I have never had a problem getting upgrades on tickets issued with AS50's.
The booking class used is the main criteria on allowing you to upgrade or not.
I have flown on quite a few AS50 awards and they are NOT eligible for complimentary upgrades (MVP/MVPG) or MVPG paper upgrades. The only time I've been upgraded on an AS50 is by a really nice cust. service or gate agent if seats are available.
50% miles is certainly better than nothing but a good point was made a while back that for those of us who purchase flights costing well over $500, we are putting out much more than 1/2 the money, so why do we only get 1/2 the miles back? The $250 cap was bad enough....
As a side note - I am assuming we'll receive our MVP/G bonus miles based on the 50% earned....please correct me if I'm wrong.
Programs: Various bits of plastic with names of noble metals on them
Posts: 1,979
Quote:
I have flown on quite a few AS50 awards and they are NOT eligible for complimentary upgrades (MVP/MVPG) or MVPG paper upgrades.
That's my experience as well, which is why I'm curious. I think an AS50 in coach is booked into a special class in coach which basically says "sorry, don't automagically upgrade this person".
Programs: AS MVP, One Pass, Starwood, Marriot Rewards,Sky Miles, AMEX Miles
Posts: 287
So now what fellow FT-er's?
Do we quietly pack our hurt feelings away and say "Well gee, at least we got 'em to back away on the elimination of all of the mileage on AS50 awards":
And now as this thread slowly sinks into the abyss the execs at AS are wondering what new and delicious takeaways they can foist on their compliant FF members....
Surely we have not run out of steam here, have we? I spent a long time accruing these miles and have spent thousands of $$$. So when are we gonna get together and form a credible response and propose some actual rollbacks of these changes?
It's gonna be hard to have a revolution without an actual war council sometime soon. As much as I enjoy reading these posts folks affiliated with AS will not be leading this charge.
To do this right we need to organize this and I doubt this site will welcome an open revolt. AS has more than 50% of the SEA market. this is the place and now is the time to make a stand!
It's all about time, place and circumstance so where do we meet and who has the chops to set up a website to commence the organizing of a response?
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"All the lives we could live, all the people we will never know, never will be, they are everywhere...." AH
well we knew the day of the 20k award would come to an end. Im surprised it lasted as long as it did over all the other carriers being at 25k. Id almost feel awkward complaining to AS about that part of the mileage plan. I think 25k and 2 more tiers is appropriate given the fact that in recent years AS has added all these transcons like MCO, MIA, EWR, and BOS to the mix that werent there just 5 or so years ago! 20k lasted for quite a long time even with the addition of these transcontinental flights.
I do however think that the AS50 shouldve retained full mileage accrual. They did give back 50% up from 0% so the complaints are working. The only thing I have further to add is that F on the AS50 should earn 100% miles. Maybe you still get 50% but the 50% bonus shouldnt be halved!
Missy you can forward that one to the powers that be! As for forwarding the idea of no miles for the companion fare....uh dont do that my girlfriend wont like hearing that news
The primary justification is in how AS treats a ticket issued with an AS50 award and as of today, they treat it no differently then fare based tickets. If they treated it with the same rules as a pure award ticket, you could argue that no miles should be earned but this is currently not the case.
I buy a PDX to MCO return ticket for $270 and get full mileage.
I buy a SEA to DCA return ticket for $750 and spend 15000 miles to reduce the cost to just under $500 but only get half the miles.
If that makes logical sense to you, then they should eliminate the miles earned on all companion fare tickets, and all deeply discounted fares should only earn 25% base miles.
This AS50 discussion is starting to border silly season territory.
If someone doesn't like the savings math in redeeming miles for an AS50 award, redeem only miles for a full award. That's a lot more hard dollar cost savings on an expensive ticket.
Personally, I think that's a better way to go if you're going to spend much more than $500 for a ticket, in any event. The AS50 is just an option.
Surely we have not run out of steam here, have we? I spent a long time accruing these miles and have spent thousands of $$$. So when are we gonna get together and form a credible response and propose some actual rollbacks of these changes?
It's gonna be hard to have a revolution without an actual war council sometime soon. As much as I enjoy reading these posts folks affiliated with AS will not be leading this charge.
To do this right we need to organize this and I doubt this site will welcome an open revolt. AS has more than 50% of the SEA market. this is the place and now is the time to make a stand!
