Originally Posted by
RealDLInsider
is a mileage based program where the airlines should stay, or should we consider launching a revenue based accrual and rewards program that gives out a similar number of miles but allocates them better to customers based on revenue?
Originally Posted by
Cholula
Thanks for asking.
I've always been in favor of rewarding revenue over miles flown. And I've felt that way as I've always been ready and willing to pony up the extra $$$'s to get the exact seats and flights on the specific dates I require.
While we have a small degree of flexibility in the dates of our our travel, we require certain specific flights and seats to get from Point A to Point B. And we're willing, to a point, to pay premium $$$'s for them.
Right now we're about ready to pop for a pair of $3K DL B/E seats to South America. Not the cheapest way we could come and go but we want to fly DL, we want to fly, together, up-front and we need to travel on a tight set of dates.
A lot of the plane will be filled with folks on $500 coach RT's getting just slightly fewer miles than we will up-front. It would ease the pain of paying $6K for a pair of tickets if the mileage was based on revenue gained rather than just BIS miles flown.
I'm probably one of the lone voices here for a revenue versus miles based system but I'm guessing you want to hear both sides of this debate.
I think there might be a good way to do that, both on the award mile side and on the status side.
On the status side, why not have a system similar to AA's: You can qualify simply on miles OR on a point system. On the miles bases, there is no COS factor, but on the point side, there is a 0.5x factor on LUT fare, 1.0 on HKQ, 1.5 on MBY, 2.0 on C J, 2.5 on A and 3.0 on F.
This way, you do not alienate the members who pay out of their own pocket or whose employer forces to take the cheapest fare but you better reward those who consistently fly premium fares. This system is a bit unfavorable to those who have a mix of premium and discounted ticket, but not too badly. If you want to remove this problem, you could put the required points for PM at 100k and have a factor of 1 for LUT fares as well.
On the award mile side, one could get bonuses of 0.5 for SM, 1.0 for GM and 1.5 for PM on fares up to M and 1.0, 2.0 and 2.5 bonus for fares B, Y, C,J,A and F. This way you do not perturb the current situation but better attract the real frequent flyers who are paying premium fares.
I guess another difficulty is how to keep the system simple though.