Will Alaska Airlines consider new tier?
 

It seems to me like there should be a new Mileage Plan tier above 75k. Maybe 100k? Especially with Virgin America coming aboard there will be plenty of other people crowding the 75k class. The reduction of the number of first class seats and more competition will make 75k slightly devalued going forward in my eyes.

What benefits would a new higher tier have, aside from possibly free BR/Alaska Lounge membership? 75k already has relatively thin benefits over Gold compared to the benefits Gold has over regular MVP.

This get's brought up with every merger. If there is a big group of elites in SEA, and a new group of elites in SFO coming from Virgin America, what makes you think they will cross paths?

Yes there will be some overlap, but for the most part you will be competing against the same people for upgrades and boarding on the routes you take the most as an elite. Busy and elite heavy routes will remain that way, and light routes will stay light.

AS has a lot more important things on its' plate right now. With the merger and the addition of the E+ cabin I doubt this is even on their radar. And YES, they have struggled to come up with more benefits for 75K over Gold. What could they possibly add to a higher tier other than free food in Y (which is a 1MM benefit only right now).

Just my thoughts but I don't think there will be a lot of new 75Ks from Virgin America. AS has a unique qualification requirement compared to other programs and they don't fly long-haul (nor does Virgin America). However, I can see a lot of new MVPGs and MVPs in the near future...

I would suggest that even without the merger there is a good case to be made for a higher tier. The merger / acquisition of Virgin only helps build the case. Currently there is an abundance of 75k, just this week I was #16 on a waitlist for SEA>ORD for a ticket purchase date 2 weeks prior. Crazy. I can think of plenty of additional benefits for a new 100k tier:
1) higher upgrade priority
2) free meal in coach
3) comp drinks in coach (more than 1)
3) Better boarding priority - now it's inconsistent but mostly "all 75k, and gold, and passengers wearing a sports jersey" (sarcasm intended)
4) more guest upgrade certs
5) higher mileage accrual bonus
6) BR access or passes
7) free onboard wi-fi
I'm sure I could come up with a dozen or so more, but there's plenty of room for improvement for the new Plutonium Level at 100k Alaska metal mile fliers. Right now a 100k AS flyer doesn't have much over a 40k gold.

Yeah, 50,000 RDM and 125% RDM bonus is totally "doesn't have much".

You realize that per year, at a penny a mile (pretty low estimate given that you can fly one way business class to Europe or Asia on award for 50k miles) that's about $700 in extra Alaska miles minimum (75K on AS) over a MVPG?

For a 100k flyer compared to a 40k MVPG, it's more than double (a 100k AS+partners MVPG75K flier, all coach, gets 125k + 50k bonus for 175k miles, a 40k MVPG gets 80k). That's nearly a round trip to Europe or Asia on award.

:rolleyes:

But sure, maybe AS can turn into Delta and have extra elite levels, plus slash RDM earnings for a lot of people...

For someone who is flying an additional 60,000 miles after qualifying for 40,000 gold - no there isn't much difference to justify flying double, and in some cases triple the miles.

Do you never actually use your AS miles, then? Because "you get a lot more miles, enough to redeem more awards" is a substantial difference, whether or not you wish to acknowledge it.

I can understand the logic of wanting more SWUs elsewhere, at DL/AA/UA instead of chasing status at AS if you don't really value miles. But there's a tradeoff for sure: way less miles unless you're flying lots of expensive Y/J/F.

I'm skeptical about the idea of an additional elite tier, but I do think it'd be nice if Alaska made some kind of acknowledgment of flyers who get more than 75/90k tier miles per year. Maybe offering a choice of 2 GGU/2 lounge pass/4 meal vouchers for every 25/30k after that, similar to what they've offered as a surprise gift in the past?

I'm going to revive my own suggestion. Rollover EQM after 100K AS metal only (sorry partners, but that's the breaks). If you fly 140K miles on AS, guaranteed gold for the next year's qualification for example. I doubt there's that many people reaching 140K or 175K AS metal miles and those that do are very frequent & loyal AS flyers.

Hmmmmm - lots of varying opinions here and I find myself agreeing with nearly all of them - yes, no , maybe, if.

Exactly -- there are a lot of things AS can offer.

GGU's, BR passes, Gogo passes, discounts off flights, etc., after thresholds beyond 75K/90K.

If and when AS creates a new higher tier, it needs to entice both AS and VX members to fly even more. I'd guess Business Seat upgrades on Premium Transcon (via ecert), and BR Passes.

The drawback, likely, is the spend requirement, as VX Gold member has minimum earn 50,000 point earn requirement at 5 points/$1 spend. ($10,000).

I'd guess it would be raised to $15,000, just a guess of course....

No way, do I think AS is going to give away premium benefit for free....

Jiburi

You undersold it. A 100k flyer gets 225k + 50k = 275k (2.75 RDMs/mile flown), whereas a 40k flyer gets 80k (2.0 RDMs/mile flown, in both cases assuming same status every year so the bonuses are awarded from mile 1). That in addition to upgrade priority and the soft in-flight benefits.