at the current lowest mileage level at 85k one way. There are no variations of O class on partners. It’s O at 85k or sold out - those are the only options. There is no OZ, OS, OI, OC, etc... on partners. Now, if a Delta segment is involved to get to the gateway, say ATL-JFK on Delta and then KE to ICN to SIN, if OZ is available on the Delta segment then it’s still 85k. If other variations of O on the Delta segment then pricing will he higher. 

What Delta does do on partners and Delta metal alike is advanced purchase requirements for the lowest levels. Have a look at JFK-LHR on VS metal for February in economy. A class is always the lowest at 25k one way, however, it’s 47.5k just three days from now because the 25k fare basis requires an advance purchase. It’s still just A class, no variation, but award inventory now prices with different fare basis codes based on how far out you book. On the same day the 47.5k VS shows available, the Delta metal flights price at 130k one way in economy, because plain N class is not available, instead only NY is available (plus the advance purchase issue as well).

Delta does make it very complicated on Delta metal, but partner metal is pretty straight forward. I am a million-miler and rarely use my miles on Delta metal. I’ll book a cheap WN flight to the partner gateway a day before the flight and get a hotel room for the night before i’ll pay Delta metal prices.

Delta does make it extremely difficult to book partner metal both online and over the phone, if a connection is involved. If you just want to go to ICN or TPE, no problem - nonstops show up. Simple routings like JFK-ICN-BKK never show up online, instead Delta forces you onto Delta metal across the water jacking up the price. Calling in and getting an experienced agent works but even then you sometimes have to spoon feed them what you want. And then they can’t price it and usually have to call their help desk.

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Just adding that I pretty much follow a similar strategy.  I have a bunch of SkyMiles saved up, but I'll probably not use them on Delta.

Back when I was searching for award redemption to Israel, Delta metal was showing up for no less than 75K one way.  I managed to get lucky and find availability on AF connecting through CDG for 42,500.  This was right around when booking opened up for those dates, so almost a year in advance.  Even then, I got an error when I tried booking it online.  I'd just transferred a boatload of MR points to SkyMiles to get it so you can imagine my panic!  I ended up calling in, and thankfully the guy on the phone was able to get it done.

FWIW, the same flights were showing available on FlyingBlue for the same number of miles.  I'd already had several thousand SkyMiles, though, so it made more sense to transfer fewer MR points to Delta.  I ended up booking return from Greece via FlyingBlue for 25K one way.

Flying two people to Israel and back from Greece for 85K SkyMiles and 50K FlyingBlue miles seems like a pretty good deal to me.  You have to show up early, though.

I would imagine UA and AA would be similar.  There's probably alliance rules in place which makes pricing on partner redemptions more regulated.  Seems applicable all around, if you want to book an award flight, you're better off if the currency and metal are different.

[Anonymous]

This is great, another awards card down the shute...  Well, I was planning to use my AA miles for trip to Europe next year. But looks like this devaluation will definitely play into whether i go or not. And just use those Miles early and combine all my awards together in one trip.

ANA was going to ge tme to Japan/Asia trip, while AA/UR was gonna take care of my European trek. I had also considerd gettingthe flyiong blue just prior, but now not so sure. Too many recent devaluations lately. 

At this rate I'll be looking at dropping a few of my rewards cards as they'll no longer have the value in relation to the AF. And depending on how miles are affected, AAdvantage will be the first one I axe. Almost even considerd getting AAdvantage Business.

Looks like I will hve to try and plan out something very soon that takes up all my Miles, MRs and URs by the end of the year so as to not lose out!

[Winesnoblv]

Thanks for the update Shadowfactor. 

I was hoping to use my AA miles for a trip to Europe next year, but will definitely use them before then.  I was also considering closing my Barclay AA, which I will now do, and transferring the cl to another Barclaycard I have.  I will keep the Citi AA for the few perks available.  Since my last 2 flights on AA were disasters (I was even awarded 3,000 miles for one when I landed due to the delays), I have been considering flying Delta, which I may now do as well.

[Anonymous]

AA is doing the dynamic valuation into the extreme. The corporate office needs to seriously stop the crazy stuff they are doing.

A one way flight from DFW to MEX costs abit over 300 dollars on 12/24, and 60kplus miles. That's a value of 0.5cpp.

[Shadowfactor]

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@Anonymous wrote:
AA is doing the dynamic valuation into the extreme. The corporate office needs to seriously stop the crazy stuff they are doing.

A one way flight from DFW to MEX costs abit over 300 dollars on 12/24, and 60kplus miles. That's a value of 0.5cpp.

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Dynamic pricing  on awards hasn’t gone live yet AFAIK.

can you clarify what you are talking about ?

[Anonymous]

Open aa mobile app and search for flight, with redeem miles checked.