American Airlines finally follow UA to make it harder to earn miles by flying

[keepgoing]

Quote from AA:
"In the second half of 2016, award miles earned from flying will be calculated differently to reward you when you spend more. When traveling on flights marketed by American, you'll earn miles based on the price paid for your ticket (base fare plus carrier-imposed fees, excluding any government-imposed taxes and fees), multiplied by five (5) for AAdvantage® members. If you reach elite status, you’ll earn award miles at higher rates. Plus, as a Citi® / AAdvantage® credit cardmember or an AAdvantage® AviatorTM MasterCard® cardmember, you will continue to earn additional bonus miles on American Airlines purchases when you use your AAdvantage® credit card. "

 

[SMHarman]

At least delta redemption model has not arrived yet.

 

[BocaBoy]

I don't think this necessarily makes it harder to earn miles by flying. The miles are going to be calculated as multiples of the dollar price. A quick look leads me to think that it may actually result in earning more miles in many (not all) cases. For example, if you take a 500 mile one-way flight at $200 and are not elite, I think you will earn 1000 miles, versus no more than 500 today. A round-trip 2000 mile flight (1000 each way) at $500 would give you 2500 miles versus 2000 toady. Elites earn even more.

 

[deemarket]

CHANGES Changes to American miles award program

I don't think this necessarily makes it harder to earn miles by flying. The miles are going to be calculated as multiples of the dollar price. A quick look leads me to think that it may actually result in earning more miles in many (not all) cases. For example, if you take a 500 mile one-way flight at $200 and are not elite, I think you will earn 1000 miles, versus no more than 500 today. A round-trip 2000 mile flight (1000 each way) at $500 would give you 2500 miles versus 2000 toady. Elites earn even more.

see thepointsguy.com for full description of changes

 

[MichaelColey]

It'll probably be close for many travelers, and even better for business travelers (who usually pay more and often have higher status), but it'll be less for those of us who are budget travelers. But then again, I think many of us budget travelers earn most of our miles from other sources (credit card, etc.), so it's not much of an impact.

Here are my most recent several years of AA flight purchases (excluding award tickets, which is the majority):

DFW-LAS: $118.20 (business)
DFW-MIA: $166.20
DFW-ORD: $86.20
DFW-LAS: $224.20 (business)
DFW-LGA: $333 (business)
DFW-MCO: $258.80 (minus $200 voucher)
DFW-LAS: $281.80 (business)
PHL-MCO (one way): $160.80 (business)
DFW-SNA: $270.60 (minus $160 voucher)
DFW-LAS: $288.60 (business)
DFW-LAS: $263.60 (business)
DFW-LAX: $193.19 (paid with a voucher)

As a Lifetime Platinum, I'll earn 8 miles per dollar spent (not including government fees). Currently, I earn 2 miles per mile flown (100% bonus for Platinum).

Looking at some of the extremes (low and high prices per mile flown) in my list, there's a huge difference. For instance, DFW-ORD that we booked for $86.20 roundtrip, I earned 3208 miles but under the new calculations that would only be around 500. Even at the opposite extreme (DFW-LGA, my most expensive out of pocket fare at $333), I earned about double the miles as I would with the new calculations.