Originally Posted by
mrswirl
So why not increase the qualifications across the board to 120K EQM/120 EQS then??? Why single out the group of flyers that pay the most? Is it their intention to drive away profitable customers? -Cause that's exactly what's happening here.
I see what you're saying but let me remind you that $0 < $20K.
OK, if I follow the logic on my Q&A email, 50k=1P, 75K=1P+, 100K=1k. In segments it is 60=1P, 90=1P+, and 120=1K. The ratios are now equal. Assuming a systemic valuation that 30 segments=25,000 miles across the board, this now fits with the rest of the program. Why would they have 1 outlier? There math is really simple, it doesn't differentiate based on route or length of haul or even revenue, is is just 6 segments=5k miles for status, in multiples of 5 for status jumps. They must (or someone) must feel that uniformly, across the system 6 segments-5k miles. They aren't picking on those that hit status at 100 segments, they are just normalizing it for an even transitional ratio across the board for everyone, regardless of status, geography, or spend.
And yes, $20K>$0. People in my union talk about that as well, "Zero planes out is less than what I currently do now, so they better not mess with me!" Most of those people though talk the talk. Maybe many of you walk the walk, I don't want to dare anyone to do something to hurt our company, but like I said 20 pages ago, I have this link bookmarked and will look back in 6 months time to see where some of these posters that are going to leave are actually at. It is short sided, but realistic to believe that most will not leave, and of those that do, some others will come to replace them due to the combined route structure of UA/CO as well as other enhancements that may come of this "merger of equals". I don't have a crystal ball, and I am sure, neither do the decision makers. I bet that the combined UA/CO company will be much more attractive to those that sign big contracts with UA or with CO alone. This will generate new business, as the guy that signs the contracts say for the GSA, doesn't care about the frequent flyer benefits of the G-men flying. He cares about the schedule, route structure, and price. Assuming prices are competitive, a more robust network and schedule will be better for the guy paying the bills. Sure, most people aren't in exclusive or semi-exclusive contracts, but the big repeat businesses are. The thread about a company getting EXP on AA when transitioning from a UA contract to an AA contract, the Motorola contract that transitioned from AA to UA, these will go to price, schedule, network, as the rpimary, and perks as the 2ndary. These mega corporations negotiate their perks separate from the general publics reward program, just as they negotiate their discounts as well as their exclusive fares.
Given that, I am confident that this movement of people begging AA to match at their highest level won't send as big of a message to UA as they think it will. I hope they find what they are looking for. I am an AA member, and have nothing terribly bad to say about them or their program...DL, on the other hand...I dropped them as they were too out of line with the competition years ago (actually, it was NW for me at the time.)