Originally Posted by
Globaliser
If there's a problem with TP earning on partners, it is encapsulated in this: the banding, and the difference in earning between the bands, is too blunt and unsophisticated a tool.
Quoted for Truth.
I get precisely the same TP if I fly SEA-PHL-YHZ in F for, say, CAD 2000 as I do for YVR-LHR-BCN for well over CAD 8000. But if I fly YVR-HKG-SIN, I only get 30 more TP in each direction, for CAD 12000.
I would see a couple of ways to rationalize this:
1) Calculate TP based on origin and destination. If YVR-DFW-MCO costs the same as YVR-LAX-MCO, why do I get 2.5 times as many TP (40+60 vx. 40+210) for the latter?
2) Only award triple TP for F on a three class service (F/J/Y). (Or be honest and sell/brand the front cabin on domestic AA as J).
3) Set another band division at, say, 1000 miles, so that there is not an enormous arbitrary jump.
4) Reset qualification levels so that there is a meaningful correspondence between spend and rewards.
Or, use the system that almost every other airline uses and make miles flown and class of service bonuses the determinant of status.