I certainly appreciate the direct official communication, but you still leave questions unaswered...

I'm still not clear whether you can use one if any seat in BE is empty on the day of departure, or only if a Z seat is available on the day of departure. If the former, do we call at the stroke of midnight (departure city time) to request the upgrade? Will there be a priority or does the first one to call get an empty seat? If you have a multi-segment trip, and the upgrade is not available for all segments do you get cleared on those for which it is available and get put on standby for the other(s)? What would be your priority on such a standby?

I understand you may not have all this worked out, but if you spend any amount of time on FT you'll quickly see these are the sorts of details you're going to need to communicate. And the answers will make a big difference as to whether anyone finds the SWUs useful.

As to whether this "enhancement" is meaningful, you need to understand that there is a vast difference between an instrument that lets you confirm an upgrade in advance, and one that lets you move up if space is available at departure. The availability of a lower priced business class seat generally dictates whether I book a personal international trip at all. I will certainly not book a coach seat in the hope that I can use my SWU at departure.

I can't say they have zero value. I used two earlier this year to fly to SIN during the triple EQM promo, but that was a special case. M fares are often little better than the lowest available BE fare when booked well in advance. So you can see why your SWUs are greeted with sneers, and DL's announcement of this exciting benefit make it look ridiculous and not credible.

It would help if you could give a specific date, or even a rough time frame, at which folks like me (who have already qualified for the Diamond level) will get our free memberships. Jan 1? Mar 1? The mysterious "implementation date" in the Spring? And will the membership normally expire with the other benefits in a program year (i.e. Feb 28 of the following year)?

I think most folks understood that, but this coming year is where the confusion lies. I have already qualified for the Diamond level. When will I get to pick my benefits and how many will I get to pick the first time around?

While this day-of-departure use for systemwide upgrades is a meaningless enhancement for even most current Platinums (who will be Platinums or Diamonds next year), for a small segment of the current Platinum customer base this adjustment -- regardless of how structured for implementation -- could have some meaningful positive impact over what is the situation today. Even for some of those customers -- including those customers willing to gamble on an expensive fare just for a chance to get an upgrade -- the day-of-departure allowance means that those who buy last minute ticket have an official chance to try to use the PMUs.

Moaning about this aspect of the systemwide upgrade implementation seems to be moaning for no good reason -- there's been no indication that DL's action in this area won't match the DL management rhetoric.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

My question to the Insiders would be why do segment qualifiers, who can be extremely profitable to the carrier, get the shaft from DL?

Please clarify. NW had segment qualification all along, I don't know if the current levels match their old levels or if its a devaluation. (someone can fill me in here). DL hadn't had segment qualification for a number of years, they just added it back this year, so it's an improvement on the DL side. The only thing I see where segments aren't treated equally with MQM's is on the rollover. Are you saying you want segment rollover as well as MQM rollover, or is it something else that I'm missing?

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edit to add- oh, I think I see what I was missing. If you qualify on segments, do you still get any MQM rollover? And even if they do, it seems it wouldn't be of any benefit. If that's how it works, you're right, something is definitely out of whack.

I think, just like a huge bill in congress, this new program is a huge change, with lots of potential unintended consequences (like the one I outlined above about 100k fliers earning potentially the same choice bonuses as full time diamonds)... they need to use FT as a resource and tweak the program.

For domestic FF who sit on short haul flights on a frequent basis and would rely on segments to earn status it raises an interesting point. If DL was paying enough attention to add segments in 2009, why not rollover segments?

For example, you end 2009 with 56 segments but 26,000 MQMs. That would mean 1k starting MQM in 2010 as an FO when you were so close to the next level based on segments but with a lousy 1k starting MQM in 2010 with 0 segments. Should they not rollover segments so that this FF would start 2010 with 26 segments?

Given that they chose to recognize segments as a qualifying mechanism, why not grant it the same respect as MQMs?

Having disagreed with this poster before, I feel compelled to say when I wholeheartedly agree with what he says.

Others have pointed out -- to little effect, apparently -- that this benefit will be great for people who buy last minute, expensive tickets. Those happen to be the folks, for better worse, that Delta apparently thinks is the key to profitability. I'm not one of them, and Delta may be proven wrong over time, but GUWonder clearly understands this point. Thanks for this statement.

Glad segments has become a part of the discussion. It brings up another AAdvantage to AA.

You can become EXP for 100 segments or 100 points.

With DL at 140 that is 40% more segments; compared to 25% miles.

The people on this board that talk about buying may "F" and BC tickets could even get to EXP faster because of the 1.5 bump per mile to get to points. In theory, not likely though, you could become EXP with 66,667 miles all at the 1.5 point mark. That is actually a little more than half of what DL wants.

Curiousity... as an AA EXP, how well does one do with complimentary upgrades on various fare types when riding on AA metal? Pretty much a slam dunk, or depends...?

I'm not EXP over there, since 2003. At that time they were not free.

I've been reading lots over there the last few months and it seems pretty automatic; similar to what PE for NW over the last 6 year.

As has also been discussed, of course, there are 8 one-way SWU that very easy to use. Not as good as when I was EXP 1998 - 2003. In 1998 and 1999, and I think 2000 when you could only get EXP with points they booked directly into "J" and you could even use Net sAAver fares. When they added miles and segments they did become a little restrictive. No NetsAAver or one lower class. Still light years ahead of PMU.

Delta gives 1.5 MQM per mile on M and above fares.

Huh? I don't get your math. Delta also offers 1.5 MQM for those higher fare classes, so you could be Diamond with 83,333. It's the same 25% higher as 125k over 100k.

Umm ... A father of a friend of mine flies DEN-NRT each month (one RT) in paid C (sometimes F) on UA. They treat him as a VERY VALUABLE frequent flier.

As a GM, how does this affect me?

If you're implying I'm emotionally wedded, I've just burnt my last miles on a reward ticket, and with an upcoming move overseas and DL's International Origination Surcharge, unlikely to accrue any more. Distant, yes.

Very valuable - most definetly. Personally I don't count someone who flies once a month as a FF. He is still a very valuable flyer though...

I'm sorry, but the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this was the various Charlie Brown TV specials. You know, where Charlie is in class and the teacher talks to him:

What the teacher says = "The problem with the SWUs is the YBM requirment and the fact that plats will get less"

What Charlie hears = "blah blah blah SWU blah blah blah"

What Charlie responds with = "I heard you. You're mad because you can't use them the day of departure. Well, I'll tell ya what, these are the greatest thing since canned beer because you can buy YBM and use them the day of departure."