Your Ideal Changes to OnePass
 

I know that every once in awhile there are posts about changes people would like to see to OnePass, but my searches showed they are scattered among threads.

I'm doing a comprehensive project for one of my MBA courses in which I'm designing a more ideal Frequent Flyer program, which, based on my allegiance, is based on OnePass.

I'm hoping to get feedback on what features you would like to see in an ideal Frequent Flyer program, from significant to mundane.

I'll wait to get some responses before posting some of what I have...

Thanks!

Mike

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Happier Hours...drinkguru.com

For Top-Tier Flyers (Plats) allow guaranteed redemption of 2 BF Awards at Standard Redemption Rate per calendar year (i.e. Not subject to capacity controls or blackouts. If any BF fare code is available on a given flight, A Plat may redeem for up to two tickets once per year at standard BF redemption rate).

As an incentive to fly past 75K, allow those who do so to redeem a single BF Award seat for 50% off mileage requirement of Standard BF Award for each 50K flown beyond 75K. (e.g. a Plat who flies 125K would be allowed to redeem a BF return to Europe from N. America for 50K, instead of 100K miles). This would be somewhat like an SWU, serving as a benefit to the Plat who stays loyal beyond 75K, and serving as a benefit to CO by getting some miles off the books. Alternatively, for each 50K flown beyond 75K, CO could grant a single waiver of BF Upgrade co-pay fees from U fares or higher (I arbitrarily picked U, as it is a middle-of-the-road Coach fare). I have selected these options in lieu of UA style SWU's, as there appears to be no indication CO would go for such a system. At least, in the two examples provided above, CO would either remove some mileage from the books, or, as in example 2, gain a mid-level coach fare purchase as well as mileage deduction for the upgrade.

Make some more One Pass friends in the Middle East or Southeast Asia.

offer some sort of EAU for international travel. Why should EAU be restricted to the 48 states only?

Because International J fares are CO's bread and butter. CO has to sell its front cabin on BF equipped flights to stay in business. No airline in the world has an EUA system from Y to J for long-haul flights. Such a business model would make for financial ruin. Most customers would have absolutely no incentive to shell out $2,000-$6,000 for a business ticket (waaay more than a domestic F ticket costs, and contributing far more to operating profit) if they could just wait until a few days before the flight and play the EUA lottery. No airline in their right mind would ever adopt such a system.

Does F ALWAYS sell out on international flights? Would they rather let a seat go empty or would they upgrade loyal customers?

On some routes, like IAH/EWR-GRU, J does indeed sell out on a regular basis. It's not so much that J always sells out...it's that if you have EUA for international business flights, it's a serious disincentive to passengers to pay $2,000-$6,000 for a business class ticket. If enough passengers don't purchase those fares, CO does not make money. Such a scheme would encourage passengers to purchase discount coach and hope for the upgrade (as evidenced by the behavior of many CO FTers on domestic flights). CO's bottom-line would be hurting if it were selling out the back of the plane in discount coach fare buckets, coupled with a dramatic decrease in the amount of J, D, C, Z & R fares sold.

so there is no way to get upgraded from coach to BF on a transcon flight w/ some empty BF seats?

I would like them to do away with the Gold and Silver levels entirely. Let's face it: No one has any respect for anyone who flies under 75k miles, and the truth is elite boarding is now very crowded with Silvers and Golds. Its just inconvenient and annoying.

Perhaps this is a misunderstanding of terminology. A Transcon generally denotes a cross-country domestic flight (e.g. LAX-EWR). On those flights, there are complimentary elite upgrades (in theory, but this route is often sold out in F days in advance of the flight).

On long-haul flights equipped with a BF cabin, like IAH-LGW, there are no complimentary elite upgrades. Upgrades may be purchased with a combination of miles and a co-pay fee which varies, based on the original coach fare booked (these co-pays can range up to $450 per segment upgraded).

No airline provides complimentary space-available upgrades from Y to J on long-haul international flights. The economics of those flights require that a successful airline actually SELL the majority of its premium seats on long-hauls to make a profit. (Edited to Add) - With the exception of a very few long-haul all Y operators (like FlyGlobespan), who have no premium seats to sell (or at best, a Y+ type longhaul premium product) and have a very different operating model/strategy from mainline international carriers.

Four improvements....
 

My vote for improvements to the OnePass program revolves around changes that people have been asking for some time on Flyer Talk, and ones that I think make a lot of sense:

1) EUA's for reward travel: This is a feature of NW's frequent flyer program, and one that I appreciate. They even upgrade other Skyteam elites travelling on award tickets on their flights. Even if you are the lowest priority on the upgrade list, I still think this is a nice perk (at low/no cost) for frequent flyers travelling on reward tickets.

2) Get rid of the 50% EQM for deep discount economy fares: This is the one glaring difference between OnePass and other peer group programs. I understand the business rationale behind only offering 50% EQM for extremely cheap fares (unless bought via the cheapest distribution channel - CO.com) but it's definately a customer relations nightmare. Extending the 50% discount to cheap partner airlines flights as well is a pain.

3) More transparency with the standby upgrade list: Borrow a page from Delta's approach to managing the standby upgrade list, and post the list on screens at the gate. I'm tired of the battlefield upgrade/Russian roulette of guessing where the upgrades will fall. Post the information so everyone knows where they stand. This is probably more of an operational improvement, instead of a OnePass improvement.

4) Complimentary President's Club access for Plats: I think this would be a nice perk. Probably not economical, but a nice perk non-the-less.

This is (or at least was) a benefit extended to overseas Plats. When I resided in the UK I was given complimentary PC membership as a Plat. Don't know if this is the case anymore, but if you have an overseas address you can use for your OP account, it's definitely something to consider.

On an international flight they would rather let a seat go empty. This is done, "To preserve the integrity of the BusinessFirst cabin."

How about Miles-For-PC-Membership like DL offers, with different levels of miles paid out per your level? Or even fixed cost...still, given how hard it is to use miles on a darned airplane, it'd be a nice change.

Translation: "To preserve the integrity of the BusinessFirst profitability and pricing model."

Absolute agreement on this point. I think CO is going to lose more and more business travelers because of the 50% EQM/0EQP rule. As travel costs soar, more companies are going to force their employees to book through corporate travel sites and book in advance.