Freddie Award Voting is Underway -- Are They Mad????
 

I just got this by email below. Does CO think they even have a shot at a Freddie? They are unquestionably the least competitive major carrier in the United States right now in terms of frequent flyer program.

Unlimited Elite upgrades is no big deal anymore (so many have matched), they're the only carrier with 50% EQM, reduction of F, etc. etc. etc., the list goes on.

Is their marketing so out of touch they actually think they can fly in on their blue carpet and win a Freddie based on a website that doesn't work half the time and some lousy award availability? This is un-freaking-believable...

Maybe they're just hoping they can drum up a few votes so they don't rank worst.

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Dear XXXX XXXX,

Voting for the 17th Annual Freddie Awards ends March 15th. The Freddie Awards allow travelers to recognize the best frequent travel programs in the world. We invite our valued customers to vote for the OnePass frequent flyer program.

OnePass continues to offer the benefits that our best customers value most.

• Unlimited complimentary Elite upgrades
• EliteAccess travel services
• Elite mileage bonuses
• New dedicated Elite priority desk
• No restricted travel dates for reward travel
• Reward availability calendar

Some ideas that may help CO and pacafiy us as well.

Chasbondy has a point in that CO has quite a diffcult-balancing act to walk in regards to funds. To that end, if CO truly thinks that adding coach will help the 735 and 753 perform better, then more power to them. (But, if CO claims that they are flying the 753 on leasiure routes, I do not expect to see them on the IAH-EWR runs.) However, there have got to be some ideas that are not too hard on the old balancing book that CO could implement that would make us FTers happier.

1. Upgrade ratios are right now are somewhat poor :( and as they are what keeps many of us with CO, we feel the pain. As the 738 represents the majority of the 73X fleet, can the birds that have not been delived be configured in the 'Mid-Lavatory' setting?

2. Can CO consider an E+ product for the 787s? I do not think so many of would complain as bitterly as we do now if CO offered a quasi-premium product that would be in reach of the elites... without a fee!

3. Could CO offer 737 flights across the pond that were eligible for EUAs?

All of that is what if future type stuff. I agree with the first poster here. CO's biggest advantage, the upgrades, is no longer a unique thing. Couple that with the removal of F seats, and the lowering of F fares to where they appear to actually be selling out F on many transcons, and the upgrade benefit means pretty little.

I did exchange email with some CO folks regarding the Freddies. I was rather candid in my assessment of the competitiveness of OnePass. I think the CO.com web site has a MUCH better chance to win an award than the OnePass program.

Even if CO doesn't win the Freddies, they can do like last year and dredge up some junk award to win.

...2005 Best Safety Video Award

While awards are nice, the only things that REALLY count is the P/L statement - CO is still beating all of the other U.S. legacies, so it's still #1 by the most important measure of success.

How do you really feel Channa?

This is(AN) un-freaking-believable (enhancement). Channa's new marketing line for CO

But we have pretty blue carpets....
 

If they think that they have a shot at a Freddie, then they've been smokin a lot of the funny stuff

At least I haven't seen any of those 'Voted Best Elite Program by those who fly the most' signs in IAH. Now it either because they took them down because they were starting to yellow from how old they were....I seem to remember a day when it WAS true. Or it might be that I am no longer seeing them because I'm not flying CO too much these days

One Pass Elite: From First to Worst :eek:

Yeah, Avek, whatever you say.

If I'm not mistaken, last year Continental got a good number of extremely negative responses to the Freddie balloting. For whatever reason anyone cares to speculate, the Freddie judges decided to arbitrarily throw out a good number of negative Continental votes. If this is the case, and counts really are cooked, what difference does anyone's vote make?

I happen to agree that even with CO's IT issues their websites is miles above the other majors.

Dan

If I'm not mistaken that was the year before last. Last year the process was a bit more secretive, though.

Could care less about CO's P/L statement. Not a shareholder and no longer a customer. Only thing that would get me back on a CO plane, short of my employer forcing me to fly them, is a more competitive frequent flyer program, including much better award availability. Voting CO a Freddie for anything would be ridiculous. NonePass is simply not competitive and NW has a better website.

With regard to actually voting for the Freddie's, I haven't decided if I will cast a ballot this year. The process has been corrupted in the past by InsiderFlyer's dismissal of legitimate votes which were intended to send a message to CO, and because of this I believe the "integrity" of the vote is still an issue. If I do vote, it won't be for CO.

I voted for CO in the Freddies
 

Ok, but only for best website. For best elite program, the nod went to Northwest.

Cheers,
Brooklynflyer

Honestly, while CO deserves marks for web site improvements, I would vote DL for best web site or perhaps best overall IT integration. A runner up would be WN. Their web site tells you exactly what you need, without html bloat or slow loading of pages.