America West FlightFund (Discontinued Program) - Elite policy change: Silver members can now confirm upgrades a day earlier

I received this e-mail from America West today. Subject line: "Policy Change: Upgrade to First Class Earlier"

"As a reminder, Elite members receive complimentary upgrades to first class as early as three days prior to departure.

Upgrades are prioritized based on Elite status tier:

Silver: 1 day prior to departure (versus midnight day of departure)

Gold: 2 days prior to departure

Platinum: 3 days prior to departure"

The only change appears to be that Silver members can now confirm their upgrade 24 hours earlier than before. For Silver people, I suspect this is very welcome news.


Edited to fix bolding errors.


[This message has been edited by AZ Travels the World (edited Feb 03, 2004).]

This move makes a lot of sense. It costs America West absolutely nothing-- afterall, revenue management can still hold back F seats.

For Silver members, they'll now have the ability to plan better for their flights. With the day of departure upgrades, they probably didn't know until arrival at the airport whether or not they were upgraded (unless they were flying out later in the day and had time to check their e-mail). The new upgrade threshold fixes that.

I totally agree.

I can confirm this. I got an email today for a flight I got upgraded on that leaves tomorrow at 9:50 pm to Seattle from

It appears there was more to this change than I suspected...

GO FIRST paid upgrades can now be confirmed thirty hours in advance. Moving the Silver upgrades out a day allows Silver Elite members to retain upgrade priority over the general pool of passengers.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TransWorldOne:
[B]...With day of departure upgrades, they probably didn't know until arrival at the airport whether or not they were upgraded (unless they were flying out later in the day and had time to check their e-mail)....QUOTE]

I used to call after midnight day of departure. Now I call after midnight day before. No upgrade on one leg but when I called again later that day the upgrade went through. Still this was earlier than the old standard. Nice.

BTW, by playing phone agent roulette, I have gotten an upgrade into a seat that was "being held for revenue". Just asked them to TRY to put me into it. (When I called just after midnight.)



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Just trying to keep up with the gals in the trailer park next door.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TransWorldOne:
It appears there was more to this change than I suspected...

GO FIRST paid upgrades can now be confirmed thirty hours in advance. Moving the Silver upgrades out a day allows Silver Elite members to retain upgrade priority over the general pool of passengers.</font>

And here we thought they were just looking out for their elite members and trying to make life better for them. Given the America West of late, we should have known better.

While this is still a little better for the current Silver members, depending upon the time of day of the flight, the 30-hour window prvovides very little time before upgrades are opened to the masses. (For example, if a non-elite has a 7 AM flight on Monday, the 30-hour window opens at 1 AM on Sunday -- one hour later than the Silver upgrade window.) So, no advantage at all unless your flights are much later in the day.

Since they're backing the Go First paid upgrade window back to 30 hours they should do the same for Platinum companion upgrades, but they're not. I asked.

So this nice little benefit for Silver members end up being yet another de-valuation of elite benefits. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif Consistent, anyway.

This makes sense to increase revenue. Things like this are what keeps the airline profitable and fares down.

I do see how this can be an issue to Platinums and Golds traveling with a companion.

I would suggest that the Platinums or Golds that are affected make sure HP understands that this is a disappointment to them.

Write your concerns as they all get logged and categorized and are normally provided to the right person.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SanDiegoShaun:
This makes sense to increase revenue.</font>

Which is clearly what is driving every decision. Unfortunately, one by one they continue to have a negative impact on their best customers.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SanDiegoShaun:
This makes sense to increase revenue. Things like this are what keeps the airline profitable and fares down...</font>

That is utter nonsense. This measure does absolutely NOTHING to keep fares down. NOTHING.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by TransWorldOne:
That is utter nonsense. This measure does absolutely NOTHING to keep fares down. NOTHING.</font>


Unfortunately you could not be more wrong about this specific point.

Increasing revenue in areas like this allows HP to be more competitive and take risks in other areas. This includes entries into new markets and introducing new transcons which you will see later this year.

HP is able to take a risk and even loose money in new markets. This in turn is balanced out by things like Go First or BOB. The amount charged for a GO First one way upgrade is at times more then someone pays for a round trip ticket anywhere in the HP system. Just look at the transcon markets as an example.

On any given day the GO First revenue greatly overshadows the transcon fares of today and any they choose to add in the future. This makes HP A LOT of money, enough that agents are commissioned to sell the GO First.

This is all part of the HP growth plan which allows them to still be profitable while entering new markets. This type of move disrupts those legacy carriers that have typically charged outrageous fares in those markets. This is something HP could not do unless they had additional revenue streams to cover these risks.

The Go First revenue is a distinct competitive advantage that other LCC do not have and most legacy carriers don't offer to non elites.

I agree that this hampers Elites with companions and would like to see a move to correct this.

However there is no question that this revenue helps keep a balanced financial outlook. This keeps investors investing and at the same time allows lower fares and progress towards HP’s aggressive growth plans.


[This message has been edited by SanDiegoShaun (edited Feb 05, 2004).]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

this works for me, it's thursday, and i just upgraded all my flights for tomorrow friday, 2/6. i am flying prc-phx-lax-phx-stl, and all the agents were saying how many compliments they are receiving. the reason they did do this was that people that pay for upgrades, instead of waiting to do it at the airport, can now call ahead four hours and "Go First" over the phone before they get to the airport. i am surprised out of prc, my flight is booked 19/19, first time i have even seen a 100% load factor on the prc express leg.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Since they're backing the Go First paid upgrade window back to 30 hours they should do the same for Platinum companion upgrades, but they're not. I asked.

So this nice little benefit for Silver members end up being yet another de-valuation of elite benefits. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif Consistent, anyway.[/B]</font>


I agree whole-heartedly. The companion program was and now even more a joke compared
to US. Even though they are starting a 'GoFirst" program as a means of revenue,
they still value their CP elites by upgrading
their companions 7 days out before even gold
and silver elites.

In my letter to them I asked them to offer the Go First to Plat/Gold at the 2 day and 3 day marks for each respective level.

In some cases I would not mind paying a fee to bump my companion. I think we all recognize that the companion upgrades are a thing of the past.

With my suggestion, AWA can retain the revenue and keep Elites somewhat happy.

FF programs are a changing landscape.

Cheers,
Gary