【3/22】On the very day that AA miles were devalued, we found that Cathay Pacific released a large amount of business-class award space between Hong Kong and North America during the summer travel season. If you previously locked in the 55,000-mile price and wanted to change your itinerary, now is the time to do it. We recommend using BA to find the space first, then calling AA customer service to make the change after ticketing. Even if you did not book at 55,000 before, booking now for 70,000 miles is still not a bad deal, though first class going up to 110,000 is pretty painful. With only ten days left until the 3/22 AA miles devaluation, we recommend that readers who expect to need premium-cabin award travel on oneworld China–US routes within the next year redeem as soon as possible. Because AA has relatively generous change policies, even if you cannot fully confirm your plans yet, it is still entirely feasible to ticket now and change later. If the reader
- only changes the departure and arrival times, without changing the origin or destination, operating carrier, or the cabin of the entire ticket, or
- does not change the origin or destination, all operating carriers on the original ticket are oneworld carriers, and at least one segment is operated by a non-AA carrier, and after the change all operating carriers are still oneworld carriers, without changing the cabin of the entire ticket
then the ticket can later be changed for free to a date up to one year after the original departure date, allowing you to lock in today’s lower award price. However, if a change does not satisfy either of the two conditions above, then the ticket must be reissued, the mileage difference will be charged, and a change fee will apply. Based on these rules, we recommend that readers with such needs redeem soon for premium-cabin flights on oneworld carriers such as Cathay Pacific (CX) and Japan Airlines (JL). (After all, very few people would willingly give up Cathay or JAL and fly AA premium cabins back to China instead.) As for current availability, summer is basically gone already, but Cathay business-class award space for next winter break is still quite plentiful. Note: the correct way to book is to search on British Airways first to confirm the routing, then call AA customer service to issue the ticket.
After AA (American Airlines) finished acquiring US Airways, it finally had time to revise its award chart. In a long-anticipated move, American Airlines announced today that starting March 22, 2016, AA miles would undergo a major devaluation. One-way awards from the continental US to China would increase from 35,000/55,000/67,500 to 37,500/70,000/110,000. However, award tickets booked before March 2016 would still be priced under the old chart! In addition, the 17,500-mile Off Peak award from the continental US to Hawaii was eliminated, with all economy awards increasing to the full 22,500-mile level, and the 20,000-mile off-peak one-way award between the US and Europe also increased to 22,500. AA also made other changes for 2016: beginning in the second half of 2016, mileage earning on AA flights would likely move to a revenue-based model like UA and DL, instead of being based on actual flight distance. AA elite qualification would also change: the original Elite Qualifying Points (EQP) would be eliminated, while Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) would be adjusted to work similarly to the old EQP system. Overall, it would become easier for everyone to earn Elite Status.
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Comparison of AA’s New and Old Award Charts
More detailed changes to the award chart are shown in the table below:
| From the 48 Contiguous US States to | Economy (Off Peak) | Economy | Business Class | First Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The 48 Contiguous US States | – | 12,500 | 25,000 | |
| Canada and Alaska | – | |||
| Hawaii | 22,500 | |||
| Caribbean | – | 17,500 | ||
| Mexico | – | 17,500 | ||
| Central America | – | 17,500 | ||
| South America Region 1 | – | 30,000 | ||
| South America Region 2 | 30,000 | |||
| Europe | 30,000 | |||
| Middle East and South Asia | – | |||
| Africa | – | 75,000 | ||
| Asia Region 1 | ||||
| Asia Region 2 (including China) | – | |||
| South Pacific | – |
It is easy to see that first-class and business-class redemptions were hit the hardest. Since they had been extremely cheap before, the increase is not entirely surprising. On the China–US routes that many Chinese readers in the US care about, economy rose from 35,000 to 37,500 miles, which is even more than United MileagePlus charges. Business class jumped from 55,000 to 70,000, and first class nearly doubled, making it by far the most brutal increase. Of course, other routes did not fare much better.
Mileage Earning
This is another depressing topic. AA was the only one of the three major US airlines still using actual flight distance to calculate redeemable mileage earning. Starting in the second half of 2016, AA would also fall in line. Non-elite AAdvantage members would earn 5 miles/dollar, AAdvantage Gold would earn 7 miles/dollar, and AAdvantage Platinum would earn 8 miles/dollar. Top-tier AAdvantage Executive Platinum members would earn 11 miles/dollar. For most people who travel on cheap tickets, and for those who rely mainly on inexpensive long-haul fares to rack up miles, this change is a major blow to mileage earning speed. For travelers who mostly fly expensive domestic US tickets or who often fly in premium cabins, it may actually be beneficial. Our solution is to credit AA flights to Alaska Airlines (AS) Mileage Plan. AS miles had not yet been devalued at the time, were much more valuable than post-devaluation AA miles, and AA economy/business/first could earn 100%/125%/150% of flown miles in AS, respectively. Some people may ask whether AS would also switch to revenue-based earning. It is possible, but given that they still use distance-based earning for Delta flights, I expect AS would not make that change in the short term. In the meantime, it is still better to credit your miles to Alaska Airlines.
Elite Status
This point has also been confirmed. Previously, AA elite qualification could be earned in three ways: through Elite Qualifying Miles, Points, and Segments. Starting in 2016, Elite Qualifying Points would be renamed Elite Qualifying Miles, with some minor ratio adjustments. For most non-business travelers, the impact would not be very significant. In addition, AA would not copy UA and DL by requiring a minimum spending threshold in order to qualify for elite status.