Miles on fliers' minds as airline merger nears

Dawn Gilbertson
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

The new paint job is fine, the US Airways name something they'll grow to accept.

What's really on the minds of America West's frequent fliers as the merger with US Airways approaches is miles.

How many will it take to get special status and all the perks it brings? How many will they need to cash in for free trips, and how soon can they use them to Europe or the Caribbean? When can they combine the miles they have in each airline's program?

Chatter about what the new frequent-flier program will look like is among the hottest topics on the America West forum at Flyertalk.com, a popular Web site for mileage junkies.

So far, the airlines have few answers. They sent a letter to frequent fliers this week confirming only this: The new program will be called Dividend Miles. That's the name of US Airways' program. America West's is called FlightFund. The programs are due to be combined in the first half of next year.

Travis Christ, vice president of marketing for America West, said specifics are due out in the next couple of weeks.

"We've put all the ingredients in and everything is still in the oven," he said.

How things shake out is a big deal for Lance Robertson. The consultant for software giant Oracle practically lives on America West, flying out of Phoenix nearly every Sunday or Monday to see clients in cities such as Minneapolis and Dallas. He has also started flying US Airways instead of other airlines to cities America West doesn't serve because mileage for both will be combined next year.

What really worries him, he says, is whether they're going to count miles from both airlines toward "elite" status for next year. . . (more here)