Originally Posted by nsx
Precisely. The airlines don't care about how many J seats will go out empty: they care bout whether YOU will buy a J seat. One thing's for sure: if you redeem the miles you won't buy the seat.
This same reason explains why standby awards won't work.
While a straightforward standby award ticket would be wonderful for members, I agree that it is a major revenue threat to the airlines, hence a non-starter.
Ironically, it is precisely the conditionality (or as some keep insisting here, the complexity) of the 'Maverick Award' that would make it reasonable for a FFP to roll out as a test.
* limited to top-tier members
* limited to flights where J cabin has only 50-75% sold by 7 days prior to departure
* limited to 3 or 6 J seats being released
* limited re-accomodation options, if flight ends up overselling on day of departure
* For those concerned about members foregoing buying J seats to play the 'Maverick award' lotto and hurting airline revenues, then I suppose (very reluctantly) that this type of award could be limited to 2-3 redemptions per year per member. By capping the number of 'Maverick award' redemptions, therefore caps the airlines potential revenue loss.
This is a niche award; its not meant to appeal to large consitituency. FFPs keep talking about how to better customize their programs.
I don't see this award appealing to a member who already buys J seats; those folks demand the certainty of flight schedules and COS and don;t have the time to be checking on load factors as the 7 day 'Maverick award' window looms.
Rather, this award is for the more 'experiential' crowd; dare I say FTers, who are willing to forego nonstop (or even onestop!!) routing to snag a J seat; who really look forward to and savor being in the front of the bus; who have the chops to assess the chances of that 'Maverick award' remaining available until day of departure; who frankly are not typically qualified or interested in paying for J class (even Z fares!!).
In short, it's for the folks who, if they redeem a 'Maverick award' and hopefully can use it or have a pleasant re-accomodation, they will tell plenty of others about. Quasi-opinion leaders. I think the FFPs could desperately use these types of ambassadors out there to quell the general cynicism and mistrust about FFPs.