ANC RED-EYE

But did you have rolls or dessert on any flights less than 3 hours? Last time I checked, a pretty significant portion of the AS route system is less than 3 hours (i.e. SEA - California)...and I believe the OP is correct, the F meal service has generally been watered down.


With regard to the sales to Mexico. The only time I looked into this sale it was a discount from ALL AS cities in US/Canada to Mexico. So, changing that to only select California cities is, indeed, decreasing the value of that sale and arguably the "quality of mileage plan".

But what I suspect the OP is complaining about is that in the past, one could (with flexibility) often find super saver award availability. I would agree that generally super saver availability has decreased. Saying that you've been able to book super saver awards at the last minute does not negate the fact that generally that availability has decreased. FWIW, it does seem that not-uncommonly AS releases super saver availability at the last minute - likely as a way to get a couple of more seats booked.

Again, I agree with the OP...I've taken more overnight stops than ever on super saver awards in order to keep the mileage redemption down. Yes, better than dropping $1000 on the ticket...but that's not what the OP said; the statement was that more often than before if a super saver is desired, you have to accept an overnight stop.


Fact is that for those qualifying on partner miles, it's a 20% increase in the requirement from what it used to be. I don't know what the breakdown is, but I would guess that a lot of people who previously got the 50K bonus qualified on AS+partner miles. As an aside, it is fantastically interesting to me that the new 75K qualification is actually toughest on those who qualify on AS miles exclusively:
AS miles: 75K (an increase of 87.5% over MVPG qualification on AS miles)
Partner miles: 90K (an increase of 80% over MVPG qualification on partner miles)
Segments: 90 (an increase of only 50% over MVPG qualification on segments)

Interesting, because I think calling his post "wildly inaccurate" is...wildly inaccurate.

You're right, AS has given frequent flyers in the past years:

1. easier qualification for the 50K bonus miles on segments
2. first one free on us program for MVPG
3. Baggage service guarantee (actually for all travelers, not just FFers...but, how much does it count in light of new baggage fees?)
4. new MVPG 75K tier
5. new intra-state award redemption levels for the lower 48

Anything I'm missing? As far as I can tell, if you're keeping score, the rest have been takeaways.

ANC RED-EYE

True...to say AS doesn't deserve the Freddie, you'd have to identify a FF program that is better than AS. I haven't yet identified a program better than AS's...but I will say that AS seems to be the best in an industry where services are generally declining across the board...and mediocrity is becoming the standard. Therefore, MP may still be the "best", but many would begin to argue that the true designation is that it is the "least bad".

Sort of like when the price of gas began to skyrocket...people no longer talked about "cheap" gas stations...rather there became "least expensive" gas stations.

MrHalliday

I don't think so.
At least not any longer on UA.

BW Flyer

Yes I think the "least bad" designation is "wildly" accurate here. Just like a lot of the businesses these days, when one or a few companies began to reduce employees benefits, most companies in the same industry would follow suit and use the new, lower benfits levels as the benchmark when handing out their employee benies, and some even tout that they are above the competition by taking away less benies from their employees than the rest of the industry. And one thing the companies would tell their workers that benies are not entitlements, and too much benies would affect the bottom lines of the companies, and would ultimately lead to job loss and companies would go out of business.

So nobody would try to be best anymore treating their employees, because this becomes the business culture nowadays, and everything is focused on the short-term bottom line. A recession and massive job lost really make this happening faster and more severe.

This might sound off-topic, but isn't this also sound familiar on airlines pax services ?

PDXFlyBoy

BTW, this was McCormick & Schmick's deal to move away from Alaska. Alaska tried to keep them but were advised too late by M&S of the switch and Alaska did not have time to partner with another vendor.

ANC

why doesnt AS deserve a Freddie? Everybody devalued. I guess AS devalued the least. Now that one of their two idols, AA charges for blankets I wonder if thats coming

Seattlenerd

Perhaps not "wildly inaccurate" overall, but you were misleadingly selective on facts easily verified for one point (#9). Citing only partial information to make a point is misrepresentation at best, dishonest at worst. And it undermines otherwise valid criticism.

