Originally Posted by
bobsyouruncle
To all those Golds who are hoping that a third tier won't change their benefits, give your head a shake.
The published benefits may not change but the very fact that you are now second tier and not first will have a significant impact. The Platinums will be the ones getting the upgraded seats before the Golds. I'm sure some MVPs get upgraded to FC but not nearly as often as a Gold. In 2011 we will be saying the same thing about Golds.
If history tells me anything it's that loyalty programs degrade after over time. There may be no changes to MVP or MVPG over the next year but we know they are coming. It wouldn't surprise me that the MVPP benefits look surprisingly like the MVPG benefits of today. This Alaska's way of devaluing the program (a huge liability - but a necessary evil) without appearing to do so.
So to all those MVPG's who fly between 40,000 - ??,??? this isn't a welcome announcement.
It's not like 10,000 new MVPP will sponstaneously generate. The majority of the MVPP will come *from* the ranks of the MVPG so you will not be competing with a bunch of new members. It's more or less dividing current Golds into two tiers (yes, there will be some new members from other programs who come over but by and large it will be internal shuffling). So competition isn't growing for the same seats. I also suspect that the majority of the MVPP quaifiers are already the Golds among us getting those U seats anyway as many are buying the higher fares and grabbing the upgrades.
Honestly, there are too many Golds. There are so many flights where when the Golds are asked to board it seems HALF the boarding area stands up. I don't know about you, but I don't really feel rewarded as a Gold anymore. This is a way to have a truly exclusive level. I don't think offering a free Boardroom membership, extra RDM, extra upgrades and a longer upgrade window will harm the Gold level. We are probably talking 1%-5% of the MVPG ranks.
I, for one, welcome the new MVPP, but they'll never beat CO who gained my undying respect for granting spouse/same sex partner rights for LIfetime Elite members. My spouse earns whatever level I earn whether they fly or not. People thought it would be a huge negative and it has not. In the year and a half, my partner has taken ONE trip. I think they understood when they offered the benefit that it would not change flying habits for most people. If your spouse didn't fly with you before the benefit, they weren't going to start flying willy nilly with you after the change just because of status so it really doesn't take anything away from the other travelers (on that one time a year he'd go before, I'd upgrade him with miles or whatever, so even before the benefit he was taking up one seat and one upgrade from another member. That didn't change. It was just the grand gesture of it.) So adding benefits (and believe me they do projections on how much usage/cost any concession will incur) really might not affect the MVPG level as much as it might look like on paper.
Now if
that were part of MVPP or something like the Southwest plan bring someone with you for free all year...