False EQM promises from Co.com
 

A co-worker just got hosed on this issue, and I went to look at it myself to see that it really was true. Apparently it is.

Booking a discount fare (L) on co.com supposedly gets you 100% eqm. For a code-share flight, it is actually based on the operating carrier (in this case NW, which maps it to a K). But even though the flight will only earn 50% credit, CO.com still shows 100% on the website, right up through the actual purchase of the ticket.

Clearly another reason to have someone who knows what they're doing take over the CO IT operations...

S.

I've never encountered this problem, CO.com regularly shows me codeshares at 50% EQM well in advance of purchase.

Actually I've had some issue with NW codeshares. A lot of them (XJ op'd flights I believe) show up as 100%, though I'm sure they are only 50% like NW (I haven't tried it though).

dan

You gotta be careful about NW codeshares sold by CO and EQM. If the NW flt is codeshare and the ticket stock is CO then they are a little more liberal about discount fares getting 100% EQM. (for example a K on a CO purchased NW Codeshare with a CO flt number on the pass will get 100% whereas usually a K flown on NW only gets 50%). See the earning section on Co.com for full details.

Ok I am a little confused by all of these code words.

I recently found out (Yes, I am an amateur miles person) that I do not receive equal miles towards elite status for miles I actually fly. I understand Delta used to be like this but changed it this year so that miles count 1 to 1 for elite. This seems quite unfair to me, but what do I know?

Is this somethign that we have just accepted as being the way it is? And is this sort of what you guys are talking about? Thanks!

A CO "K" fare is a pretty expensive fare, not anything like a NW "K" fare, which is the cheapest you can get on NW.

See http://www.continental.com/onepass/e.../northwest.asp for details on which CO fare codes only earn 50% on NW metal.


Yes, it's what they're talking about. The details of the rules are very complex, but they can be boiled down to:

1) When flying CO metal (i.e., flights operated by CO), as long as you book on continental.com you will always earn at least 100% EQMs (i.e., at least 1 elite qualifying mile for each regular mile you earn).

2) When flying on a partner or CO codeshares on partner metal (i.e., flights with CO flight numbers but operated by another carrier like NW or DL), you will only earn 50% EQMs for the cheapest fares. See http://www.continental.com/onepass/e...ne/default.asp for charts showing which fare codes earn which level of EQMs.

Yes, I think you've got the general concept. DL did do something similar a few years ago but decided to reverse the decision after adverse customer reactions. In the meantime CO decided to pick up the practice but from all accounts I've heard CO is quite satisfied with the results.

The general idea here is that CO like any other company wants to increase revenue. There is speculation out there that many airlines would like to make the whole frequent flyer system to be driven by revenue rather than mileage but there are a lot of tax/legal and PR hurdles. So they using an indirect approach by discounting the benefit of Elite Qualification miles for lower revenue tickets. Basically they are drilling down the concept of the Elite Flyer's value to CO. It used to be driven purely by how much you fly. Now its partially driven by how much you pay.

The discounting is driven by Fare Class. Just to try to flesh that out given your query - as you may be aware many airlines have First, Business and Coach sections on the plane. Within each section there are fully refundable tickets but since they are refundable they cost a lot more. In Coach this is usually referred to as a Y fare. Then there are the nonrefundable tickets which the airline will sell at various prices. They will allocate a block to be sold at a deeply discounted fare. When that runs out then there rest of the seats will be allocated to higher fares although airlines usually have Revenue Management policies to reallocate the seats dynamically in an attempt to maximize the revenue. (e.g. if they think they are going to fly with empty seats they might move some back in the really cheap block in hopes of getting something for the otherwise empty seats)

If you pull up the earning miles on the frequent flyer section of Co.com you'll see a chart that will show the various classes and how CO decided to draw the lines for discounting the Elite Qualifying miles.

Personally I sometimes wonder how much this concept has really helped revenue. Many people buy tickets through websites or travel agencies that are going to search for airfares based purley on best price. Although it is possible to specifically ask to buy your tickets from a higher discount bucket - its not common practice. In fact CO's site wouldn't let you specify fare class until about a year ago. CO used to run promos based on fare classes which used to drive me to abandon Co.com and call in because of this shortcomming. Now though CO.com will allow fare class specification although its also the 'big loophole' in this whole EQM discounting policy.

CO has put in a few loopholes in the EQM discount policy which I believe has significantly mitigated the negative customer response DL seems to have experience although I believe it has also compromised the revenue gain from the policy. Currently if you buy CO flts on CO.com the EQM discounting isn't applied. CO loses the extra revenue but gains because they avoid paying fees to agents/sites. As a result many customers never notice the issue - even the small block that can even hope to get to Elite to start with.

