Originally Posted by
as219
This is what I honestly don't understand: It's one thing to stick it to low-revenue flyers such as myself. It's
another thing entirely to take someone flying 100 +/- expensive segments and tell them that
their benefits are being reduced but that those who previously would have gotten nothing for flying 75K/90 EQM/EQS, their benefits are going to be increased. Why do this?
My speculation is that since most of the shorter segments are UX (and therefore operated by companies that UA subcontracts to), that the profit margins for UA are much smaller on these flights.
Again, I speculate, but from UA's perspective - Somebody who flies a lot of segments, mostly on UX, does not add much to the bottom line of UA. And UA is then obligated to give them all the benefits of 1K for very little revenue / profit. So in order to balance the equation, they increase EQS to 120 to achieve 1K.
I wonder whether many / most segment runners wouldn't be better off on WN? My coworker, based in SAN, flies more miles and segments than I do. 100% domestically, to many locations large and small around the country. He swears by WN - he's always A and boards first, rewards are easy to earn and the system is straightforward, but most importantly to him the rewards are EASY to redeem for any flights he wants to take in the US! His international travel for pleasure is almost nonexistent, so he just buys tickets when he actually does fly international.
As of May 23, 2010,
Southwest Airlines operates scheduled service to 69 destinations in 35 states. And I don't think this includes new destinations previously served by AirTrans. AirTran Airways serves more than
70 destinations throughout the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean
United Airlines flies to
73 domestic destinations