Originally Posted by
bmvaughn
I don't have the necessary info to determine sustainability and don't want to play armchair CEO, but Alaska has highlighted this as a differentiation point that they are proud of and have no plans on changing. That of course was pre-pandemic, so I would imagine that flying patterns are changing.
I feel like AS is going to have to figure out some restrictions/extra hurdles for the 100K tier. Something like a large number of segments or EQMs flown on Alaska metal, or an EQD requirement for this tier only, or something else. The risk is that with their already generous reciprocal benefits with AA, the OW benefits, etc., if they don't add some restrictions, it will be easy for us all to do cheap RTW mileage runs for next to nothing like in the good old days, and qualify for the 100K tier.