Originally Posted by
sfozrhfco
Shocking? I hardly think it is shocking. B6 is still a one class airline that is offering a few perks before one gets on the plane and some extra points to the customers that give them the most money. This is hardly a radical shift.
Now if they started offering first class and gave most of the seats away to frequent flyers, started charging fees for nearly everything, messed up their website so that glitches would be a regular occurrence, let their employee contracts be under negotiation 5 years after they have expired, started offering round trip fares which made you jump through hoops to get them--then perhaps you could call them just another US legacy carrier.
Agreed. The $5k spend requirement is not insignificant, and the perks (expedited security and boarding) are simply basic requirements to compete for business travelers. You can't ask your weekly travelers to stand in long security lines, for example. I don't think this program will cause too many people to switch from legacy carriers, but it will help with recruitment and retention of travelers.
The extra points bring up the earn rate to something a bit more reasonable, and the rest of the perks are pretty minimal (how many business travelers check two bags, anyway?).