You've probably heard last week's news: American has joined Delta and United, marking down the worth of loyal flyers' hard earned miles.
The really bad news is First Class—award flights on AA and partners will cost up to 85,000 more miles.
Those who didn't practice points portfolio diversification—not FCF members I hope—have cause for much gnashing.
(Me, I remain as sanguine as ever and not just because AA miles account for just 5% or so of my miles and points portfolio. What the last 19 years publishing First Class Flyer has taught me, most of all, is that deals and strategies come and go. More accurately, they go and come. For each defunct deal or strategy, a new one is being born somewhere.)
I'm working on a special report on the AA miles devaluation as you might imagine.
But in the meantime, three things you must do:
1. Pat yourself on the back for having listened to our broken record and burned your AA credit card long ago (if you haven't, get some lighter fluid now).
2. Resolve to not go—nor fly—out of your way to earn AA miles.
3. Think about using any AA miles you have before March 22, 2016.
Not all the news is bad, but the really good news is the fares we are seeing. Miles will always be a good upgrade consideration, generally speaking, but they are not the only one and—with increasing ofteness—not the best one.
E.g., on many routes those EasyUps we keep finding are turning much of the upgrade world on its head.
Ah, the upgrade mindset. It must always be flexible... never fixed.