Originally Posted by
TMOliver
Were I counting corporate beans these days (or sitting behind a desk labelled "Marketing" as I once did), my solution would be quick and almost painless....to induce folks to "burn up" their miles and the airlines' liability by filling seats unlikely to be sold. AA has always offered "cheaper" redemptions "off season" (Fall/Winter) to Europe. A smart bean counter carries that practice a double step forward, offering seats on flights with low load factors at deep discounts in points, filling empty seats for the modest cost of on board amenities. For years, premium seats into Milan on DL were far easier to get than those to/from Rome, and I'm sure that there are off season flights into some "Eurogateways" which take off with lower load factors.
As for domestic destinations, take your pick of many of the "medium" non-hub markets. All the down-sizing to RJs involved flights which couldn't fill larger a/c. For those of us who live in the US's "little spoke" airports, awards are even tougher. The Saab 340s here don't have many award seats, but with DFW 2:20 away and IAH only about 3 fours from my door, I'll drive that far for a "discounted" FF seat into an airport to which I would not normally fly.
I agree with this thought in theory; however, I am wondering how many "empty seats" there really are? I haven't flown internationally recently, but almost all the domestic flights I've been on have been packed. Perhaps I just haven't been flying to the right places.
And if they did that, then we here at flyertalk would have to endure even more threads of "How come I couldn't get the super double discount for the flight I want?????"
