Originally Posted by DHAST
Effrem,
I have one question for you... isn't it fiscally responsible for a company to require you to use award miles on company travel that were gained by flying on company paid travel? Why or why not? Presuming that you fly enough to care about airline related marketing tools, doesn't elite status in and of itself achieve the same goal about encouraging future behavior? At the level of flying I do, the base miles are inconsequential. It's the elite perks that actually get my feet and butt on an airplane.
You're right in that it sucks to have the rules of the ball game changed at the 7th inning stretch, but, as is anything with life, the only constant in life is change.
Effrem may have gone to bed.
It may or may not be fiscally responsible. Kinda depends on the company. The article says that with the lower airfares (I'm thinking since the Saturday night stays were eliminated) it costs more to administer than Walmart saved, so it would be fiscally irresponsible to continue it. That's why Walmart dropped it, not because of some revolt in the ranks. And if it doesn't make cost sense for Walmart, with the way fares to Bentonville are, then I can't see it making sense for anybody, although I'll bet there are a few companies out there who haven't figured this out yet.
Companies set the terms and conditions of employment. As long as you know going in what they are, and agree to it, it's OK. And things do change, and if you really don't like the change, your only option is often to move.
And I agree that if you fly enough, the last thing you want to do on vacation is spend another night in another bed in another hotel in another city. For very high mileage flyers, the status is everything, and the miles don't mean that much. For intermediate flyers, they don't spend that much time on the road, they don't get as much status benefits, and the miles really are meaningful.