Looks like AA hired the same marketing firm used by Cracker Barrel, BudLight and Jaguar. Good move to alienate a major part of the customer base - looks like United is about to get a surge in business:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yo...conomy-perk-cut.html

Flying American Airlines on its cheapest tickets just got a lot less rewarding.

As of Wednesday, travelers who book basic economy fares will no longer earn AAdvantage miles or loyalty points — a sharp downgrade for buyers of the airline's lowest-priced seats.

American now joins Delta, which stopped offering miles on basic economy fares in early 2022. United does let passengers collect miles on its cheapest fares.

Passengers on American hoping to rack up miles toward free flights, seat upgrades, or discounts at qualifying hotels will now have to pay more and move up to the next fare tier to keep earning rewards.

Customers have been seething about the change on social media.

'I'm getting tired of everyone coming down on us peeps in the middle and working class,' one flyer complained about the policy change in a Reddit thread. 'It's unchecked greed.'

American introduced basic economy fares in 2017 as it moved to compete more aggressively with ultra-low-cost airlines like Frontier and Spirit Airlines.

At its launch, the no-frills option was about as bare-bones as airline travel could get. For the first 10 months, American didn't even allow basic economy passengers to bring a carry-on bag.

Well, as I recall, American has been a little behind with profitability. Seems Delta already went that direction, no miles for economy.

It would have been better to trim the miles but still let them accrue with economy fares.

I don’t really have a dog in this scuffle.

United has basic economy too, and it does not earn FF miles.

They are giving people what they ask for - lowest possible prices. AA is just behind the trend, and catching up. AA sucks in many other ways though, so I don't use them.

If people buy basic economy tickets instead of slighly more expensive regular economy tickets, that is the market doing it's job.

quote:

Originally posted by sourdough44:
Seems Delta already went that direction, no miles for economy.

Not quite. They split economy into 3 tiers and only Delta Main is that way:


United also has 3 levels of economy, and this is what American has implemented.

This is common for the other major carriers. Big nothing-burger.

Frequent fliers on these airlines already have status and are typically not flying economy.

So they want cheap fares but they also want to be rewarded for buying the cheapest fares?

How do these people know when to wake up?

Morons.

Exactly. If the market demands the lowest fare, it will be what is offered. It is well established that many travelers purchase the lowest fare regardless of other factors. Oh they'll bitch and moan about fees added for a checked bag or for a snack in flight, but they won't pay for the higher fare that includes those things.

AA obviously determined that they were losing customers to other airlines with lower fares, and/or they were matching lowest fares but incurring additional costs for the points compared to competitors who eliminated the points.

Those who travel for the USG (including contractors who bill the GOV for travel) have to book "basic economy" flights per the Federal Travel Regulation (Joint Travel Regulation for those under the DoD/DoW).

This is bullshit...but if that's how they want to run their business, my folks will fly another airline.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGguy229:
Those who travel for the USG (including contractors who bill the GOV for travel) have to book "basic economy" flights per the Federal Travel Regulation (Joint Travel Regulation for those under the DoD/DoW).

This is bullshit...but if that's how they want to run their business, my folks will fly another airline.

Which one? Basic economy on United of Delta? Tell you what, fly Frontier and Spirit and tell us how it goes.

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:

quote:

Originally posted by SIGguy229:
Those who travel for the USG (including contractors who bill the GOV for travel) have to book "basic economy" flights per the Federal Travel Regulation (Joint Travel Regulation for those under the DoD/DoW).

This is bullshit...but if that's how they want to run their business, my folks will fly another airline.

Which one? Basic economy on United of Delta? Tell you what, fly Frontier and Spirit and tell us how it goes.

Over the last 18 months or so I have flown multiple trips on Frontier and recently Spirit and I have to tell you that it wasn’t any different than flying the big 3. People were curious and respectful, unlike the YouTube videos you see, maybe it’s just a Southern thing.

American had been my go to airline since about 1980 as this was the major carrier at our closest airport, but over the last 5 to 10 years the service has gone downhill despite being an elite FF. They just don’t give a shit anymore…

One last point and I’ll get off my soapbox. The basic fares that you can find from American are still quite a bit more expensive than Frontier, Spirit or Avelo.

I'll continue to fly Alaskan whenever I can.

As someone who probably only flies four to six times a year, playing the points game with an airline and using an "airline" card to build up miles for upgrades or free flights makes no sense.

More than a decade ago, I chose cards that offer 2% to 5% cash back on purchases. (Citi Double Cash and Citi Costco)

I just returned from an overseas round trip flight on China Air. The difference in the quality of the experience from start to finish vs our domestic carriers was astounding.

quote:

Originally posted by Tn226:
I just returned from an overseas round trip flight on China Air. The difference in the quality of the experience from start to finish vs our domestic carriers was astounding.

You are comparing a government owned airline versus an airline that is an independent business.

Are you saying that airlines should be owned by the government?

I think he was making an observational statement rather than a suggestion

quote:

Originally posted by Tn226:
I just returned from an overseas round trip flight on China Air. The difference in the quality of the experience from start to finish vs our domestic carriers was astounding.

Asian airlines still hire young, thin, and attractive flight attendants who never act unprofessionally. Quality of service on US airlines by the high seniority older (and larger) women on long haul flights (read: lots of overtime) is quite good. They are just not much to look at. The lower seniority ones on shorter flights are all over the map. Some are unprofessional and sarcastic or openly complain about their jobs/employer.

This is also seen in the difference between immigration desk workers and security checkpoint people. The US is the least professional of major countries.

Air China is government owned and I am not 100% confident in their maintenance practices. They also lie about the reason for delays and fail to announce delays when they know they will occur. I was waiting at the gate for an ON TIME flight on Air China in Beijing, and boarding time came, nothing happened, flight time came, nothing happened. Only THEN it was marked DELAYED. The plane hadn't left the city it was coming from so they KNEW it would be late 2-3 hours earlier, just never flagged it as late until boarding and flight time passed.

quote:

Originally posted by Broadside:

quote:

Originally posted by Tn226:
I just returned from an overseas round trip flight on China Air. The difference in the quality of the experience from start to finish vs our domestic carriers was astounding.

You are comparing a government owned airline versus an airline that is an independent business.

Are you saying that airlines should be owned by the government?

I found this picture of you about to make that logical jump.

Some of you appear to be confused. China Air and Air China are not the same.

China Air service is superior regardless of its ownership - make of it what you will.