Craz, CO knows what they are doing - they've timed this promo to maximize revenue during a period when they believe that it would otherwise be weak. I can only assume that they've done the math.
As for me, if I make it I'll be Plat until 02/11 and even if I only fly my usual Silver/Gold miles during the next one-and-three-quarter years, I'll be doing it as a Plat.
The genius of this promo is that it motivates Silvers and Golds to fly more, whereas the Plats who are already unmotivated to fly more than 75,000 miles are unaffected. I'm willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that CO has more to gain from the existing Silvers and Golds in this recession and little downside to lose from the Plats.
Cheers!
+1
I just booked an PHL-SAN MR for June and am contemplating another if I don't get the biz travel to make sure I get up to Plat before the offer expires.
I believe by "fake elite" he was reffering to anyone with elite status that didn't receive status in the traditional sense. Either by promotions like this, receiving status from a credit card, or by getting status granted from a company or travel agent.
While I planned on earning plat the ol fashioned way, this promo gets me there much faster. So I'll make fake plat in may and then become real plat in oct as originally planned
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I just booked EWR-TXL RT for 298 + tax, out on Saturday evening, back on Sunday morning. This is perhaps not the right thread for this, but I do have a couple of questions:
1. I will be doing OLCI and hand carry luggage. Will I have any problem in terms of time exiting from the plane though passport control and going back through security? There's 90 minutes between arrival and departure.
2. Do I need any visa or anything like that? Of course I have my US Passport.
3. I was able to book exit row seat 16A on the homecoming flight (757-200). Does anyone know if it has a "real" armrest on the window side, or is it like the exit row seats on a 737?
Yea. It's a nice quick and easy way to earn 16,000 EQMS. And for all of you worried about poluting of the elite ranks, I've been platinum for 9 years but with reduced travel this year due to the economy, I would have had to make a MR pr two at the end of the year anyway. So this just makes it cheaper and easier.
I can't believe there is such a discussion like this. In the short time I've been on this forum (you can tell by my join date), and please someone feel free to put me in my place, but I've noticed that FT advocates "working the system" to your advantage. Whether through mistake fares, MR, etc. The purpose is to earn your keep at a lower cost than others.
How should this promo be any different? When a new member joins FT, don't we embrace them and say "Hey, welcome to FT!" Shouldn't it be the same for a traveler who may happen to make elite for the first time? "Welcome to the elite ranks!" Without calling them "fake."
Programs: CO Platinum, SPG Platinum, HH Gold - whatever that's worth now :(
Posts: 12,515
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpartanFlyer86
What classifies as a "fake" elite?
If I made elite for the first time this year because of this promo, does that threaten you and the other "real" elites?
Maybe tin Elite was a better term tossed around here before. Yes, just like the double-stay credit promo offered by SPG, these promos swell Elite ranks, dilute benefits by creating more competition, and then a good number of the 'tin' Elites lose their status or drop levels the next year because they can't maintain status without the promo.
CO had a couple other ways to play this -
1) go through customer data, identify customers who flew at profitable fare but whose business business fell off, and target them specifically
or
2) offer the promo but restrict it to fares above W, encouraging incremental spend to get the EQM bonus
__________________ Rich and 50 is the same as middle-class and 30
Airlines define what an "elite" is, not the passengers. And for the airline, elite status earned through this promotion is the same as elite status earned any other way. That's all that matters.
I snagged that fare for Apr. 10-12. I ended up doing EWR-HAM-EWR. The details of my itin. are buried a couple pages back in the thread. It prices about between $370 and $420 or so including all taxes and fees. If you fly into TXL, in addition to doing the nonstop, connections via LHR, AMS, ZRH, FRA, and HAM onto BA/KL/LH (as the case may be) to get into TXL are allowed (of course, if the intra-Europe segment is not booked under CO code, it some legwork in calling continental.com support to insert the OAL segments to get you to/from the CO Europe city and TXL and then repriced to the proper $298+ tax fare).
It's available thorough at least the Memorial Day weekend. The same fare is also available to Hamburg, and Munich (!) is about $30-50 more (and requires some legwork in calling continental.com support).
Truthfully, methinks L-class inventory will become an endangered species on the Germany flights by the time we're through...
Last edited by HeathrowGuy; Mar 23, 09 at 6:57 pm.
I just booked EWR-TXL RT for 298 + tax, out on Saturday evening, back on Sunday morning. This is perhaps not the right thread for this, but I do have a couple of questions:
1. I will be doing OLCI and hand carry luggage. Will I have any problem in terms of time exiting from the plane though passport control and going back through security? There's 90 minutes between arrival and departure.
2. Do I need any visa or anything like that? Of course I have my US Passport.
3. I was able to book exit row seat 16A on the homecoming flight (757-200). Does anyone know if it has a "real" armrest on the window side, or is it like the exit row seats on a 737?
Yea. It's a nice quick and easy way to earn 16,000 EQMS. And for all of you worried about poluting of the elite ranks, I've been platinum for 9 years but with reduced travel this year due to the economy, I would have had to make a MR pr two at the end of the year anyway. So this just makes it cheaper and easier.
I have some pretty hefty (unfortunately) experience with TXL this month, especially when it comes to OLCI and carry on only. The passport control is directly outside the gate, so if you are first off the plane you will be through it in no time. However if at back, that's a different story.
Getting back on the plane, I was denied boarding even though I was present at the security line 35 min prior to departure with my OLCI boarding pass in hand...considering security is right at the gate. I would highly recommend snagging a bulkhead seat 24 hours out to avoid any complications. But you should be fine regardless!
And for the more adventurous among us, EWR-HKG-EWR prices out at $862 all-in for the same Apr. 10-12, and under this promotion, would yield approximately 32,000 EQMs.
And for the more adventurous among us, EWR-HKG-EWR prices out at $862 all-in for the same Apr. 10-12, and under this promotion, would yield approximately 32,000 EQMs.
I was just messing with numbers and it seems you are getting 37 miles per dollar on this run...
on my trip to Brasil next month ( last 2 weeks of April) BOS - IAH - GIG nets 26,450 + - a few miles.. at $499 plus taxes (about $105) my math has this trip at 43.8 miles per dollar...
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Join Date: Apr 2001
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Quote:
Originally Posted by galeaoguy
I was just messing with numbers and it seems you are getting 37 miles per dollar on this run...
on my trip to Brasil next month ( last 2 weeks of April) BOS - IAH - GIG nets 26,450 + - a few miles.. at $499 plus taxes (about $105) my math has this trip at 43.8 miles per dollar...
Most folks here use cents per mile (cpm) as the barometer for comparison rather than miles per dollar. I don't know why, but that is the way it has been for a while. The HKG deal rates 2.67cpm, which is pretty good. The BOS-IAH-GIG-IAH-BOS route you've found is a bit better at ~2.37cpm, but also fewer miles. It also isn't an immediate turn so there are extra costs associated with it. Still, it is a pretty good deal with the DEQM promo.
Programs: CO Plat, Hilton Gold, Hertz 5*, Emerald Exec
Posts: 199
What a nice surprise, after being in Vegas for 4 days, logging into my computer to check in and finding the double EQM link.
I really have no opinion either way on this. I understand why some may be upset, but at the same time, I do not think this will have any major impact to the elite ranks.
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