eternaltransit

I think they are simply rewarding those who pay extra, regardless of the reason

If you regularly fly with the airline and buy Flex/Flex Plus you are unaffected by these changes - within the fare class you are still ranked by status.

They simply want to stop rewarding those who buy cheap fares - and especially those who buy cheap fares hoping for an upgrade, the thinking being that someone who buys 2-3 Flex Plus tickets in the entirety of their travels with EK is more profitable than someone who buys 10-20 savers/specials a year.

Let's face it, there's no such thing as loyalty anymore in the hospitality industry, or at least, not enough of it to be rewarded with anything.

HelloKittysMum

They should change the name from frequent flyer to high spender then.

skywardhunter

Ok I've got EK529 on Tuesday and it just went Y0. By my count on the seat map of J and F (not very accurate I know, but J and F seats are more reliably assigned at booking than Y) it is overbooked by up to 17.

So this will be the test, Gold in Y on a Flex fare... do I make it into the top 10-15 on the op-up priority or not...? I'll let you know.

Waiting for someone at EK to send me the actual loads, see how close I am



PS: doubt this factors in by my connection DXB-CPT is in J Flex upgraded with Miles over a month ago, but I doubt they'll take that into consideration.

eternaltransit

There's a fun little list on MACS with eligible pax - it definitely sorts by fare basis as well: a Blue on an R class fare takes priority over non-status on an E class fare. I suspect you'll be top 5.

Interestingly, I hear that quite a significant number of Y pax on Flex Plus fares are either Blue or not members of Skywards - you only start to see Gold/Silver popping up at the Flex level (buying U class fares), but non status pax buy W.

HKprince

So would a non-skywards flex plus be op-upped before a plat flex?

eternaltransit

Yes...that's the crux of the changes and the point of this thread!

skywardhunter

I've seen the loads now, 18 over in Y, 14 open in J and F completely open. Holding thumbs.

skywardhunter

Just a reminder that EK isn't as dense as we may think sometimes. Here's the blog of their IT arm, Mercator, about worth of a frequent flyer. Their other articles (e.g. lifecycle value of a customer) are also very interesting to read. Not sure how closely Mercator links back to EK's internal policies but I'd imagine pretty closely. I'm sure eternal can confirm that Mercator is the system powering Skywards?

Value of a Frequent Flyer: https://www.mercator.com/blog/airlin...ssengers-worth

A single view of the airline customer: https://www.mercator.com/blog/expand...rline-customer

petercek

Comparing to M&M, it is still much easier (=cheaper) to get Silver or Gold status on Skywards. I stopped flying LH because of so ridiculously low earning rates for a (still very) high ticket price.

As a soon-to-be-Gold Skywards member, I sort of expected to get more chance of an op-up. OTOH, I completely understand and welcome the new 'rules'. They seem logical to me. The higher the price, the better the seat && higher status wins.
My routes are not crowded so much, so I don't even bother :-)

ukdoctor

Looks like my days of op ups ex DEL as a gold/ and even silver are over.

They are/were very proactive with op ups ex DEL.I think I have had to fly only once in Y in the 10 or 11 times I was on a saver Y ticket.

Even while travelling in J , I have been OP'd up to F a few times.

eternaltransit

Mercator was sold off to Warburg Pincus in 2014 but still provide EK/dnata their IT solution (and the infamous website booking engine!), specifically reservations and airport control.

It's likely that there is specific data about the profitability of each individual Skywards member compared to the pax population as a whole (e.g. similar to casino loyalty schemes), and then some bright spark at Skywards suggested the change "how do we get the high profit pax into regular travellers".

Remains to be seen if it works, I think.

skywardhunter

I'd love to see whatever score they have, BA has such a score I believe which is also somewhat public to members to see their own score?

It's like knowing your Uber rating (that drivers have given you), which one can now find via the depths of the app, fascinating to see what value they place on you.

eternaltransit

CIV score - it's not supposed to be public, but well, what can you do with such big organisations

I don't think we are quite there yet with EK!

There is definitely a recognition amongst airlines that their best customers might not be members of their own frequent flyer schemes or even a member of any of them.

I know CX has their own internal data system that picks out frequent CX metal flyers who are members of other schemes or not even a member at all (i.e. picking up on passport data/dob/route) and flag them up for staff to do the standard HVC greeting etc. BA's system I think does the same - i.e. there are certain levels in the scoring system that assign a high score to "known" profitable travellers who might not be members of BAEC.

Gringuito

It may be only two / three examples, but maybe they are not the only ones:

Two of my friends are Plat members and fly one or twice a month in business for work and 1 every 2 or three months in economy for pleasure. As a plat they had every reason to take those personal flights in economy with Emirates.
So last week they flew to (or back?) NYC and they knew it was overbooked before checking in. In front of the queue a two non skyward members got the op-up and not them. They were furious and the situation was explained by the staff to them.

The consequence is that now they are inquiring at QR and EY to status match and move the entire business (work and personal travel) there because of this change. They have also sent an e-mail to EK, but this won't be of any help for sure.

I am also wondering if I do that or just always opt for the most convenient / cheapest option. Today I would book more expensive flights on Emirates and one of the main reason being the high op-up rate...

So I am not really sure if this change will help EK. I would assume that most flex plus ticket holder bought their ticket last minute on an overbooked flight. Are they the targeted group?

skywardhunter

What fare type were they on?