Southwest Announces Acquisition of American AAdvantage
Apr 1, 2003, 8:09 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Oceanside, NY USA
Posts: 1,128
Southwest Announces Acquisition of American AAdvantage
PR Newswire April 1, 2003 21:46 EST
DALLAS, TX--Southwest Airlines has purchased the AAdvantage frequent flier program from the financially-strapped carrier, announced Southwest president Collen Barrett. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AAdvantage, with over 20 million members worldwide, is believed to be the world's largest frequent flier programand is also considered one of the industry's foremost customer loyalty programs. AAdvantage enables participants to earn and redeem miles with many of the world's leading airlines, including British Airways, Cathay Pacific, QUantas, and Finnair.
"We are very excited to bring AAdvantage into the Southwest family," said Ms. Barrett. "The AAdvantage program has been the industry standard for so many years, and we're looking forward to integrating it with our own Southwest Rapid Rewards program real soon."
According to anonymous Southwest officials, the AAdvantage program will need to undergo several cosmetic adjustments in order to become compatible with its Southwest counterpart.
According to these sources, the changes will be as follows:
- Eliminating the ability to upgrade using miles, since there's nowhere to upgrade on any Southwest flight.
- Eliminating award seats to the such off-beaten destinations such as Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean.
- Eliminating relationships with all other carrier partners, with the possible exception of JetBlue.
- Greatly expanding award inventory to Little Rock.
"We fully expect to integrate and marginalize the AAdvantage customer base by summer," concluded Ms. Barrett. "This would enable our customers to book their free trips to Little Rock just in time for the heavy Christmas travel season, when Arkansas becomes the most demanded destination among global holidaymakers."
Southwest is expected to begin integration of AAdvantage immediately.
DALLAS, TX--Southwest Airlines has purchased the AAdvantage frequent flier program from the financially-strapped carrier, announced Southwest president Collen Barrett. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AAdvantage, with over 20 million members worldwide, is believed to be the world's largest frequent flier programand is also considered one of the industry's foremost customer loyalty programs. AAdvantage enables participants to earn and redeem miles with many of the world's leading airlines, including British Airways, Cathay Pacific, QUantas, and Finnair.
"We are very excited to bring AAdvantage into the Southwest family," said Ms. Barrett. "The AAdvantage program has been the industry standard for so many years, and we're looking forward to integrating it with our own Southwest Rapid Rewards program real soon."
According to anonymous Southwest officials, the AAdvantage program will need to undergo several cosmetic adjustments in order to become compatible with its Southwest counterpart.
According to these sources, the changes will be as follows:
- Eliminating the ability to upgrade using miles, since there's nowhere to upgrade on any Southwest flight.
- Eliminating award seats to the such off-beaten destinations such as Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean.
- Eliminating relationships with all other carrier partners, with the possible exception of JetBlue.
- Greatly expanding award inventory to Little Rock.
"We fully expect to integrate and marginalize the AAdvantage customer base by summer," concluded Ms. Barrett. "This would enable our customers to book their free trips to Little Rock just in time for the heavy Christmas travel season, when Arkansas becomes the most demanded destination among global holidaymakers."
Southwest is expected to begin integration of AAdvantage immediately.
Apr 2, 2003, 9:16 am
#2
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: OKC, OK
Posts: 50
And a happy April Fools Day to you.
Apr 2, 2003, 9:27 am
#3
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Katy, TX
Programs: AA - PLT(2MM); DL - PM(2MM); Hilton - Gold; Marriott Bonvoy- Titanium; Hyatt - Platinum
Posts: 1,718
And perhaps Ms. Barrett's first name, in this case, should be Grinnen. 