You do sound entitled when you start complaining about missing thank-yous that aren't part of the published Gold benefits -- the cookies, the restaurant certificates. It's like having a "friend" that you go out of your way to do favors for, and then they consider that to be the new baseline for the relationship. There is no satisfying someone with that level of expectation. So you may need to reset yours to changes in the published benefits. And it's not like you're the only one who does this, by the way; check out the Starwood forum for similar blowback SPG got when it stopped doing a couple of nice, non-guaranteed thank yous for its Platinum level members.

Do you have some valid points? Yes, even though I haven't necessarily shared all your experiences in trouble getting U.S. and international award travel. (I've had little trouble, but I'm in Seattle and I tend to redeem for business/first internationally.)

For good or ill, the Freddies are for the "best" in the time frame the Freddies cover. It ain't a great time to be a very frequent flier. But then again, no domestic U.S. airline I can afford to fly uses fine china in coach any more, either.

jimmychang

Freddie award is no more. So no need to argue.

vzwdataguy

Hence, I asked for the assistance of the board to confirm. In the case of #9 I was referring to my own frame of reference to hit 90k, because I can never get a transcon fare on Alaska that is competitive when routing through Seattle when adding the Horizon leg from PDX. It's only an annual international paid vacation trip on Delta/KLM that will push me over the 75k mark with Alaska+Partners. This year I likely won't make 90k even though I made 91k last year. If I want to get there I will probably have to make a milage run and this will result in essentially two-trips-for-the-price-of-one... IF I can get a Super Saver international award ticket, which I have already stated has become near to unavailable, often involving inconvenient overnights half way, if you can get something.

vzwdataguy

Regarding Freddies the 2010 awards would not have been until April and Alaska still touts the win for Milage Plan in advertising campaigns so the reference still seems relevant.

vzwdataguy

Perhaps I didn't spend enough time constructing the argument. The truth is I don't know what program/carrier is better, but I think Continental treats me the best, in coach, of any competitively priced transcon route from PDX to the eastern seaboard. I do hate flying through TX, though, to get to somewhere in the NE.

sunil

I have to agree with the OP that there is sytemic devaluation of MP that goes beyond what the other carriers (well maybe with the exception of Delta) have done.

I tried booking SJD-SEA for early Jan and there were 0 super saver seats. I snagged 5 on United for the same days.

FOH

I think threads like this (on all the forums, not just AS) smack of the grass is greener syndrome. I've been or am elite on DL and UA. Both programs have their good and bad points and both have had significant devaluations over the last few years. Devaluing FF benefits while simultaneously trying to increase revenue (e.g., selling boatloads of mile$$$ to credit card companies) seems to be an industry norm.

That being said, different people value different perks and I can see how some people would prefer some carriers over others because of the combination of benefits that each airline offers.

But IMO it's unfair to single out AS in this case. It's legitimate to criticize them if and ONLY if you would say the same thing about all their competitors.

tomcsa

I think mileage redemption has come down to luck in a lot of cases. Some airlines are more generous than others and some routes are better packed on some than others. Having said that I am still finding it easiest to burn my miles on Alaska than some of the other airlines where I have miles. Everybody is chipping away perks, but I'm overall still quite pleased with Alaska. Too bad they don't fly to Europe...

doog

Though I love AS dearly, here are a few things that have made Mileage Plan worse recently:

1) The loss of NW F upgrades
2) The loss of CO for earning RDMs and redeeming awards
3) The doubling of the B of A companion coupon price.
4) The imposition of BA's fuel surcharge on award tickets (which is also imposed on BAs own FFs, but not on folks who redeem via AAdvantage).

I know the grass isn't necessarily greener, and I know that none of the stuff above is even AS's fault, but it still affects the value of the program and adds to the perception that it's not quite as good as it used to be. I'm not going anywhere (in the short term at least), but wouldn't be surprised to find out that others might start checking out UA or other options.