Newsstand - WSJ: Frequent Fliers Face New Fees, Pared Perks...

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

August 6, 2008

Cashing in your frequent-flier miles? Get ready to spend some cash.
New booking fees on tickets bought with miles are among a barrage of surcharges and cutbacks hitting frequent-flier programs in the next few weeks. Pinched by high oil prices, airlines are also increasing the number of miles required for flights and cutting back on program benefits.
Today, US Airways Group Inc. will stop giving bonus miles to elite frequent fliers. It will also start charging between $25 and $50, depending on the destination, for booking award tickets.
On Aug. 15, Delta Air Lines Inc. will add a fuel surcharge to award tickets -- $25 for U.S. and Canada and $50 for other destinations -- and on Sept. 15, Northwest Airlines Corp. will add a fuel surcharge of $25 to $100 to WorldPerks tickets issued in North America.

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121798334471215371.html

Don't forget to sign the petition

http://www.savedividendmiles.com/

Don't forget to sign the petition

http://www.savedividendmiles.com/

:td:

Vote with your wallet, not a petition that won't make a lick of difference. Last time there was such an uproar over at US the FFOCUS group formed, had their moment in the sun and got nothing lasting out of it. This is no different. US has made a decision on how they want to run their business and they aren't likely to change.

As for the story in the OP, nothing all that new there. It does add some complexity to the game of figuring out how to maximize value of miles, but nothing particularly new or ground-breaking in the article.