Townshend

Doesn't appear so. Looks like all shuttle routes now have surcharges, regardless of Smart/Sophisticated level.

mwood20

Unless you're grandfathered in....right? I need to renew this week

millions

I would get everything in writing.

nyczreklis

I was seeing it free on Friday when it showed up on the app. But checked last night and it's requiring $275 now. I messaged into the jetshuttle, supposedly they're adding charges to Dallas and Chicago to LA flights.

Maverick84

I agree about getting it in writing. The renewal pitch I got was a little misleading, in the fine print it was you receive free seats on shuttles you currently have access to. Which obviously implies that any new shuttles launched will have a surcharge - regardless of if they are local, national, international or etc...

I'm going to be fair about it in my renewal and understand that any transatlantic or holiday shuttles should have a surcharge but any national (within US or within Europe; [current and future]) shuttles should be grandfathered in for all smart members and I will require that in writing.

The new shuttle - NY to Dallas shows a surcharge on my end, even as a smart member with 2 available tokens.

millions

I messaged about the CHI-LA and was told there should NOT be a charge, and IT was working on it.

What would the justification be for instituting a charge for Chicago, and not, say NYC?

There is absolutely no transparency here.

millions

Not that you necessarily have much leverage, but why would you agree it's "fair" to have charges on holiday shuttles? I think the addition of fees around the holidays for shuttles that are and have otherwise been free is one of the most troubling developments this year.

Maverick84

From a high demand perspective during the holiday season I understand if there is a small surcharge for those holiday shuttles. I'm not saying its fair or unfair, I think that during holiday times quite a few businesses add a premium and I understand why they do that. Commercial airlines up-charge customers during these times, hotels do the same, points / rewards are usually blacked out and etc..

I get why that would bother many members, it just doesn't bother me that much. I'm much more concerned about the surcharges on transcontinental routes, charges on new shuttle routes and removal of previous benefits like the heli transfer or free food on board.

I agree I probably don't have much leverage, but if they confirm they are going to start charging on any new shuttle routes created going forward, they'll lose my families' 6 smart memberships next month at renewal time.

dordal

From what I understand, there are two smart memberships... the 'old' smart membership, which was available through Dec 2016, and the 'new' smart membership, which is what you can get if you signup today.

You can switch from the old to the new, but you can't switch back.

The old plan had all shuttles free, but transcon shuttles required two tokens ( effectively making it so that you couldn't book a roundtrip unless you planned to stay at the destination for several weeks ).

The new plan only has shuttles under three hours free (everything else requires a co-pay ranging from less than a hundred dollars up to a few thousand ).

Now, apparently, any 'new' shuttles over three hours ( e.g. shuttle routes created in 2017 ) have a surcharge for all members, regardless of 'old' or 'new' plan.

This is definitely concerning... technically they haven't 'taken away' any benefits, because you didn't have free access to the new shuttles before (since they didn't exist), and you still don't. However, they definitely sold people on the concept that all shuttles would be free (originally) and then all shuttles except transcons would be free. Now they're taking that away, and the future direction is pretty clear.

millions

Why would you change from the old to the new?

And while this would address fees for the DAL shuttles, it still doesn't explain fees between LA and Chicago.

dordal

I've met a couple people who have done it; biggest reason is you can book a round trip transcon. You pay one token plus a fee for each leg; rather than two tokens. That means not taking commercial back (or waiting a month for your return.). Since you can use flight credit for the 'fee', it can still be free in some sense (assuming you have flight credit.)

I'm pretty sure LA-Chicago was added in 2017, which is why there would be a fee there. Still, really not happy about the zero transparency.

And really not happy in general about fees for shuttles like this... I feel this idea of nickel-and-diming people is not going to benefit them in the long run. I'm not a sophisticated member, but from what I understand it even applies to them.... so you pay $50K for a membership and then you have to pay per flight.

I've said it before, but they need to concentrate on the business short haul: NY-FL, NY-BOS, NY-DC, SF-LA, NY-ATL, NY/LA-DFW. Put well timed frequency on the routes, and you've got a business.

millions

No, not even close. I was taking those flights in the early part of last year when I signed up.

dordal

Oh well scratch that. My memory must be going.

Yeah, no idea why there'd be a fee on those, then.

Sykes

I'm pretty sure that is the aforementioned IT glitch. They're working to fix it.

backdoc

I asked, via the app, to verify that the LA-Dallas Shuttle was indeed 1 token and they responded with yes, plus dynamic pricing.

I asked what that was and they responded with:

Dynamic pricing fluctuates based upon the demand for a specific route, as well as how far away in time the departure date is. Therefore, the closer we are to departure date/time the higher the price will be. Please advise if you have additional questions. Thank you!