It has hurt one type of customer which I fall into though - the coprorate traveler in a company with strict travel policies enforced via a corporate agent. In such cases the traveler has to book everything through a designated agent. This agent's primary job is to make sure that the traveler travels based on the lowest possible fare and/or through the airline that gives the best contract kickback. Said traveler will almost always end up traveling on the deeply discounted fare with no ability to book at CO.com because of the policy. I'm one of these travelers and have therefore switched from CO to NW as my primary carrier (and I was a CO elite for 10 years). CO may not realize it but there are ways for such travelers to exploit loopholes in the corporate policy and maintain loyalty to a particular airline and its partners but it takes a lot of effort. In my case I won't bother making this effort for 50% EQM but I will when NW, which has very similar Elite benefits, still gives me 100% EQM. (and yes, I'm ranting about it a little here since I know CO staff reviews flyertalk posts - I'm sure RNE and at least one other will rant back at me soon.)

As illustrated by the thread's OP the policy is also being applied to flying on partners as well. Using NW as an example, a couple of years ago flying on NW counted the same as flying on CO. CO and NW have an extensive partnership where they sell each other's flts to supplement their schedules, have elite benefit reciprocity, club access reciprocity and so on. Now flying on NW will only get you 50% EQM if you fly on most discount fares. In fact CO applies 50% EQM at higher fare classes for partners than it does for its own flts. Further Co.com doesn't like selling partner flts - making that loophole hard to use. However, if you do get Co.com to sell a partner flt or buy the partner flt through CO its a little easier as I mentioned on the previous post. Overall though its very very hard to fly a partner and get full EQM on a non-refundable ticket. Many partners (including NW and DL) have recognized this and have applied a 50% EQM discount when flying CO - even if they don't have a general 50% EQM discount policy. As a result you'll see that many Partner elite flyers are reluctant to fly CO unless the alternative is a non partner airline where they would get no credit at all. Again, I don't know if CO has thought this through but I suspect this has cost them codeshare sales.

So that's the policy and why it exists as near as I know. Again from what I've heard CO is pretty happy with the results so I suspect its here to stay for a long time at CO. Hopefully DL's experience will keep it from spreading anywhere else.

Sorry bad class example. However, I have seen cases where I can book the same iten at the same price on a CO codeshare and get the 50% EQM where I couldn't buying directly from NW. (Or at least I did last year before I gave up on CO and switched to NW.)

But even though the flight will only earn 50% credit, CO.com still shows 100% on the website, right up through the actual purchase of the ticket.

I think what the original poster is complaining about is not so much the 50% EQM's but the fact that the web site says that you will get 100% EQM's on a code-share flight flown by another airline but carrying a CO flight number. I have had this happen to me as well. The flight is a CO codeshare with a CO number, bought on CO.com but flown by NW. The fare is discounted and should carry a 50% EQM but on the web-site, it says 100% EQM's. I did talk to several IT people at the DO, and they didn't know that this glitch existed. I was also told by people on this board that you could call OPSC if this happened and they would give you the missing 50%. Needless to say, I have not tried it and I have not flown any code-shared (CO wins).

If when he purchased his ticket online and it said 100% EQM, he was hosed...if he just didn't pay attention, then it's his fault.

Codeshares in low fare classes always show up on CO.com for me as 50% EQM.

This is not always true. As I said up above, some of the Mesaba and Pinnacle operated (RJs and Saabs) for NW show up as 100%, even though I'm quite sure they are supposed to be 50% like the NW op'd flights. Play around with GFK-EWR or IAH (the ones with CRJs, ARJs, or Saabs will show up as 100%), or even some MSP-xxx flights and you can see this. I haven't had the opportunity to try one of those fares and contest that it said 100% (plus the routes are short and not really worth the effort).

dan

I have had the same problem on a DL codeshare in L class, where CO posted the EQM at 100 percent but only gave me credit for 50 percent. I wound up calling OnePass with my receipt in hand, and they gave me an override even though they grumbled about it. It helps to call up the original reservation as you are talking to OnePass, and they will back up the promise.

If it shows up as 100% and you aren't sure of it, a simple PRINT SCREEN is all you need to get your credit.

It was a co-worker of mine who got hosed; I know better than that :)

As for the details on Co.com, look up EWR-ROA. I did a Thursday-Tuesday a few weeks out and there were plenty of L class fares available. On the website it clearly shows 100% EQM for the NW operated segments, even though the "earning" page for NW operated, CO ticketed flights, clearly shows that CO L class operated by NW is a 50% situation.

In the end, my friend chose not to pursue it, though I would have. The fact is that the website is broken. Its a shame, but it is definitely not right.

S.

The "L" shown for the codeshare isn't necessarily the class booked on NW.