American Incentivizes Redeeming AAdvantage Miles... Ever So Slightly

Lame, as expected from AA management

Exactly -- why does AA even bother with a meaningless and feeble attempt at a "promotion"?

Well given there are now empty seats. It's might also encourage people to continue to fly because hey my miles just took me to..... (Unfortunately, there are a lot of places people would like to go, including me, but are off limits with no clear time frame of when that will change.)

This being said I have to give to AA this year. EXP for $9K and 60KEQM, for EXPs an extra award at 90KEQM, 120KEQM and 150KEQM (I took miles). Not to mention that first is now getting a full beverage service (except for a few lazy FAs) and a snack on domestic flights of over 1,000 miles. Seems as though AA is trying to make flying as pleasant as possible even as the industry teeters on going bust.

As a marketing guy, I can see how this went down...

Management: Come to us with some creative ideas for incentivizing people to burn their miles amidst COVID!

Marketing Specialist 1: I've got a great one. What if we offer a rebate to customers for using their miles?

Marketing Specialist 2: Yes! Maybe we could do 10%, just like we used to offer on our Citi cards. Or maybe even push it up to like 15-20% to really get people to burn their miles.

Management: We ran this up the food chain. Great idea, we're so excited to execute it! But, we decided 250 miles per segment is really as generous as we can be. We think this is honestly a really great thing. I'm confident it will still be a super successful, amazing promotion! Now blast out emails and let people know!

@ Aaron:

Hilarious, and definitely correct.

When I first saw the promo, I thought there was a typo, leaving off a 0 from each flight. 2,500 bonus per flight is still not a ton, but it would at least be something.

I wonder if Delta or United will do anything exciting.

So far the only company that's excited me with their promos is Hyatt.

I'd be surprised if this moved the needle for a single person. I mean that literally: I don't think a single person changed their behavior for this...

The fact that they have a 2000 miles limit is the coup de grace, as if someone out there is going to be flying multiple times just to take advantage of this "promo".

This is shockingly inept. Don’t communicate to the customer unless you have something good to say.

This AA promotion is a complete joke!

It might not change behavior, but maybe it engenders some good will toward AAdvantage for the average member, even if everyone posting here recognizes it as skin-deep.

I'm sure the AAdvantage brand builds value by demonstrating there's always some sort of "deal" members can "take advantage of." Why else do they do things like back-to-back "bonuses" on purchased miles rather than just lowering the price to begin with?

Does anyone consume more Koch products/services just because they advertised in the Super Bowl? if not, what was the purpose of the ad?

Even if it's weak, this is ultimately good PR for American and AAdvantage, for marginal cost.

Not just stingy, but trying to get people to violate medical advice to take non-essential flights during a pandemic for almost no discount? Sorry, not interested. I keep looking at things at the far end of the flight schedules and the redemption rates (for premium international flights) are ludicrous and far higher than the charts (which are now only theoretical) say they should be. If they don't think travel will recover until late 2022/2023, they need to be more creative.

Not even going to register...

I deleted this email from my inbox, pronto.

It certainly will not incentivize mileage use.

This is worse than having no promo. It highlights why you should not use miles in a slow travel month.

This is a fart in the wind. It stinks but is so weak that it’s barely enough to register attention. I would not have considered this newsworthy other than as comic relief or an object lesson that AA still has not figured out how to run a loyalty program.

Is it per segment? A 500 mile rebate would be 10% on a 5,000 mile web special. That's bad deal I suppose.

As a comparison in ineptitude, RT NYC- MAD Business Class award these days is 8 hours shorter each way and 10K Miles total cheaper (about same small taxes) on Royal Air Maroc via Casablanca than on AA via DFW, BUT it doesn't earn the 4x250 bonus miles.

I’m trying to figure out if it’s per journey, or per flight segment. Many of the 5k web specials are 3 segment itineraries, so 750 miles back on that is a pretty stellar return. Any idea on the definition of “per flight”?

@ Chase

There's a whole story and argument about that: "Flight" traditionally, especialy in FF-speak , means "All Segments with Same Flight Number", which has often resulted in disppointments when , for instance (just an created example to show the difference), a SEATTLE-MIAMI -LONDON credits at the SEA -LON nonstop 4789 miles (assuming both sectors have the same flight number, which can happen) instead of the SEA -MIA 2731 miles PLUS the MIA LON 4426 miles.

I would assume "Flight" would have the same definition here, exceptionally not in order to screw passengers but because of the constant numbers in the databases which are difficult to alter for such exceptions.

Not many people would INTENTIONALLY fly this route outside a mileage run, but in the good old days of easy mileage runs, I would (and I made sure to choose segments with different flight numbers).

Now if they allowed travelers to credit those miles towards Elite Qualifying Miles (elite status), they'd be on too something !