American Express Membership Rewards - No more Eos redemptions for MR First

No more Eos (http://www.wanderingaramean.com/2008/04/another-one-bites-dust.html) means no more Eos redemptions for Platinum and Centurion members. I wonder if AmEx will bother to replace the benefit or if they'll just let it go...

Too bad to see Eos die. I thought they really had a chance.

Silverjet is not offering to honor Eos tickets, but rather to match the fare paid for an unused Eos ticket, subject to a minimum amount. This wouldn't help anyone holding an award ticket, but could be helpful to someone holding a discount advance purchase ticket for travel soon.

http://www.flysilverjet.com/silverjet-eos-offer.aspx

BA is offering a discount which waives advance purchase requirements...

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/flightops/public/en_us?p_faqid=3221

Not surprising that SilverJet isn't honoring the tickets as is - they'd lose a ton of money that way. Plus, the customers are likely to get their money back from the CC company, so no real net loss to the customer either.

I wonder if AmEx will come up with a replacement in the MR first collection; the E0 reward was arguably one of the better values in that program.

With Maxjet and Eos both gone, I wonder how long Silverjet will be able to hold out.

With Maxjet and Eos both gone, I wonder how long Silverjet will be able to hold out.

One could argue that less competition gives them better pricing power...

One could argue that less competition gives them better pricing power...

...or, that the stand-alone business class only airlines business model failed ...

Relevant article here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/business/29road.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

SilverJet or BA's forthcoming "OpenSkies" subsidiary would seem to be the only viable replacements for Eos in Membership Rewards First.

I think having even a small economy (or premium economy) class cabin gives a carrier an improved chance of success, because it allows the carrier to reduce prices to fill flights without undermining their price integrity. If an airline offers only one level of accomodation everyone wants to pay the lowest fare. However, if the carrier offers an economy cabin they can oversell it and upgrade passengers to the business cabin without lowering the quoted price for business class.

Relevant article here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/business/29road.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

SilverJet or BA's forthcoming "OpenSkies" subsidiary would seem to be the only viable replacements for Eos in Membership Rewards First.

I think having even a small economy (or premium economy) class cabin gives a carrier an improved chance of success, because it allows the carrier to reduce prices to fill flights without undermining their price integrity. If an airline offers only one level of accomodation everyone wants to pay the lowest fare. However, if the carrier offers an economy cabin they can oversell it and upgrade passengers to the business cabin without lowering the quoted price for business class.


Well OpenSkies is not going to be flying to/from the UK (http://www.wanderingaramean.com/2008/02/openskies-update.html), so that doesn't really match up with the NYC-LON route that EOS offered. I don't know if that makes them more or less appealing as a redemption option, but it would definitely be different.

I'm not sure that the Y cabin helps all that much, except in cases where the carrier is selling Y seats and people are upgrading them to C/F, either through miles or certs. The incremental revenue from overselling Y to give out C seats is not nearly as compelling as selling more C seats. That all being said, the mixed config seems to work pretty well for the UA p.s. config on their transcon routes from JFK and is pretty similar to what BA is doing with OpenSkies. That route sells a fair number of F seats in the entertainment industry where they contractually get F tix and also to FFs who upgrade. I don't know that a TATL business can be run on the same premise, but BA certainly appears poised to try.

CO (Continental) is offering a discount to Eos passengers..see continental.com..@:-)

SilverJet or BA's forthcoming "OpenSkies" subsidiary would seem to be the only viable replacements for Eos in Membership Rewards First.

Silverjet grounded as funding falls through

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/30/business/jet.php