gleff

Actually, the plural of Airbus is Airbus.

ClimbGuy

There are things we all liked from flyI. As a general statement if you were forceful with your request to make changes or honor discounts they did it. I have eve showed up at white planes for Stewart flights and they don't care. This is nice but their over all biz doesn't work. Using 50 seat RJs to fly 10 people with 1,000,000 daily flights to buffalo isn't a viable business. There is something to learn from Indy that is forgotten in the industry, the customer is always right, honor their reasonable requests. At the same time the other thing to learn is that everything else about indy doesn't work as a viable business.

DHAST

So on the one hand you're saying it was a great way to do business in that they honored your cheap fares, changed tickets for next to nothing, or gave you way too many discounts, and on the other, you're saying their business plan is a failure? From my experience as an industry "insider," the customer is far from always right. Sometimes very far. Besides, if you're selling your product for less than it costs to produce it, Why would you bend over backwards to make your bottom tier fliers happy?

IMHO, you either have cheap fares and nickel and dime your customers, or you charge a higher "base" rate and then forgo a lot of additional fees. Unfortunately, the revenue and marketing climate being the way it is, the cheap fare with nickel and dime fees is becoming the most popular way to do business.

DCA_DR

Why are they parked THERE?

sts603

See below.

sts603

Elite status is far more than F class upgrades. It's about priority boarding, bonus FF miles, priority luggage handling, a faster phone number, faster check-in and sometimes, that special exception. WN Companion Pass just makes traveling with a companion cheaper. It offers none of that.

No matter what the price, I'm uninterested in an airline which isn't going to recognize my frequent flier status with perks. Cheaper companion fares aren't a perk.

ILv2Fly

If you are uninterested in the airline then why are you on this board?

ClimbGuy

I agree, and flyi is cutting back on their special executions. Most elite status perks don't cost the airline extra, just like early morning delivery with FedEx. FedEx charges more if you want your package delivered before 10:30 am and a whole lot extra for 8:30 am. Before they did this they just delivered a standard overnight all day long. Airlines can do the same thing like which bag appears on the carousel first or who gets on the plane first. It doesn't cost anything extra to change the boarding order but it is a reward frequent flyer's enjoy and the occasional traveler really don't notice. Waiting an extra 5-15 minutes for a bag three times a year isn't that bad, but when you do it every week its a drag. First class cabins cost more and need to be installed. Creating a simple Elite status is not, here is an sample of the benefits they could offer:
20% off fairs (they give it away in so many places so lets make it an elite perk)
exit row/bulk head priority (costs the airline $0.00)
priority security line at dulles (the line there is a ..... and takes forever)
priority baggage (FlyI use to have those tags that read iClub Memember and put 'priority' tags on late arivals, lets bring that back for frequent flyers)
priority phone line (connect them with an a manager in india rather than a regular rep, this shouldn't cost more then a few extra cents a minute, plus elite calls are more complex as a general rule, they are not calling to get seat assignments or with basic questions. So odds are they will need to speak with a manager anyway)
points that don't expire (i cant tell you how many times i was about to earn a reward only to have 500 points expire with in a week of my next flight, I understand this is a liability for the airline, but everyone else does it)

eventually they could include an Independence Lounge or something.

what does everyone else think?

how about its called complete independence

DHAST

I know elite status is more than F class upgrades, but check over on the boards of airlines that offer unlimited free domestic upgrades... the % of times one gets upgraded seems to be a deal breaker with airline loyalty. That and "too many elites, no preboard today" seem to be the biggest complaints.

As far as WN's companion pass, yeah, I think it is useful only to a fairly small contingent of their client base. Let's face it, most people who earn elite status aren't doing it on personal travel. Their program is pretty much no different than offering quadruple bonus miles/credits (enough so you can actually get a few tickets for somebody else) and then claiming they have a competitive elite program.

Unforunately for me, I actually do make my elite status on 100% personal travel (or personally paid with no reimbursement) and therefore must be price discriminant. For that reason, I won't fly CO on their 50% EQM on cheap fares, and wouldn't stick with a particular airline or alliance if their fares were consistently higher than the competition without a corresponding increase in benefits.

ClimbGuy

True, but lets remember a beer at the Hilton is $4, but the bar is always busy. Airlines need biz travelers to make money. Lets face it, if the average traveler has status on an airline they are always booking on that airline for biz even if it costs more. DH did not cater to the biz market well enough. Rather than calling comedians and asking them to do their safety announcements they should, be holding focus groups to find how they can cater to biz travelers. In addition, there are 535 members of congress who need to get home every weekend, why not have a gov rate or program, and that's not counting staff? They could run some promo, if congress runs late we will automatically rebook you on the next available flight for a flat fee? Something creative like that.

DHAST

If United can't get their FF's a priority security line, what makes you think that DH can?

How many people really use the phone anymore? With a good enough website, the phone is dead. At NW, if I could do a "customer first" cancellation on the web, I would never call their res desk anymore. FlyI doesn't have any complicated codeshares, international flights, or upgrade issues that necessitate calling an agent.

Wrong. Everybody else DOES NOT have a non-expiring miles/points program. B6 and FL have an expiration period of one year, and WN has had an expiration ever since its inception. Yes, they are relaxing their rules a bit, but they will still have an expiration period.

I also feel that allowing people to hoard miles contributes to the difficulty of redeeming them -- if you have a huge liability, you have to limit your exposure. By decreasing your liability (expiring points/miles) you can increase your exposure. IOW, if point never expire, you risk giving away seats that won't make money. By having points that expire, the only people who are occupying "free" seats are those that are flying enough to generate a free ticket anyway.

When they operated as ACA for United, they had a little lounge in the A concourse. Originally, it was only marketed/open to those who flew ACA itself quite frequently, without regard to their status on UA. Over time, it also became open to 1K's or something like that.

ClimbGuy

Ok,
maby I am not very good at designing a program, but I am sure they can find something to give out. As for the security line, if all the airlines asked for it do you think they would give in?

DHAST

$4 beers aren't that outrageous. Are you old enough to drink?
I don't really think WN catered to the biz market either (fly x-c with six stops!) but they did something right, as they do have a strong biz clientele in certain markets. What's you definition of "catering to the biz market well enough?" We have B6 and FL who are strong competitors, but I don't see any overt signs of biz clientele catering. What you need are people willing to pay higher fare premiums. How to get them to do it is another story. Plats on NW, get GUARANTEED upgrades to F on any fare. *That* may convince me to pay more for an NW ticket if the prices isn't insanely higher.
Haha. I'm too lazy to look up DH's route network now, but they serve nowhere near that many home airports of congressional members and their staff. The government already has contracted rates for specific routes established with other carriers, namely those with F class. I don't see any incentive for DH to offer congressional members and staffs anything that they can't offer the general public. P.S., Congress is IN DC, which is much, much closer to DCA than IAD.

DHAST

I don't know what the deal is with IAD and elite lines. ATL, with a similar terminal configuration, has them. The last few years I've used IAD, I've used the only elite line in the house. THAT was a great perk.

ClimbGuy

Well there is allways the "my flight lives in 5 minutes i can't wait in this line" method. Anyway does anyone now if DCA has an elite line?