Originally Posted by ifii563
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...l/15821851.htm
I'm a US Airways frequent flier, but I don't recall receiving a notice about this latest assault on fairness. Nor did I find any recent press release postings. But if you look at the program fine print, you'll see this: ``Effective December 1, 2006, active membership status is based on having earned or redeemed miles within a consecutive 18 month period. With our new Mileage Reactivation Policy, Dividend Miles members have an opportunity to reinstate their Dividend Miles accounts to active status for an additional 18 months for a $50 processing fee and reactivation fee of $.01 per mile. If members do not extend with this reactivation option, the Dividend Miles account will be closed and all miles forfeited.''
Really egregious. Kudos to Ed for outing this one; hopefully others in the travel media seize on it. I think it can be pushed back with enough protest. Whether airlines realize it or not, there's a tipping point somewhere where people will realize their miles aren't worth what they had thought, and once that point gets passed the airlines will lose a huge amount of future revenue as the non-flying incentive programs unravel and move to other types of "rewards". I don't think it'll be a gradual runoff, but more like an avalanche.
Also, any claims that inactive accounts are costing the airline any amount of money are total rubbish. The miles are valued at very low levels for the airline, and the administrative/computer costs are negligible in an age of e-mail. They don't have to send snailmail to accounts with no activity if they don't want to, and the value of the e-mail and snailmail list more than compensates for any costs (in fact, it's one of the most valuable assets if a program should be spun off). Anyone having to pay to reinstate miles also will not be a happy camper.