We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
This hasn’t been AA’s week.
Rumor 1 – AA Executive Platinum devaluation
As noted by Matthew at Live and Let’s Fly rumors started to circulate that AA may be contemplating limiting System Wide Upgrades redemption to just the account holder, and anyone flying with them. That’s a big hit to AA’s “top tier” Executive Platinum status. I’m no longer Executive Platinum, but when I was one of the great perks was the ability to upgrade someone who wasn’t traveling with you, and let them enjoy the amazing comforts of the next cabin up. If this new limitation was enacted you’d only be able to do it when everyone is on the same itinerary as the status holder.
Currently AA awards its EPs with 4 System Wide Upgrades that allow a confirmed upgrade to the next level of service on any of their flights worldwide ( hence System Wide ), and these can be used on anyone whose itinerary the status holder attaches the certificate to, and has upgrade space available. AA is already on the low side with these certs ( which used to be 8 back in 2016 ), and if you compared them to United, which awards 6 Regional Upgarde certs and 6 Worldwide to their 1ks, it’s crazy to me that they’d devalue even more.
Rumor 2 – AA is losing Etihad to United in March ( maybe Star Alliance? )
I saw this via VFTW earlier this morning and he has an excellent article on it, as well as a link to his prediction this would occur over 6 months ago. If it happens, it’s a MASSIVE win for United and if there is any credence to Rumor 1, this puts United clearly in the top position for US legacy carriers: Best award redemption partners, ability to transfer from Chase, and best benefits for their 1ks in comparison to Delta and AA.
AA has systematically gutted its program since the time of its merger with US Airways in 2015. The biggest to me: Am I missing something glaringly obvious? Lemme know.
- Moving away from a Mileage based program to Revenue
- Gutting the award chart ( from ’16 to ’17 we saw rates in First Class to Asia skyrocket form 67.5k to 110k )
- Instituting a spend requirement for status
- Dropping SWUs for Executive Platinums from 8 to 4
- Heavily marrying segments
What to do? If you wanna do Etihad with AA miles…book now
Worst case this is just a rumor ( but it sounds pretttttttty likely ) and you’ll incur a cancellation fee if you don’t want to take the trip. However, do realize, if it is true and you booked with AA miles, you’ll likely not be able to change your trip dates.
If they join Star Alliance? How to redeem?
I wrote an article on this back in 2017, and while it isn’t quite the same stunner of a redemption…Singapore Airlines would be the best way to go. 90k ( 75k when I wrote the article ) one way for apartments, and 69k in the business studio. Don’t get too excited, there are many obstacles between the current situation and Etihad becoming a full fledged Star Alliance member, but…stranger things have happened. We can dream can’t we!
- United would be 140k
- Aeroplan 115k
- Avianca 97.5k
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.