The Value of my A+ Credits Is Safe...
Apr 12, 2012, 11:03 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ATL
Programs: Marriott Platinum, Delta Kryptonium Medallion, National Executive
Posts: 1,889
The Value of my A+ Credits Is Safe...
I know because Kevin Krone created an icon. 
Emailed to me today:
Emailed to me today:
Dear Plagwate,
I'm happy to report that we are continuing to make progress on our goal of integrating Southwest Airlines® and AirTran Airways®, our wholly-owned subsidiary. As you are aware, this is an extremely complex process, and I sincerely appreciate your patience as we work towards our ultimate goal of integrating two great airlines into one brand.
Last month, I addressed a question that many of you may have been pondering related to our intent to combine A+ Rewards® and Rapid Rewards® into one program. The answer is a definitive "yes" on an eventual program merger, but the timing of merging our two programs into one is still to be determined based on several dependencies on other aspects of the integration.
This month, I wanted to take the opportunity to discuss your A+ Rewards Credits and hopefully provide some reassurance of their safety. We recognize that you've earned your A+ Credits and that you may be wondering what will happen to them leading up to the program merger. Rest assured, these are your credits and we are committed to keeping your active credits safe and available for use. Your A+ Credits will continue to be available for use for AirTran flights, and we have created the icon at the top of this e-mail to show our commitment to keeping your credits safe. When the time comes to combine the two programs into one, we are committed to preserving the value of your active credits and will ensure that they are given equal value when we merge the programs. I realize that I may be getting a little ahead of myself since we have yet to determine a timeline to combine programs, but I want to share our vision in hopes of addressing any potentials concerns. In the meantime, think of it as business as usual and keep flying and earning your rewards in either program!
Again, I appreciate your patience and want to thank you for your continued loyalty. We look forward seeing you onboard again soon.
Sincerely,
Kevin Krone
Vice President Marketing, Sales & Distribution
Southwest Airlines
I'm happy to report that we are continuing to make progress on our goal of integrating Southwest Airlines® and AirTran Airways®, our wholly-owned subsidiary. As you are aware, this is an extremely complex process, and I sincerely appreciate your patience as we work towards our ultimate goal of integrating two great airlines into one brand.
Last month, I addressed a question that many of you may have been pondering related to our intent to combine A+ Rewards® and Rapid Rewards® into one program. The answer is a definitive "yes" on an eventual program merger, but the timing of merging our two programs into one is still to be determined based on several dependencies on other aspects of the integration.
This month, I wanted to take the opportunity to discuss your A+ Rewards Credits and hopefully provide some reassurance of their safety. We recognize that you've earned your A+ Credits and that you may be wondering what will happen to them leading up to the program merger. Rest assured, these are your credits and we are committed to keeping your active credits safe and available for use. Your A+ Credits will continue to be available for use for AirTran flights, and we have created the icon at the top of this e-mail to show our commitment to keeping your credits safe. When the time comes to combine the two programs into one, we are committed to preserving the value of your active credits and will ensure that they are given equal value when we merge the programs. I realize that I may be getting a little ahead of myself since we have yet to determine a timeline to combine programs, but I want to share our vision in hopes of addressing any potentials concerns. In the meantime, think of it as business as usual and keep flying and earning your rewards in either program!
Again, I appreciate your patience and want to thank you for your continued loyalty. We look forward seeing you onboard again soon.
Sincerely,
Kevin Krone
Vice President Marketing, Sales & Distribution
Southwest Airlines
).
Apr 12, 2012, 11:27 am
#3
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Blue Ridge, GA
Posts: 5,502
"I want to share our vision in hopes of addressing any potentials concerns."
Not discerning a "vision" in the email. "We'll get back to you at some point after we've figured it out" is a punt.
Apr 12, 2012, 12:22 pm
#4
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Westchester Co, NY or Rio Grande Valley, TX or ???
Programs: BAEC G, WN A-, Hyatt G, HH G, MAR T, Hz PC, was [UA2P, FL A+Elite, BD G]
Posts: 2,271
Apr 12, 2012, 1:32 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ATL
Programs: Marriott Platinum, Delta Kryptonium Medallion, National Executive
Posts: 1,889
Apr 12, 2012, 1:34 pm
#6
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 187
"We have yet to determine a timeline to combine programs"
But he did create an icon to watch over my credits.
