An article in the current issue of the airline trade publication AIR TRANSPORT WORLD talks about how sophisticated airline booking software has become. Carriers are now (or soon will be) able to analyze what flyers are spending, with an eye toward weeding out high level elites who do it on cheap fares. They also want to find the less frequent traveler who, while not racking up big miles, always buys full fares, and thus spends more than some of the super elites. The common denominator is the person's frequent flyer number. At present, if someone doesn't put their numbeer in at the time of a reservation (which sometimes happens with agency bookings) but adds it later, the information is not always picked up. In any case, yield management is watching you!!

This is no surprise really. The idea of basing elite status on revenue was one of the big items discussed on one of the TalkCity sessions with FlyerTalk/InsideFlyer a few months ago and has been a topic in many threads here in the past.

AA apparently has already changed their Gold/Platinum "challenges" from being mileage-based to basing it on revenue via a points system. Unfortunately, the mechanism they have set-up is awful. It counts all discount tickets the same, whether they are the lowest, cheapest tickets or just short of a full, unrestricted ticket. They also count the Y fare as twice what the discount fare is...doesn't seem quite right in my view.

This is pure speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if AA is the first one to move away from a mileage-based program to one based on revenue. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was right around the corner (like next year). I don't have a big issue with a revenue based program, as long as they can account for actual revenue and not this silly point scheme.

I believe TWA was the first carrier to take advantage of this info in their Aviators program!

Yes they are, much to my chagrin, Sheryl- in response to the question posed below.

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 03-19-2000).]

I believe you are correct doc. Is TWA still doing that?

Yep TWA is still @ it, I guess that,s why they weren't so sad when I left them. '98 over 100k on $2400, '99 just over 100k on $5500(they took away some goodies that I used in '98). When one calls in to the FFB desks when they get your FFB# the amount you spent last year and so far for this will show-up so they get you before you can get them. In my view an airline needs both full-fare and leisure-fare people to stay in business, one benifit is I do most of my int'l trips in the off season when the seat would have gone empty so theirs some extra $$$ for the carrier this way.

There isn't as much loyalty with leisure fare travellers in general, though. I'm sure the FTers here are an exception, but most people will opt for the lower fares and not be loyal IMHO. Of coursse this rarely gets a test because the airlines generally match each other's fares in the same markets quite quickly.

I get the feeling US is already doing this for their top level elites -- it pulled away comp Club access as a published benefit, but comped it back to several of us on this bboard, including me. However, I know several ChrPrf's who didn't get the comp Club access ... so my bet it's based on spending patterns.

I'm not sure if I'll get comped next year, since this year it's been two months heavily discounted Southwest-match fares and then a month of full fare cross country trips and so on. We'll see if I am worthy

I'm aware of the TWA program, but as I understand it, the program continues to offer both the mileage-based and revenue-based options so you can reach elite either way.

craz, $2400 for over 100K miles flown? That's incredible. Were those trips all on paid tickets and none of them award travel? Do you buy your TWA tickets through lowestfare.com?

Craz ..... Can you explain what you mean by TWA "taking away some of your goodies"?

I am starting my third year as a TWA Platinum member and all 3 years have been qualified by flying 100,000 + miles on VERY cheap tickets. In fact, I'd say a majority of them have been bought through Lowestfare.com. TWA is required to treat anything related to lowestfare tickets exactly the same way they treat tickets purchased directly through them.

Your comment has me curious because I have never noticed being treated differently or denied anything as a Platinum member, but I have often wondered if they can see my purchase history and apparently they can.

dg1, the uneven benefit of free club membership at US Airways has to do with when you actually requalified. It was date sensitive. Newer qualifiers didn't get it. Nothing to do with amount spent, and everybody loses it next year. As for TWA, the policy hasn't helped their yields (nor, for that matter, has being number 1 on-time every month).

deelmakur, what do you mean by newer qualifiers? I qualified for the first time last year as Chairman's Preferred (and only due to the change of 100 segment qualification) and I received a comp Club membership this year.

Before last year I flew 20 segments all in the last three months of 1998 (hence no status) and before that never at all as a Dividend Miles member. So I'd think I'd be a new qualifier, unless you mean something else than what I'm thinking...

Or do you mean when I qualified last year? I made Chairman's Preferred in October, seems pretty late to me.

I am presently GM on DL and have for some years speculated that the airlines will move towards a status system based only a revenue. I have feared that day because I by mostly cheapy fares and will surely loose my FF status if they switch. Hopefully I will be doing more and more business travel and have full-fare or close to it.

I wonder how the transition will occur? It will obviously re-write the rules. I also wonder if the will still use miles for awards but revenue for status?

I'd hate to see status REMOVED due to low fares, of course that is because I usually fly on them.

Our customers pay for travel, and my ability to find cheap fares helps in the negotiations. I have NEVER travelled on a fare that was more that $325 (domestic travel only).

Now if someone flies a lot of Y fares, by all means extend elite status to them.

But don't take it away from those of us who STILL travel the segments or miles for business just because we do a better job bargain hunting. We have just learned how to play the Byzentine(sp?) game forced upon us.


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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

dg1, I know it had to do with a calendar thing, and not spending. You can get that info from the company. As for losing benefits because of spending, I kind of think it will be more a case of putting some of these people ahead of those who spend less, particularly with upgrades. Let's face it, all these airlines are creating more and more elites, and between schedule reductions, airlines within airlines (Delta Express, MetroJet, etc.), and just plain smaller aircraft on longer routes (738's, A-319's, etc.)there are just more folks chasing fewer seats in the front cabin. Something has to give.