aye aye to that. Was watching an interview of Qatar CEO a few days back and he said their biggest market (business travel) will be hit massively going forward as people get comfortable with Zoom meetings and calls.

I look forward to seeing what adjustments Skywards makes

Which companies choose their preferred airlines based on the frequent flyer scheme?

I know some people have the flexibility to choose their own flights to an extent, but the bigger companies have corporate deals.

Companies don't, but a surprising number of business travelers either have complete flexibility on who they book with or choose from a list of corporate deals (a lot of big corporates don't just have one) where clearly they will consider their own mileage earning as part of the calculation. I also doubt EK has a similar percentage of revenue under corporate deals as the likes of BA/AA/UA.

Company policy is just a policy, in final still can book the airline as you like, but just need to be having a good reason on choice your own

That's not always true. With a lot of companies, flights are booked for you and you don't get a choice.

depends on how the relationship with your travel agent and how often you fly. it is more easy arrange your own with company assign travel agent when you travel alot

No. Strict corporate rules always applied with my employer with next to no leeway for negotiation no matter how often you travelled.

That is certainly how it was when clients were paying for my flights when I was working for others. They called the shots. And why not? They have the desire and the right to get people from A to B for the least amount of money. That just makes good sense. Most corporations don't care which airline they use. It's mostly driven by price.

Having said that, I sense there is a large pool of people like myself who fly regularly and fund their own tickets. We like to build status with one or more airlines, but are very sensitive to any contractions in a FFP's privileges, and that is definitely enough reason for us to start looking at alternatives. I have used Emirates exclusively since 1998, but I'm watching them carefully now.

It's still unclear whether Emirates values this group very highly. Time will tell

it really sad. some how my company try to do the same before, then few times they have make a big trouble. then the rule become more flexible for every one now only with a reasonable time, may be not directly flight be need to be safe when staff travel to and from airport and transit time can not in midnight or in airport overnight. now what we always saying the travel agent is help us to book the ticket, but we give the agent schedule for booking, they only help t verify is this price is worth over all

I'm in that (EK) group, although not from as far back as 1998, but I'm now wavering as I have QR Gold now too. I keep saying to myself to disregard FFPs altogether and go on cost/schedule alone as they've all been devalued so much, but I'll try and wring what value I can from them for now.

I was listening to a news article on Australian Radio National last week, and a former Qantas executive and aviation expert was saying that there is no way that airlines will be able to support their FFPs coming out of this pandemic. They are simply too expensive to run and may be the first major item to be cut as they start up again.

I find that a bit hard to believe, but I guess time will tell.

I pity all those people who insist on displaying their tier luggage tags prominently on their cabin baggage at all times. How will they be able to differentiate themselves in a post-FFP world? They will be reduced to having their J or even F boarding pass facing outwards in their shirt pocket for everyone to see!

The removal of FFPs will remove a lot of the excess gas from those blowhards!

took the words out of my mouth!

i have it on good authority that the majority of the pax with a PLATINUM tag on their bag aren't even platinum anymore, it's just an old tag :D

i don't think FFP will be cut, they're a good data farm. i expect the miles earned to be reduced further, and certain benefits cut (reduction in extra luggage allowance, silver status may lose J lounge access in DXB, etc)

Come to think of it, what does an iO tag look like. :confused:

It is glorious, I put two tags on the same bag so everyone knows

:D:D:D:D :tu: