dgold writes: Thank God there aren't more. And this touches on a pet peeve of mine. Some airlines have been testing the water in the loyalty=revenue game for some time, which I find ridiculous, and avoid those airlines like the plague.

Who knows why someone buys a full-fare ticket? Last minute, probably. But who/what made the decision of which airline? The company? A travel agent? The route? The time of day? Airport monopoly? Who knows? Should this person be rewarded with elite status or other perks that compete with other elite members, just because of the fare paid? IMHO...NO! The only thing we know for sure is that if they don't have elite status (earned the hard way), they don't fly the airline very much!

The "founders" of Frequent Flyer Programs got it right to begin with...Miles and/or Segments=Loyalty=Status. Loyalty is when you go out of your way to fly your preferred airline. Loyalty is when you give them the business even if the routing, time, or even price is not the best. Loyalty is when you call them FIRST and fly them MOST, no matter if you are flying on a high priced ticket or a low promotional fare. The airlines set the fares, not us.

Loyalty=Status should not be given because of the luck of the draw of what fare was paid. If the airlines want to give high revenue passengers some extra perks, that's fine and I think they should. Build 'em a lounge. Pay for a limo to the airport. Give 'em their own check-in line. But to cop out and slap their most truly loyal flyers in the face by giving elite status to someone who only flies that airline occasionally on high priced tickets, is unacceptable IMHO. It's a sell out, literally.

Revenue and Loyalty reward programs should be two separate things and there should be no competition between them. Marketing departments created Frequent Flyer Programs to attract and reward the Frequent Flyer! Marketing departments are also responsible for courting infrequent but potentially high revenue passengers. And they should create a separate program for them, if they feel it is in their best interests. But not a program that hurts another.

Why don't they? Lack of imagination or just being plain cheap. " Why spend money on a separate lounge or airport limo when we can just toss 'em a few of the same perks we already give our elite flyers. No one will notice. No one will complain. And it won't cost us another dime over what we already give our elite flyers. Just robbing an elite benefit from a frequent flyer over here, to give to this high-rev person over there."

But it costs us, the truly Loyal and Frequent Flyer, plenty. IMHO.

Never lose sight of the fact that the AIRLINES set the fares we pay. Your obligation to remain elite is simply to fly your preferred airline as often as possible. If you're an elite, and you know your airline in effect is says to infrequent flyers "look, we've got this seat at this price. But if you pay this higher price for the exact same seat on the exact same flight, we'll give you elite status in our Frequent Flyer program"...take a walk! You wouldn't want to be a member of that kind of program anyway! You've earned your status the hard way...by flying long and hard miles and segments.

Hey, there are other issues that concern me, such as the selling of miles to infrequent or non-flyers in the form of merchandise, mortgage, credit card, etc, etc. But most of that doesn't bother me as long as the airlines allocate additional award seats to make up for the flood of miles out there (especially now that most miles don't expire). But elite status, IMHO, should be sacred ground. Not for sale at any price. Period.

If you've earned your elite status by flying miles and/or segments, you'll probably agree with the above. If you have not, and you have "bought" your elite status because of a few high revenue flights or by buying the American Express Black Card, you'll probably disagree. Regardless, sorry for ranting.

[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 12-02-1999).]