Posted this on the United board, but it's appropriate here also. Pay particular attention to what United says about the effect of losing just one percent of the Premier class and above would have on their revenue.

In regards to past discussions here on the UA board, I thought these statistics from United would be interesting to all. I'll quote the whole piece.
"Mileage Plus-
Frequent flier programs continue to be the airlines' most powerful marketing programs, influencing customers loyalty and carrier choice more than most other factors. Since May 1981, 37 million customers have enrolled in United's Mileage Plus and 27 million remain on file. Of these, 10 million members are active - meaning there has been activity in an account in the past 12 months.

United's Premier customers represent 8 percent of the active members, but generate 35 percent of the total transportation revenue. Premier members spend more than 6 times general members, while Premier Executives and 1K members spend more than 12 times and 30 times respectively. If just 1 percent of the Premier-level members resigned from Mileage Plus, the company would lose $58 million in transportation revenue.

In 1998, the different frequent flier groups generated the following percentages of total revenue.

General Members: 24.2 percent
Premier: 15.2 percent
Premier Executive: 13.6 percent
1K: 6.3 percent

While final numbers for 1999 are not in yet, they are estimated to be similar to 1998.

United's Mileage Plus is the largest frequent flier program in the world with 37 million members followed by;

American AAdvantage: 34 million
Delta Sky Miles: 23 million
Northwest WorldPerks: 20 million
Continental OnePass: 16 million
US Airways Dividen Miles: 12 million
TWA Aviators: 8 million

One hundred fifty million people around the world are members of a frequent flier program. Eighty percent of all members reside in the United States."

from UAL's Our Times, V5 #12 Dec 18, 1999 p10


[This message has been edited by ontherun (edited 12-31-1999).]