<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by wschild:
I'm not surprised they couldn't sustain a deal to give away a free ticket for every 3 roundtrips. At least with AirTran you get cheap fares and can upgrade cheaply. Sounds like they are just matching what Southwest does?</font>
As FL has grown (I used FL a fair amount when they/ValueJet still had a 'hub' at IAD) I have been very surprised that they have kept the VERY GENEROUS Amex deal that was there when I was using them years ago - I assume you still just mail in your ticket stubs. If they are matching the WN 8 r/t RR deal(however, only 4 r/t on WN with internet bookings gets you a freebie), it is still a pretty good deal to the occasional flyer (one trip every two months) who would take years to accumulate the 25,000 miles for even a basic Y award on a major.
My guess is that Uncle Joe (Leonard), who is a very saavy airline exec, feels that FL just doesn't need to hang out that much candy to steal PAX from DL anymore. DL is doing a fine job of acting as FL's best (and unpaid) marketing tool. Uncle Joe also probably knows that the siren song of Medallion to FF ATL residents is a lot less than it used to be.
BTW, for any FL folks out there - Does FL still offer that deal where for double certs they will buy you a Y ticket on a different carrier to any point in the US from IAD, ATL or MCO?