PHL

I'm also a PHL based <former> CP. Life on AA and UA has never been better. I made AA Platinum(mid tier) with their fantastic double status miles promo that ran in the Spring. I'm batting a good average for getting upgrades as requested and if I don't have the "stickers" I don't mind paying a few extra bucks for them because I know I'm getting a good product. Otherwise their exit rows are fantastic...and they have working power ports on all mainline aircraft.

NY-FLA

Wow, there's a message they'll never hear . Value for your $$$ ? Totally foreign concept at the sand castle.



I'd venture that you spent about 100 times more in analysis on this than the whole army of sand fleas did. Their behavior and actions reveal that the singular philosophy of management at Tempe is; "What can we cut?" They have a whopping big hammer and everything the old US used to do looks like a nail.
To a management team with that narrow of an outlook, every cut/reduction (and there have been dozens, with no, absolutely no, corresponding improvements) is perpetuating, and only hurries the drive off the cliff.
I would think that most realistic management teams at other legacies know the cycle of government bail-outs is unlikely to repeat, that one or more legacies needs to leave the scene, and they're probably watching in wonder as US self-immolates.
Shame, used to be such a great airline, too.

AZ Travels the World

I think this is exactly correct. It's what I've assumed to be the rationale as well.

Living in PHX and traveling for business every week, it's awfully nice to be able fly everywhere I go on a non-stop. I'm not interested in WN because I value the miles for F & J international travel too much. So, this is exactly my dilemma. However, if this cut stands, and the others don't match it, I will leave.

no upgrade for u

US has never been a great airline.

The real question is, if you haven't left after all the other idiocies perpetrated on elite flyers by US current management, why would they expect you to leave after the latest?

dstan

An astute point. Many of us were more affected by the elimination of 500-min miles, since those were PQM, and left at that time. For me, that was a much much bigger issue than the elimination of bonus RDM.

dukeman

One thing to consider is that US didn't announce this until mid-June. 1/2 the year was already over. I'll bet there are some elites that are sticking with US until they hit their desired status for 2009 and then will jump ship later in 2008 or in 2009 and try to get a status match. So, just because they haven't already left doesn't mean that they aren't planning to leave. So perhaps in the short term US won't see a huge change, but give it a few months.....

peterlew56

I agree, I have fallen to Platinum after 5 years at Chairmans and many at Gold prior to that. I have a few left to continue as Platinum next year and will only acheive that to get my upgrades when I have to fly them for the next year and a half. I will be taking my business elsewhere. This was the final straw and I was highly insulted that they would treat their elite members in such a way. As with most Chairman's, Platinum's (and probably Golds) it's not even so much that the points mean that much to is at this point. It's just like having a long term business partner decide that you mean nothing.

b3enthusiast

Dear Board Members,

I am a US Chairman. I've flown about 120k miles on US this year alone.

Two days after Tempe announced the deletion of the Bonus Miles for elites, I submitted the paperwork to status-match to Delta. I also applied for and was approved for the Delta AMEX Platinum.

I flew my first of five Delta flights for the month of August yesterday and am about to purchase my September flights this afternoon.

I don't know if this is what US wanted when they cut my bonus miles, but this is what they get. I am sure that someone had to be in the Executive Meeting telling the top brass: "Don't do this. We will lose a ton of money. Our elites will jump ship."-----But, someone made a decision that my dollars didn't matter to US.

Delta wants my dollars. Delta gives me the capability to EARN a free ticket in a reasonable fashion. So, I'm gonna fly Delta. If US offered a program that was better than Delta, I would fly US. In the end, I am loyal to the company that is loyal to me. Customer relations 101 is SO easy.

Until US has a better program than Delta, I will continue to fly with my current (as of August) carrier. I could've told US Management this without the need for polls or focus groups. I would've told them for free, but they never asked me.

elitetraveler

It wasn't my analysis, it was from another airline exec who i believe would be in the know. I want to say that the comment re PHX was that WN competes on less than 20 percent of the "business routes" with HP so it isn't a viable alternative for many business travelers as a primary airline

romadaro

I am a US Chairman and have been for 10-15 years or so (Priority Gold Plus prior) and never thought I'd leave US and never considered it, in spite of all the crap I read on this Board, most of which I truly believe is exaggerated. I fly about 200K+ miles a year and have flown almost every airline on the planet at one time or another and have heard people whining and complaining about one thing or another on almost every one of them, especially the domestic air carriers.

At any rate, after many years of US being my chosen carrier, I've finally decided to switch. The announcement to end bonus miles for elite travelers was the straw that broke this camel's back. Even after the announcement, I decided to wait until the end of July to see if other carriers would match it. If even one had, I would have stuck with US because I figured it would then just be a matter of time before the others followed. When none did, I called my travel agent Friday (August 1) and bought my last ticket on US, a transcon that will take me over the Platinum threshold (need 4K miles to reach 75K) and I booked 7 other tickets on Continental and United. She was shocked and even said that "US doesn't know that they are really losing their most loyal customer."

With almost 2 mil miles on US, I won't be saying goodbye totally. But, unless the fare is significantly cheaper or I'm flying to one of their hubs, the only time they will see me after my next trip will be when I'm occupying an Award seat!

gardener

You are not alone. Connecting in ORD or IAD beats flying US hands down for this former CP.

SS255

I already status-matched to CO, but I am re-qualifying for Gold in 2009 (so I can use my *A bennies until CO joins the *A)......but I will be flying CO from now on.

Ghery

I just put my US miles on my UA MP account. *G each year. I sure hope management doesn't destroy US. I've got a cousin who is an FO on US.

BoeingBoy

One of my nephews was just hired as a pilot a couple of months ago. When he talked to me about his plans to apply, I only asked on thing of him if he got hired - to not sit back thinking "I've got my 'big' airline job so I'm set for life". I told him to keep his resume updated and always consider other opportunities that came along since US might not be around in 5 years.

He's now scheduled for furlough in October.....

Jim

Telfes

I'm not a US flyer, but am still saddened to see a company make such a foolish move that sends such a negative message to its best customers. Duh. I'm very much hoping the other airlines note the disgruntlement and continue to be too smart to follow in line. Bad, bad, bad to see a FFP gutted this way.

On a lighter side, this thread had one other thing running through my mind: Sing it, Johnny... "too much, too little, too late to try again with you..."