Apr 12, 2012, 2:21 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ATL
Programs: Marriott Platinum, Delta Kryptonium Medallion, National Executive
Posts: 1,889
We Can All Sleep Better Now
Now I lay me down to sleep,
A tired and jaded AirTran Elite,
My credits are safe, their promise is shown,
By a hokey graphic from Kevin Krone.
A tired and jaded AirTran Elite,
My credits are safe, their promise is shown,
By a hokey graphic from Kevin Krone.
Apr 12, 2012, 3:29 pm
#8
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 2,653
I think it's a sure bet that A+ credits are "safe", as in:
--They won't suddenly expire or disappear
--At some point in the future where there is no longer an A+ prorgram, some sort of means will allow unused A+ credit to move into the Southwest world
In that way, it's almost certain that credits are "safe".
However I don't think most people are concerned about that. They have different issues which cannot be answered:
--When I want to use my credits, will there be any AirTran left in the markets I want to use?
--When there is eventually some sort of means to roll A+ credit into the Southwest, will the transition be reasonably equitable and useful? Or will it be an arduous, strings-attached process?
The first issue is already looming. Seattle and Des Moines residents with A+ credits won't be able to use them later this year as Southwest takes over. More cities may well follow soon. Here in Milwaukee, just about everything headed west which AirTran serves now will be 100% Southwest by fall. And if rumors elsewhere are accurate, MKE and BWI will be all Southwest soon except for flights to the ATL hub. If/when that happens, there will be countless "safe" A+ credits which won't be very useful at all.
As for how A+ credits will some day roll into Southwest, who knows. It could be something as brittle as on MM/DD/YY the program ends, they mail out a voucher for one-way Southwest travel for every ten A+ credits in your account (remainders ignored), the credit expires within 1 year, and you have to jump through hoops to redeem. Hopefully it's not that unfriendly, but it certainly could end in a way like that without anyone losing their credits.
Maybe they have something up their sleeve for cross airline earning or redemption which will come well before the ellusive code sharing now promised for sometime in 2013. But this sort of uncertainty is very real, and sending out an e-mail saying "your credits are safe" does nothing to ease it.
--They won't suddenly expire or disappear
--At some point in the future where there is no longer an A+ prorgram, some sort of means will allow unused A+ credit to move into the Southwest world
In that way, it's almost certain that credits are "safe".
However I don't think most people are concerned about that. They have different issues which cannot be answered:
--When I want to use my credits, will there be any AirTran left in the markets I want to use?
--When there is eventually some sort of means to roll A+ credit into the Southwest, will the transition be reasonably equitable and useful? Or will it be an arduous, strings-attached process?
The first issue is already looming. Seattle and Des Moines residents with A+ credits won't be able to use them later this year as Southwest takes over. More cities may well follow soon. Here in Milwaukee, just about everything headed west which AirTran serves now will be 100% Southwest by fall. And if rumors elsewhere are accurate, MKE and BWI will be all Southwest soon except for flights to the ATL hub. If/when that happens, there will be countless "safe" A+ credits which won't be very useful at all.
As for how A+ credits will some day roll into Southwest, who knows. It could be something as brittle as on MM/DD/YY the program ends, they mail out a voucher for one-way Southwest travel for every ten A+ credits in your account (remainders ignored), the credit expires within 1 year, and you have to jump through hoops to redeem. Hopefully it's not that unfriendly, but it certainly could end in a way like that without anyone losing their credits.
Maybe they have something up their sleeve for cross airline earning or redemption which will come well before the ellusive code sharing now promised for sometime in 2013. But this sort of uncertainty is very real, and sending out an e-mail saying "your credits are safe" does nothing to ease it.
Apr 12, 2012, 3:52 pm
#9
Join Date: Oct 2010
Programs: My opinions are my own and not that of my employer(s)
Posts: 1,411
knope that response might be considered way too subjective considering the promise.
Remember WN RR1 and FL A+ were virtually identical and "equal" was part of the promise. WN is still redeeming RR1 credits.
FF plans are a liability to an airline and they do like to clear that liability off the books.
Remember WN RR1 and FL A+ were virtually identical and "equal" was part of the promise. WN is still redeeming RR1 credits.
FF plans are a liability to an airline and they do like to clear that liability off the books.
Apr 12, 2012, 9:35 pm
#10
Join Date: May 2007
Location: MDW
Programs: WN CP & A-List Pref, HH Gold, Marriott LT PP
Posts: 708
Creating an icon definitely equals long term commitment! This is nothing short of visionary! If only my investment advisor would follow suit and create an icon to keep my 401(k) safe! With all of the unaddressed WN website bugs and issues, I've been wondering what the entire WN IT staff has been up to recently and this surely explains it. Their mobile app may have some major security flaws, but hey, I've got an icon! 
Apr 13, 2012, 2:08 am
#11
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 657
Hi Kev
Glad to see you're on board.
The bigger issue for many of us is that 16 credits will take you on a RT anywhere in the FL system.
Last time I looked, a west coast trip on WN would require something significantly more than that....the RR2 point calculations are obtuse.
An example of this would have an ATL-SFO RT ticket requiring 16 credits on FL but 32k RR2 points to OAK. The WN SFO schedule is a joke..it is geared to local west coast travelers. To my simple mind this give us a ratio of 1 FL credit = 2K RR2 points.
Your letter to plagwate (implying no devaluation) is very comforting.
Glad to know that you are looking out for our best interests
henryf
Glad to see you're on board.
The bigger issue for many of us is that 16 credits will take you on a RT anywhere in the FL system.
Last time I looked, a west coast trip on WN would require something significantly more than that....the RR2 point calculations are obtuse.
An example of this would have an ATL-SFO RT ticket requiring 16 credits on FL but 32k RR2 points to OAK. The WN SFO schedule is a joke..it is geared to local west coast travelers. To my simple mind this give us a ratio of 1 FL credit = 2K RR2 points.
Your letter to plagwate (implying no devaluation) is very comforting.
Glad to know that you are looking out for our best interests
henryf
Apr 13, 2012, 7:21 am
#12
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 187
Hi Kev
Glad to see you're on board.
The bigger issue for many of us is that 16 credits will take you on a RT anywhere in the FL system.
Last time I looked, a west coast trip on WN would require something significantly more than that....the RR2 point calculations are obtuse.
An example of this would have an ATL-SFO RT ticket requiring 16 credits on FL but 32k RR2 points to OAK. The WN SFO schedule is a joke..it is geared to local west coast travelers. To my simple mind this give us a ratio of 1 FL credit = 2K RR2 points.
Your letter to plagwate (implying no devaluation) is very comforting.
Glad to know that you are looking out for our best interests
henryf
Glad to see you're on board.
The bigger issue for many of us is that 16 credits will take you on a RT anywhere in the FL system.
Last time I looked, a west coast trip on WN would require something significantly more than that....the RR2 point calculations are obtuse.
An example of this would have an ATL-SFO RT ticket requiring 16 credits on FL but 32k RR2 points to OAK. The WN SFO schedule is a joke..it is geared to local west coast travelers. To my simple mind this give us a ratio of 1 FL credit = 2K RR2 points.
Your letter to plagwate (implying no devaluation) is very comforting.
Glad to know that you are looking out for our best interests
henryf
Kev's response: "No matter what the potentials price of the ticket or conversion ratio, remember that bags fly free on Southwest!"
Apr 13, 2012, 10:39 am
#14
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 657
Y'know all of this free luggage stuff is heading towards irrelevancy. My plan "B" is shifting my CC spends from the FL card to an AA card. AA serves the local airport (which was abandoned by FL) and gives one free checked bag for up to 4 members of my party. They seem to have available seats on desirable routes (20K each way to Europe and South America). I can travel overseas. Delta also allows one free piece of checked luggage to their cardholders. I really like FL but things need to settle down a bit before I make a further investment.
Meanwhile, I am surprised that no one has picked up on this:
http://www.ajc.com/business/southwes...a-1406021.html
Seems that Kev has alot on his plate
Meanwhile, I am surprised that no one has picked up on this:
http://www.ajc.com/business/southwes...a-1406021.html
Seems that Kev has alot on his plate
Last edited by henryf; Apr 14, 2012 at 7:25 am