American Airlines vs. travel agents: the about-face is here, no change to policy on earning miles
The announcement had been made in February, and it was like a bolt out of the blue. Then, however, came the about-face. American [...]
American Airlines
Oneworld
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The announcement had been made in February, and it was like a bolt from the blue. Then, however, came the BACKGROUND.
American Airlines, the world's largest airline, had announced that as of as of May 1, 2024 (The date, then, was pushed back to July 11.) The requirements for earning AAdvantage miles (critical to gain or renew status) and loyalty points (to redeem award tickets) would have changed: from that date on, it would have required direct booking with AA or an eligible partner carrier, or booking as an AAdvantage Business member or corporate traveler, or even booking through an authorized travel agency (American, however, never announced partner agencies). In short, American - on a par with Ryanair - would have wanted to do the war on all travel agencies, both online and physical ones.
Well, the use of the conditional is not accidental: as stated, AA backtracked. The reason? The vile money. Trivially, the star carrier realized that this move led to a Not inconsiderable drop in bookings (and this, predictably, benefited the other American "sisters," Delta and United). Not only that, if you take a look at the stock price of the American Airlines group, you will notice that within 10 years they are abseils of the 56%.
In short, there needs to be a change of pace: hence the decision to turn around and take out Vasu Raja, the Chief Commercial Officer and Vice President of AA who so badly wanted the war on travel agents. And which he lost.
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