Originally Posted by
tatterdema
I am almost exactly the same as eponymous_coward. I earned MVP for the first time last year, and was trying to earn it again this year until all the cuts to benefits they have done. Just when they made me loyal to them, even willing to pay a little more, they made those cuts. Now my loyalty is completely gone. The AS flight I have taken to Mexico every year for the past 10 years I just booked on Delta one way and WN the other. 6 months ago I never would have even considered that.
Sadly I doubt it is over either. I personally think they will go revenue based like everyone else in the near future.
To be clear; I'm in the process of requalifying for MVPG this year. But I have WN, DL, AA flights on the docket as well. UA just doesn't work well for my travel patterns right now: routing through SFO seems to be guaranteed ATC delay, and a connection at DEN isn't worth dropping a nonstop. It's fairly likely I'll fly at least
some AS as long as I'm based in SEA.
But I expect to lose the ability to upgrade or cancel/change the lowest priced coach fares (even as a Gold) once all the changes are implemented. That will push a lot of my flying to WN since they don't have that restriction. And if airlines are going to treat me like I am flying NK because I want to buy cheap tickets, I might as well fly NK... or just go with "what airline works for me for the amount of money I wish to spend"? Sometimes it will be AS. Sometimes it won't.
Originally Posted by
chrisl137
That's why people fly UA. They have a huge network with high frequency on popular routes and offer some opportunities for upgrades, however slim, for people who are on pay-for-Y-cabin-only policies. Everybody seems to hate them and continually point out how they're going to the dogs, but the planes are going out without any empty seats. They're great if you can pay for F consistently, ok if you can get E+ consistently (legroom will make up for a lot of sins), and awful if you have to sit in E-. Fortunately my saturday E- flight was followed by 7 hours TATL in Polaris Silver (E+ with an empty adjacent seat). When I read that forum, all I can think of is Yogi Berra - "Nobody flies United anymore, it's too crowded". I don't fly AA or DL, but my impression is that they aren't any better as far as upgrade or FF mile value.
If I'm going to be stuck in a coach seat, there's significant advantages to WN (no change/cancel fees, even on WGA fares, the award program is at least straightforward if not full of lucrative places to get Krug and showers). WN also has good frequencies in markets, and no tiny RJs. They will likely pick up my business once AS guts some more out of MP.