"US News & W.R." Airline Travel Rewards: WN #2, down from #1 last year. JetBlue #1
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Chicagoland, IL, USA
Programs: WN CP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,164
"US News & W.R." Airline Travel Rewards: WN #2, down from #1 last year. JetBlue #1
#3
Join Date: Oct 2001
Programs: LTP, PP
Posts: 8,690
Another "lets try to compares apples to oranges" using subjective judgement that may or may not matter to a particular individual or circumstance. I would think this only has value to someone starting as a fresh frequent traveler and has all the carrier options open to them. I may not agree with WN operationally at all times but their FF is the best, assuming you want to go where they go!
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,927
- where they go
- in the seats they provide
- with the in-flight features they provide
For example, if you're tall, you may prefer an FFP of an airline where you can reserve seats with extra legroom, rather than (at WN) at most request a somewhat earlier boarding number and "hope" you can get an exit row seat.
And some people want actual food (even if for purchase) on a flight, not just peanuts. Or seat-back TV. Or power outlets.
#5
Join Date: Oct 2001
Programs: LTP, PP
Posts: 8,690
Funny that WN issued a press release touting this, "we're now one of the best". PR can & will spin ANYTHING
http://southwest.investorroom.com/20...s-World-Report
http://southwest.investorroom.com/20...s-World-Report
#6
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 429
For me, WN is #1, becasue of the "every seat is award seat".
Having completly useless miles with other airlines, I really enjoy to get immediate satisfaction 10 minutes after getting my credit card bill.
Disclaimer:
Seats/features do not really affect me. All my flights are either under 2 hours or consist under 2 hours legs.
Having completly useless miles with other airlines, I really enjoy to get immediate satisfaction 10 minutes after getting my credit card bill.
Disclaimer:
Seats/features do not really affect me. All my flights are either under 2 hours or consist under 2 hours legs.
#7
Join Date: Oct 2001
Programs: LTP, PP
Posts: 8,690
Except for many people it's assuming you want to go:
For example, if you're tall, you may prefer an FFP of an airline where you can reserve seats with extra legroom, rather than (at WN) at most request a somewhat earlier boarding number and "hope" you can get an exit row seat.
And some people want actual food (even if for purchase) on a flight, not just peanuts. Or seat-back TV. Or power outlets.
- where they go
- in the seats they provide
- with the in-flight features they provide
For example, if you're tall, you may prefer an FFP of an airline where you can reserve seats with extra legroom, rather than (at WN) at most request a somewhat earlier boarding number and "hope" you can get an exit row seat.
And some people want actual food (even if for purchase) on a flight, not just peanuts. Or seat-back TV. Or power outlets.
Last edited by joshua362; Aug 5, 2014 at 4:45 pm
#8
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: SOF
Programs: A3 Gold, IHG Platinum, Marriott Silver
Posts: 849
For me, WN is #1, becasue of the "every seat is award seat".
Having completly useless miles with other airlines, I really enjoy to get immediate satisfaction 10 minutes after getting my credit card bill.
Disclaimer:
Seats/features do not really affect me. All my flights are either under 2 hours or consist under 2 hours legs.
Having completly useless miles with other airlines, I really enjoy to get immediate satisfaction 10 minutes after getting my credit card bill.
Disclaimer:
Seats/features do not really affect me. All my flights are either under 2 hours or consist under 2 hours legs.
Since the old RR 1.0 rewards are on their way out, people seem to forget those. But you can't try and tell me that booking an "anytime" award seat with points is more advantageous than using a standard RR 1.0 award. Any ticket over $137 is better off redeemed using that award vs. using points.
Other carriers adopt the same philosophy - at the lower level, they limit the number of seats but you can always get a seat for twice the amount.
Using points on WN may not be double but the idea is the same, so your notion that WN should be #1 because "every seat is an award seat" is misguided.
Yeah, you may have orphan miles in other FFPs just like I have so little points in WN RR 2.0 that dividing them by 70 gives me such a low dollar figure I can't possibly buy a ticket with it.
But there is something that sets apart WN elite status recognition from other programs, i. e. Companion Pass - no other airline I'm aware of offers something resembling this. So, WN's FFP definitely has its advantages but the one you mention is not one of them.
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: CHA, MAN;
Programs: Delta DM 1 MM; Hz PC
Posts: 11,169
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,712
#14
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,585
This was true 10 years ago but not now. Some flights are blocked even at the high mile level even though seats are still being sold. Double mile awards are endangered. Capacity controls became so tight that last-seat double mile awards began to look reasonable. So they had to be restricted too!
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,927
This was true 10 years ago but not now. Some flights are blocked even at the high mile level even though seats are still being sold. Double mile awards are endangered. Capacity controls became so tight that last-seat double mile awards began to look reasonable. So they had to be restricted too!
And, for example, AA is not solving this by blocking "standard" awards, it's solving it by making them sometimes cost more than double. But that's still "every seat is any award seat", if it simply takes more miles than just 2x, right?
But rhe ratios between the cheapest award on Southwest and the most expensive award on Southwest are much more than 2:1, much more than 3:1, much more then 4:1, even more than 5:1, I'm not sure where they top out (between the lowest WGA redemption on a flight and when there's only last-minute BS redemptions left). I think it'll take a long time for the miles-based programs to catch up to that ratio, and in any case, their concept of higher ratios is based only on dates (with expected high demand), not how few seats are left (which is what Southwest bases higher redemption costs on).
The main reasons that people don't look at "standard" (or "top tier") awards the same as Southwest's redemptions is analogous to how a slowly boiled frog dies of overheat while a frog thrown into boiling water jumps out. Southwest makes it seem like it's "just a bit more" to redeem as things sell out gradually, while the miles-based airlines have a clear jump from "saver" to "standard" cost. Plus the advertising (especially on credit cards) from the legacies touts only the "saver" level as being what's needed for a flight, while Southwest fairly conservatively calls 50000 points as being enough for 2 round-trip flights (it could be enough for at least 5, though it might not be enough for even 2 in all cases, especially last-minute cases).
Last edited by sdsearch; Aug 6, 2014 at 5:13 pm