US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - Why did they offer preferred mile bonusues?

All of the changes surprised me but did not shock me. In theory, non refundable should mean non refundable. I also see their desire to give something to the guy who forks out $2K for a ticket. However, theory is not reality and their solution and how they presented it was absurd, as documented by everyone’s posts.

However, I still can not get over the timing of the preferred miles announcement. This had to have been in their minds for months. If so, why do you offer 2x and 3x preferred bonuses and the 4K, 6K, 10K preferred miles bonuses right BEFORE you announce low fares will not earn any preferred miles? Double today, none tomorrow, get them while they are hot?? Giving preferred miles bonuses is VERY rare and was occuring as they announced these changes.

OK, so the bonuses are supposed to be targeted and not many people are supposed to be aware of them. Even so, it is just plain inconsistent. How can you sign off on both programs? It is like putting tomatoes on sale this week at 50% off, then next week announcing that we are losing money on tomatoes (even at the regular price) so we are going to double their price. The store manager should be questioned as to why the he** did he put tomatoes on sale in the first place.

The best (yet stupid) answer I can come up with is maybe there was some grand conspiracy that went something like, “Let’s give them lots of bonuses, which will be posted on the web, and many people will get tons of miles they don’t deserve. Then we make the announcement and they will see we are trying to clean up our program and they are happy.”

Besides the thinking being way off, I just can’t get over the timing. Why did they approve the current promos? Were they supposed to be a smoke screen? Do they think we are ignorant?

edited

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Saving the world, one clue at a time.

[This message has been edited by ClueByFour (edited 10-15-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mileshound:
All of the changes surprised me but did not shock me. In theory, non refundable should mean non refundable...</font>

But, a CREDIT is not a refund.

I think we are seeing the bonuses and announced cutbacks concurrently because the decisions regarding their implementation are/were being made at different levels.

I would tend to think that the bonus decisions were being made by mid-level management as part of a general 'recapture business' or 'put butts in seats' type of program. Senior management has oversight and may have a general knowledge of what's going on, but doesn't know all the details/timing. Also, US has a history of continually running different mileage promos.

Senior management probably didn't want to make any changes to current marketing efforts until they finalized all the changes that they just made. It will be interesting to see what new bonuses they will offer.

They may be offering all these bonuses to minimize short term impact of the changes. I.e. with all the bonuses a true Gold flyer based on strictly miles/segments may very well reach CP. If you reach CP you ill have the sameor better benefits during calendar year 2003. The changes won't hit you until 3/1/2004 which is a long way off. You will still get the miles during 3, etc. Remember, most people don't understand the programs, and their admins or travel agents upgrade them, etc. I.e. your stereotypical executive. So other than the fare changes, some people may not feel anything until 3/1/04 when they now are either a Silver or a regular DM member because of no miles earned on non biz fares.

The thing is the bonuses were obviously a carrot, but they barely gave them enough time to see if they were working (a month or so), and then they bring out the stick instead ...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by BillMorrow:
I think we are seeing the bonuses and announced cutbacks concurrently because the decisions regarding their implementation are/were being made at different levels.

I would tend to think that the bonus decisions were being made by mid-level management as part of a general 'recapture business' or 'put butts in seats' type of program. Senior management has oversight and may have a general knowledge of what's going on, but doesn't know all the details/timing. Also, US has a history of continually running different mileage promos.

Senior management probably didn't want to make any changes to current marketing efforts until they finalized all the changes that they just made. It will be interesting to see what new bonuses they will offer.</font>

Except Baldanza is head of marketing AND planning... go figure!