Midwest Airlines Midwest Miles (Pre-Alignment) - Why people consolidate travel on a single airline

Recently I had to fly Continental...an airline I had not used in years...for a last-minute trip to Cleveland and back. (The YX schedule just didn't work.) My total ticket cost was about $665.

I signed up with CO OnePass just because I hate to waste mile opportunities.

What did I earn? 652 whopping miles for the round trip. It would take a mere 37 additional round trips to hit the 25,000 miles standard domestic award. No 500-mile minimum earning. No bonus miles for a rape fare level. And of course no elite bonus because I'm not elite.

Later in the week I did MKE-IND-MKE and earned 2,500 miles based on the 500 mile minimum, 50% bonus for elite level, and 500 mile bonus for select markets (thanks, AirTran!)

I think I'm offended enough by that paltry OnePass credit that next time I'll fly DL through DTW if the YX nonstops aren't at the right time.

Could you have earned DL miles for your trip, or has that arrangement expired? I'm probably behind the times.

You're absolutely right, though. That's a ridiculous way to thank a passenger who spent a lot of money on a trip that could have been replaced with a long car drive, or a flight out of Chicago.

Recently I had to fly Continental...an airline I had not used in years...for a last-minute trip to Cleveland and back. (The YX schedule just didn't work.) My total ticket cost was about $665.

I signed up with CO OnePass just because I hate to waste mile opportunities.

What did I earn? 652 whopping miles for the round trip. It would take a mere 37 additional round trips to hit the 25,000 miles standard domestic award. No 500-mile minimum earning. No bonus miles for a rape fare level. And of course no elite bonus because I'm not elite.

Later in the week I did MKE-IND-MKE and earned 2,500 miles based on the 500 mile minimum, 50% bonus for elite level, and 500 mile bonus for select markets (thanks, AirTran!)

I think I'm offended enough by that paltry OnePass credit that next time I'll fly DL through DTW if the YX nonstops aren't at the right time.

All good points.

I myself try to allocate my travel among United and Midwest based on schedule and frequent flier benefits.

With Continental now a Star Alliance member and the lower elite level threshold at Midwest, there is no reason. Milwaukee now provides great coverage for both programs (Midwest non-stops with Delta/Frontier codeshares and United with codeshares on Star Alliance members U.S. Airways, Air Canada, and Continental.

This is yet another reason why AirTran will have a difficult time cracking the loyalty of many of MKE's frequent travelers.

Could you have earned DL miles for your trip, or has that arrangement expired? I'm probably behind the times.



Continental is now a part of the Star Alliance and code-shares extensively with United.

I believe October was the end of NW/DL's link with Continental. And since I fly UA about as often as CO, it didn't do me much good either direction.

I do wonder if Continental's move away from DL/NW opens the door for YX to restore some lost frequencies to EWR, and to return to Houston...probably IAH this time. Flyers in the DL/NW/YX group no longer get credit on those Continental flights.

With Continental now a Star Alliance member and the lower elite level threshold at Midwest, there is no reason. Milwaukee now provides great coverage for both programs (Midwest non-stops with Delta/Frontier codeshares and United with codeshares on Star Alliance members U.S. Airways, Air Canada, and Continental.

This is yet another reason why AirTran will have a difficult time cracking the loyalty of many of MKE's frequent travelers.

Agreed. The "new Delta" provides one-stop service from MKE to just about anywhere through DTW, MSP, and ATL...and Midwest flies to most of the top MKE O&D destinations nonstop.

I do like AirTran's frequent flyer program, since I fly mostly domestic short hops. Very quick and easy to earn enough credits to upgrade to business class, which is what I use most of my credits for. AirTran can fill up its flights from MKE with leisure travelers, but I agree that it's going to be an uphill battle getting business travelers from MKE (unless they can negotiate corporate agreements/discounts with major MKE-area companies as they do in other markets).

What did I earn? 652 whopping miles for the round trip. It would take a mere 37 additional round trips to hit the 25,000 miles standard domestic award. No 500-mile minimum earning. No bonus miles for a rape fare level. And of course no elite bonus because I'm not elite.


I completely agree with your assessment, as I have stated a couple of times on here why I fly Midwest almost exclusively.

Little clarification though...You probably could have made the "standard domestic award" level by totaling up the segments that you would have flown instead of trying for the 25,000 miles...I am guessing that CO is similar to DL, which means their first medallion level would be 30 segments, which means 15 round trips....I still agree with you, though.

I completely agree with your assessment, as I have stated a couple of times on here why I fly Midwest almost exclusively.

Little clarification though...You probably could have made the "standard domestic award" level by totaling up the segments that you would have flown instead of trying for the 25,000 miles...I am guessing that CO is similar to DL, which means their first medallion level would be 30 segments, which means 15 round trips....I still agree with you, though.

Segments don't help in getting award tickets, just elite status.

I also consolidate my travel where possible (for me, DL) for this reaon and a few others -- upgrade opportunities and much better treatment during irrops. Irrops handling alone over the past year has made it worth it.

At least the 652 CO miles won't expire (at least, not yet).

And how long do you think that DL/NW will still participate with YX on redeeming miles? That is going to end sometime soon IMHO. Then what, you will be able to redeem them on YX or YX? Sometimes it is better not to put all of your eggs in one basket. Always have a back up plan. Once you hit a milestone on one airline, start putting the miles on another. Then you at least have a choice.

And how long do you think that DL/NW will still participate with YX on redeeming miles? That is going to end sometime soon IMHO. Then what, you will be able to redeem them on YX or YX? Sometimes it is better not to put all of your eggs in one basket. Always have a back up plan. Once you hit a milestone on one airline, start putting the miles on another. Then you at least have a choice.

Provided that you are the one making the decisions on which carrier to use. Some employers have preferred carriers and typically won't allow you to book elsewhere.

Provided that you are the one making the decisions on which carrier to use. Some employers have preferred carriers and typically won't allow you to book elsewhere.

That is true but not always when you can justify the reason behind it. A few years ago I worked for a company headquartered in Dallas. Low and behold, AA was the preferred airline. Problem was UA was hundreds of dollars cheaper on flights out of ORD. Two or three times justifying this to the corporate travel guru and he agreed that the savings taking a non preferred airline outweighed the savings/rebates we received from AA. Sometimes common sense does prevail.

for the past few years I had things split between CO and UA. Mostly because with work I was flying NW frequently and at the time there was uncertainty if NW would continue to exist. It really came down to where I was flying to which Alliance got the credit. With CO and UA both in *A everything will now end up on UA since I have status.
Some people care about miles, some just want the cheapest flight and will then bemoan the fact that they're getting little miles in the process and that luggage fees and never get upgraded.
My thoughts on this, you made a consious choice to fly CO because you didn't care for the flight options with another carrier and are upset based on your choice of carriers the level of mileage reward you were given as a no status flier.
I do find offence with your choice of language regarding fare levels. May I suggest a change in wording?

Sometimes it is better not to put all of your eggs in one basket. Always have a back up plan. Once you hit a milestone on one airline, start putting the miles on another. Then you at least have a choice.

Good point...The reasoning behind putting most of my eggs in Midwest's basket is because of the bonus miles that you get when hitting flown mile thresholds....As you can see I am a silver medallion member on DL and those were done with a few Midwest flights where I used my NWA number, but mostly on NWA connectors through DTW.

I really dont have any intelligence on what will happen with the DL codeshare that Midwest has in place right now...I believe it is in the best interests of Midwest to keep it in place since I can redeem my miles to so many different locations that Midwest/Frontier does not serve.