Xyzzy

DEQM makes no sense from that perspective. It makes lots of sense from a competitive perspective, though. If you're CO and all of your competitors are offering DEQM you can't afford not to do this. They will lose too many high dollar customers without it, and that translates directly into lost revenue.

westtexas

Precisely. For example, I can realistically choose from AA or Continental for most of my travel. I have a lot of travel coming up this Fall. I have been a low to mid-tier elite on one or both for the the last six years or so; I have settled on mostly flying on Continental because I happen to like them better than AA under normal operating circumstances.

Unless...

Unless I can be a top-tier elite on AA because of the DEQM promotion which struggling to reach mid-tier on Continental. That makes me an AA flyer for the Fall. If CO offers me DEQM or, making supplications to whatever powers on Smith Street control this sort of thing, DEQS, then I can make top tier on my preferred airline.

Xyzzy

or bth!

westtexas

Which is awesome, as long as you can convince Mrs. Westtexas that a mileage run on a second airline which I would likely not fly in 2010 is a good idea!

bajrbajr

does the DEQM promotion cost CO anything?

a few more silvers they lose some checked bag fee
a few more plats they lose some reward change fees

but I don't think its costing them much.

Steve GadFly

Everyone here is posting about how they may give an airline running a DEQM promotion more business however I don't think an airline that runs this actually sees much if any increase in the bottom line. You have to remember....your average semi-frequent flyer, and in most cases, even your average ELITE knows little to nothing about the intracacies of OnePass or whatever FF program serves their carrier and participates in few if any promotions. I'm sure the enrollment in DEQM earlier this year was in reality a tiny percentage of OP members. The people here and their knowledge and passion for travel are the extreme exception exception rather than the rule.

Additionally, we've all said how we'll possibly be doing more MR's under this promotion. One thing to remember is that to really be a MR, the seat has to be cheap enough...meaning it's not profitable for the airline. I'm willing to bet that the DEQM promotion from earlier this year achieved 2/3 of it's goals: It made more upper-level elites, it put a few more butts in empty seats, but it did NOT generate any real $$$ for the airline.

Of course all that being said, I could be COMPLETELY wrong

Personally, I hope CO looks at the numbers and decides to act on facts and not just blindly copy what the "other guys" are doing. Too many Patinums competing for F seats now that buy-up's are becoming more common would be bad.

transportbiz

You don't see how this makes money for CO? Think about it, the more platinums you have competing for seats in some of the smallest (number of seats) front cabins in the industry. The more those who REALLY want the upgrade are likely to pay for premium fares to increases their chances. LAX-EWR routes as is, if you are a Platinum forget about an upgrade on anything lower than V class...and even then, it's going to be a last minute one.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

I decided to give up on CO this year. I love them but had them because of their being in SkyTeam. Now with them joining the StarAlliance which I am already set with UA did not make sense.

But last month knowing that I would loose my status on CO soon booked a couple reservations using voucher and credit for a cxld ticket. Now that it may be possible if CO did a DEQM will book more when they announce to keep some type of status. That is CO getting some extra money UA would have got.

sbm12

I don't think you're completely wrong - just a little bit.

The key is that CO needs the revenue. Flying a bunch of us around on MRs may not be profitable, but it is found revenue and every little bit helps. I do agree that many folks ignore the nuance and minutiae of the FF programs - especially the EQM side of the house - but enough pay attention that these promos can shift the share of the travel budget pot that each airline is going to get.

GUWonder

DL's response was more delayed than that, and what DL came out with that time was but a shell of what AA, CO, UA and US offered to all customers. [Most DL tickets sold even during the promotional period were not eligible for DL's status miles promotion because DL management restricted their promo to only the most expensive fares.]

This time DL management has to consider the repercussions of running another double normal status miles promo because DL has already announced that they will let customers rollover status miles above and/or between elite tier qualification levels.

sbm12

There are many (self included) who would argue that DL did it in a way that made sense - they rewarded the more valuable/profitable customers. And they did take about a week after the others to toss their hat into the ring.

blueslip

So with all these pros and cons discussion for CO to join the DEQM promotion this time of the year, will CO enlightens this forum if it will or will not join AA and UA? Perhaps Scott may have something to say about this.

HeathrowGuy

I think CO will either match DEQM by Friday or else go more comprehensive and roll it out next Tuesday.

srodr

Yeah, if they're gonna do it they'll probably wait until after the weekend to exclude the holiday flyers. Either that or they'll exclude already bought tickets.

JetAway

I think the first round of 2XEQM generated more excitement. A lot of flyers already have what they want and at this point may be burned out by MRs, extra flying etc.