America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - Status miles on TW and vice versa

Hello from a TW Elite 1.

Myself and many other TW Elites are wondering about the ability to earn TW Elite status miles on HP flights, and vice versa for HP Elites. Have you guys heard anything from HP about this, because we sure haven't from TW Aviators.

Do you currently earn Elite status miles on TW flights? The FF Guidebook for 2000 says so, but I can't find anything on HP's website to document this.

I would assume that Elite status miles would be earned on one's "home" airline on any code-shared flights- TW metal also operating with a HP flight # and vice versa...but how about non code-share flights? The same question would apply to upgrades- it will be interesting to see how that works. Currently, only TW Elite 1's and Plats (= to HP Gold & Plat) have unlimited complimentary upgrades on all fares. TW Elites have to pay for upgrades on discount fares...

For those of us in STL, the HP codeshare opens up a few options to the SW and to Mexico, but not a whole lot else. I think that we were expecting to see some more, especially from the East Coast to Columbus and Phoenix. It's also interesting that most of TW's STL routes, including HNL and OGG, as well as all of Europe, the Middle East and most of the Carribean are not included for HP flyers.

I think that this is a needed step in the right direction for both airlines. Especially if TW can be contracted to handle some of HP's maintenance, and a full codeshare can be implemented at some point.

I spoke with a HP agent (on the Gold Line) about this issue last week. She had to ask a supervisor to make sure, but she confirmed that miles earned on TWA do not count towards elite status on America West. Bummer, cause my friend would have made gold this year if TWA miles counted.

Socal,

I did some snooping around here on this board and at AWA website. It doesn't seem like the TWA partnership is going to be quite like that of the Continental partnership with AWA.

Here are the search results from the Continental board here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forumcgi/search.cgi?action=simplesearch&StartPoint=41&SearchTerms=America+West&SearchUser=&ForumChoice=20&SearchIn=ALL&SearchDate=ALL&ExactName=no&BooleanAN D=YES&File=temp-2451897-085941-B9nG.cgi&Continue=False

Apparently, the Continental partnership extends mileage bonuses, etc to elite membership. Looking at the alliances section on AWA website, it doesn't seem like TWA Aviators will get the same deal. Also, no upgrades (Continental gets 2 hours prior). This is confusing to me because the TWA partnership seems more extensive.

Checking the TWA Aviator's membership guide I downloaded from the internet doesn't make me feel any better either. It has been updated to reflect the new partnership with AWA, but the only mention of bonus miles it makes is about 50% class of service bonus for first class travel. Nothing about upgrades and elite qualification. The AWA website concurs with this. Bummer.

It isn't at all clear if codeshare flights accrue the same as regular TWA coded flights. I would assume that they will. However, in the awards section of the guide there is a stipulation that codeshare flights "may not" be available for award redemption. Bummer.

I agree that unless upgrades or at the very least elite qualification are available for flying codeshare then there is no incentive. It would be much nicer if they expanded the alliance along the lines of Continental's.

I would encourage all TW and HP fliers to write to their respective programs and ask that codeshare flights count toward elite status and that upgrades are available to members of the other program.

TW and HP have been conspicuously silent on this. There are two possibilities: First, they aren't going to allow these things, and they realize people might not like it. (What the heck kind of codeshare is THAT, anyway?) The other option is that they are trying to align the two program with each other, since they are quite a bit different, and then will make an announcement when that's been ironed out.

Personally, I think HP's 25K/50K/75K elite qualifying model would be better, given that 100K for top level on TW is a lot, especially since TW's long-haul int'l routes are so few anymore. Then again, TW does offer 750 miles minimum per segment for elite, 1,000 for top levels (isn't that right?).

TW offers 750 minimum miles for non-Elites, and 1000 for Elite and up. That adds up quickly, especially for short hops around the Midwest. Someone flying, say Nashville-St. Louis- Peoria on a weekly basis would easily qualify for Plat...I am guessing that a fair amount of people do it on a revenue basis as well.

$5K for Elite, $10K for Elite 1, and $20K for Plat. Currently there is no segment qualification except for trans-atlantic flights (I believe 5, 10 and 20, respectively, for the 3 levels)

I took a flight on TW recently and used my HP numner for the trip. When I checked my HP statement online the miles from the trip posted but they did not count for status miles.
2000 may be the "date prior to marriage" portion of the relationship. Maybe in 2001 HP will give status for trips on TW.

BSL

The TWA-AWA codeshare agreement may be a day late and a dollar short for TWA.

Look at a 2 year chart of TWA stock, pretty much a straight line from around $5-$7 a share to it's latest close at $1.32! TWA has almost no valuable assets, the stock value represents the remaining operating cash. Some optimists predict a return to profitability by the second or third quarter of 2001. If it hasnt made a profit in the last few years, it's future prospects with a slowing economy are dim. If I had a share of TWA I'd cash it in and buy a cup of coffee. (not worth enough for a drink!)

The pessimists have been predicting the doom of TWA for years, will it happen? I'm snake, not a prophet.

(Stock was down to $1.15 this afternoon, how low can it go?)

[This message has been edited by snake (edited 12-21-2000).]

Granted, HP management may not be a bunch of Einsteins, but I don't think they'd sign a code-share with an airline that's about to go out of business.

Maybe it's possible that there is some sort of loan arrangement written in, whereby HP loans TW some money if it needs it. Or more likely, if TW hits a cash crunch, I wouldn't be surprised to see the STL community rally around and arrange something.

It's looking like the AWA-TWA partnership is history before it began. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif