najarroy

Good morning:

Does anyone know or have any tips on:

Why would anyone or why should anyone move to an alternative FFP?

United is after the revenue and is making it all but rewarding for FFP loyal pax.

is there any other domestic (US) program that would seem to treat loyals in a better way?

UA and Delta seem to be very similar in the way they are classifying premier levels.

Thanks.

emcampbe

Each FF program has its pluses and minuses, and which program is right for each customer is going to vary highly on benefits that are most important to them, as well as other factors like onboard product, route network, etc. Some are favorable to upgrades, some want better award options, etc. If you like to change award plans right up to the time your first flight begins, for example, UA will be better than DL because at T-72, you lose the option to make any changes to an award on DL. Ditto if you want to do a stopover on an international award. However, DL has three tiers of awards (5 after the new year), meaning that if lowest isn't available, you'll have another option between what is saver and standard on UA. I'm sure some value that.

FF programs around the world are changing to include revenue as a factor in the awarding of miles and status, if its not purely revenue based already (like WN, for example). They're also changing what loyal means - its not just about how many miles (or segments) one flies with them, its what kind of fares. UA/DL have chosen a different approach to that than many non-US airlines, putting in a specific $ value you need for each level. AC, LH, etc. limit the amount of miles you get on lower fares, so haven't in essence tagged a specific dollar amount to a status level, but make it, say, twice as hard to get your desired status level than those on mid-level or higher fares. I can guarantee you that if FF programs were started within the last 10 years or so, they would be structured a lot differently. People are used to the benefits of the programs as they were structured, and what's happening now is the programs are starting to shift toward what they want, but they can't do it in one fell swoop.

AA is one where revenue isn't in the picture really just yet. But next year, after the AA/US programs merged, I'd be surprised if a revenue threshold isn't set somehow for the following year. Maybe not exactly the same way UA/DL has...but there will be some sort of requirement that is very similar.

On the other hand, if you look at loyalty/marketing, many companies use an RFM model...recency, frequency and monetary...to judge one's loyalty. Each will judge how important each factor is in the overall loyalty picture, and how each part is defined. Airlines have traditionally not used the monetary part so much, but now, they are moving to use it as at least equal importance. For flyers who are used to earning status while constantly flying on low fares, it is not good.

goalie

Welcome to Flyertalk, najarroy ^

I've moved your thread over to the Information Desk forum and asked the moderators of that forum to merge your thread into the thread below but in the meantime, take a look at that thread and especially the posts from say the last 6-12 months as that's where most of the changes in the various Frequent Flier Programs (FFP'S) have taken place

goalie
UA Forum Co-Moderator

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

burbuja0512

I'm also fairly new here and am certain that this topic has been covered a million times over, but since I haven't given my two cents, here goes...

I have been a United 1K member because they fly everywhere I need to go. I travel all over the world and thus far haven't yet found a place I want to go FOR BUSINESS that United or a partner won't take me. (pleasure is another thing... plenty of places I see that I can't get to on United for vacation)

Delta's offerings for biz travel seem pretty wimpy unless you're just headed to Europe..

My biggest complaint right now with United is just that everyone and their mother have status so the fight to get on boarding group #1 or even 2 is HUGE. I have seen many flights where anyone who wasn't boarding group 1 or 2 was asked to gate check. While this doesn't affect me personally, it would really upset me if I had silver status or if I didn't have any status at all.

Back when I was flying 15-25k domestically several years ago, and was based out of Denver, I only flew Frontier because I felt "valued" a lot more. With United, unless you're Gold and above, you're basically treated like crap.

spiekerbox

The one thing I haven't anyone mention yet is LOCATION. For example although now I am also relatively loyal to UA, it is completely due to my move to a UA hub. Previously I flew DL much more often because when it came down to it, they had the least expensive and most variety of flights from where I was living. As I read this forum I hear of many other programs that seem to give more value to people that fly 25k-50k miles a year as I do, but it is not feasible for me to make them my main FFP.