Football team and FFP parable in parentheses regarding award redemption disclosure.

Question:
TEAM: How many TOTAL points has our team scored?
100
FFP: (How many TOTAL award redemptions are there?)
(1 million)

TEAM: Is that good?
Yes, as our opponents have only scored 80 points
FFP: (Is that good?)
(Yes, its about 10% of our total seat inventory)

HERE'S THE QUESTION WE NEED TO START ASKING.

TEAM: How are the 100 points that the team has scored been distributed?
Um, uh, oh, uh........
Game 1 Our team 100 Other team 0
Game 2 Our team 0 Other team 20
Game 3 Our team 0 Other team 20
Game 4 Our team 0 Other team 20
Game 5 Our team 0 Other team 10
Game 6 Our team 0 Other team 10

With proper context, that '100 points' scored translates into a 1-5 win-loss record.
Not so impressive, right!

FFP: (How are the 10% of the seats for award redemption being distributed?)
(UNTIL NOW, THIS QUESTION HAS NOT BEEN ANSWERED BY THE FFPs, but we have a hunch our FFPs aren't doing much better in reality than our football team!!! So let's start asking...)

*** Is it 10% of EACH flight or 10% of ANY COMBINATION of flights on a route for awards

For example: JFK-LHR
Flight 1 weekday/peak 200 seats
Flight 2 weekend/nonpeak 200 seats

10% awards on EACH flight on a route:
Flight 1/peak: 20 award seats
Flight 2/offpeak: 20 award seats
versus
10% awards on ANY COMBINATION of flights on a route:
Flight 1/peak: 5 award seats
Flight 2/offpeak: 35 award seats


*** Is that 10% of EACH class of service or of TOTAL amount of seats for awards

For example: JFK-LHR 300 Coach 40 Business
10% of EACH class of Service 30 Y 4 J award
versus
10% of TOTAL seats 34 Y 0 J award

*** What percentage of the 10% award seats are 'standard' awards versus 'premium' awards.


These very simplistic examples demonstrate how '10% of all seats were awards' is not enough info to assess which programs provide the best opportunities for their customers.

I think it is extremely reasonable to request the same TRANSPARENCY from our FFPs that we are demanding from our stock and mutual fund companies, where we also have 'investments'.

Without the reasonable ability to understand, let alone redeem mileage, MileageBuzz will be an increasingly irrelevant place to post.

Since this lack of full disclosure issue affects EVERY FFP, FT can be a conduit for industry-wide reform.

[This message has been edited by beaubo for formatting only (edited Dec 17, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by beaubo (edited Dec 17, 2003).]