A few changes that I'd like to see:
1) Discounted rate at MKE Best Care Club - I used this club for the first time last month on a free pass that I got when I reached Executive status. The club was nice but virtually empty. There were only about 5 other people while I was there. The day rate is $35 for up to two people. I travel solo and $35 is too much when I only have 60 to 90 minutes at the airport. A reduced price for elites and/or solo travelers might bring a few more people into the club. I might be willing to pay $20 to get away from the crowds for a short time, but no more.

2) Waive the standby fee for both elite levels. You could still prioritize Executive over Ascent. I've never understood why airlines don't want to encourage people to take an earlier flight when they arrive at an airport early and the earlier flight is not full. It makes people happy to get home early; it is good customer relations that costs the airline nothing. A couple of years ago, Midwest would routinely let you on the earlier flight at no extra charge but unfortunately this changed after they were bought by Republic.

3) I also like the idea of a little extra time to reach elite level if you are close at end of year. I recall last year I got an email from Midwest stating they would give until Jan or Feb to earn segments necessary for Executive status. As it turned out, I had enough segments at the end of December; however, this year, if my travel goes as scheduled I will only have 28 segments by year end. It would be nice to get a slight grace period so I could be bumped up to the next level.

4) I'd also like to see an alliance with an international carrier.

Midwest did this for me on more than one occasion.

Let me be the first to welcome you to FT. We look forward to more insightful comments from you.

I agree. Welcome aboard Stockholm!

Frontier RapidRewards newsletter sent to MM members announces upcoming changes to the combined FF program, including:

The Sunday hours are new to FF department availability for MM members.

Does this mean that the Midwest site disappears Oct 1, or just the award travel function?

The award travel function on the website will not exists on Oct 1. O. And Rapid Rewards is Southwest. Frontier is EarlyReturns. ;)

:o Duh, should I blame the goof on brain freeze or multi-tasking? Probably should be both. Thanks for the correction.

MostlyAir...any idea on how long it will be after Oct 1 till award travel will be able to again be booked online?

Does anyone know if the 20k miles companion award is still available from Midwest? I tried calling them but they disconnected after 15 minutes on hold.

Here is some recently updated info on companion award:

http://midwestairlines.custhelp.com/...d-requirements

If you read the last paragraph, it states that a companion award is only valid for
"...tickets issued for Midwest Airlines/Midwest Connect. Travel on partner airlines is not eligible for companion 20,000 mile awards."

Does this mean that the YX20 award is no longer available, as there is no longer a Midwest Airlines?

New name, same old Midwest. :(

I understand that the old YX20 and YXMCC15 companion awards, though not available at the moment, will be available through the EarlyReturns program, within the next month or so. It looks like much of the best of both programs will compose the new ER.

That's excellent news!

I've always thought that companion awards were advantageous for everybody:

(a) Customers get free travel for fewer miles

(b) Airline still earns significant revenue in the reward process because there is a paid ticket

(c) Other customers have a better chance of finding a free seat available on their desired flight because, for example, a couple traveling "with miles" only uses one award-available seat instead of two

(d) People are encouraged to travel more often, which benefits people and airline. If I have 50,000 miles and burn it on two free tickets (25k each), we travel once and are down to zero. If I use two companion tickets we travel twice, plus I still have 10,000 miles left plus the miles I've earned on those two paid tickets.

Updated award chart posted, with the return of the companion award.

https://www.frontierairlines.com/fro...edeem-miles.do

Now, how about the return of the companion award booked on the Frontier (Midwest) MasterCard, which provided a 5,000 mile discount on the companion award, for travel charged to the Midwest MasterCard?

It's good to see some of the more popular features of MM carried over to EarlyReturns.

Was that award always there? I don't ever recall it (nor did I use it), and about 80% of my FF award travel redemption on Midwest was with the companion award. And always with the YX Mastercard. Did I spend 5,000 miles unnecessarily time after time??


+1

Certainly not everything we liked about YX can continue -- some things are probably uncompetitive, unworkable, or simply economic non-starters. But it's encouraging to see that they find some pieces where they bring together the best of both airlines and not just pay lip service to that concept. Happliy, this isn't just a "my way or the highway" process, and it makes the disappearance of Midwest go down a notch easier. And not just for homers like me but for long-time run-of-the mill Midwest FF'ers who notice things like the loss of companion award travel.

It was not always there, though I think it was there at the winding down of MM. I used it a few times through the years. The cardholder had to travel on the paid ticket.

Are you referring to me? :D

Dang...oh well.

LOL...don't sell your self short!

I found some posts on the old Midwest board, including from 2008 and 2009, which discussed the Companion award promotion in conjunction with the Midwest MasterCard.

From 2008:

This would be a good promotion to reinstate, especially during the slower period at the beginning of the year.

Glad to see the companion award is back, considering that I have just over 20k miles left in my Midwest account that was rolled into Frontier.

That award will come in handy after WN dials back the FL offerings out of MKE. ;)