It's all about time, place and circumstance so where do we meet and who has the chops to set up a website to commence the organizing of a response?
I believe you run the very real risk, if you get AS to roll every bit of this back, of winning the battle but losing the war. There is a hard cost to the airlines of FFP award seats, not to mention the opportunity cost of seats that could have been sold and the liability on the books. The point is to get a fair program, not one that will contribute to the bankruptcy of an airline and make every single hard-earned mile worthless.
Look around you at the rest of the industry and compare this program to the other legacy carriers. It is still pretty darned good. And we can always vote with our butts-in-seat if we find a better airline with a better program (and yes, I've sampled Virgin America, and yes, it's a very good product -- so AS does have to keep its eyes open if VX survives).
I'm not signing up to tilt at a windmill. I'd rather just help make it spin more efficiently.
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Quote:
Surely we have not run out of steam here, have we? I spent a long time accruing these miles and have spent thousands of $$$. So when are we gonna get together and form a credible response and propose some actual rollbacks of these changes?
Once again: where do you propose the company should make up the revenue that their changes to their FF plan represents?
I keep hearing about how this is oh-so-unfair (despite the fact that you've got several months to burn your FF miles at current rates), but damned little about the fact that in an environment where fuel costs have skyrocketed out of sight, you're going to have to expect higher fares and less generous FF plans.
Do I like this? No. It ($130/bbl oil + the changes that are ensuing as a result) makes me significantly less likely to fly AS going forward, since the AS50 changes (even at 1/2 mileage) make me fairly likely to fall out of MVPG for 2009 (and dead certain for 2010), at which point I might as well fly WN/VX/AS, whoever's lowest, with the upside to WN being not getting nibbled to death by fees. But when you realize that a) AS raising rates on Ma and Pa Kettle (which is basically the other alternative to jacking up fees+FF mileage redemption, etc.) is likely to get them killed by WN and b) AS doesn't fly in a vacuum, it tends to temper your rage.
Programs: Bar Alliance Gold / Tub World Emerald / Steak Team Platinum
Posts: 16,277
Glad I cashed out my final 40K for an F Award last week to SAN, but the flight down was so epic I find myself deciding to stay with AS and not defect to VX for West Coast travel so now I need to figure out where to park those miles...
IF the real idea was to reduce the miles on the books(thats only something Ive read here I havent heard anyone at AS say that) but if they are there are plenty of other ways to do that!
#1. get rid of double miles for alaskaair.com purchases on the BofA visa
#2. eliminate the 1000 bonus miles for purchases online with the visa or reduce it to 500! Also only give 1000 for actual fare purchases. Not everyone is aware of this but you get 1000 for things like a $50 upgrade online and change fees paid online! I paid $15 one day to change a fare and got 1000 bonus miles for using the AS visa card!!!
IF the real idea was to reduce the miles on the books(thats only something Ive read here I havent heard anyone at AS say that) but if they are there are plenty of other ways to do that!
#1. get rid of double miles for alaskaair.com purchases on the BofA visa
#2. eliminate the 1000 bonus miles for purchases online with the visa or reduce it to 500! Also only give 1000 for actual fare purchases. Not everyone is aware of this but you get 1000 for things like a $50 upgrade online and change fees paid online! I paid $15 one day to change a fare and got 1000 bonus miles for using the AS visa card!!!
Just a thought: Since both of those are tied to the use of the AS VISA, I have to wonder if those don't actually generate revenue for AS if BoF buys the miles from AS to give to its VISA customers. I don't have enough info to know, but if it generates revenue, I suspect AS will continue it if BofA wants to fund it. After all, it would make people less likely to get or use the VISA if there were fewer miles able to be earned, and using the VISA is both merchant fees and customer interest to BofA.
I'm not saying it's a great thing in terms of miles on the books, but it may be cash in hand for AS.
Programs: AS MVPG, DL GM, UA 3P, PriorityClub Platinum, Marriott Silver, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,673
Here's a novel idea; why doesn't AS start charging BofA more for all of those miles they give to us?
Additionally, gasoline has come down about 5% in my neighborhood in the past couple of weeks, can we expect a 5% rollback on the award (and other fee) price hikes?
:P
at least Ive never received 1
