moulder3

First off, let me say that I REALLY hope this is the last year I have to do this, because I love JetBlue. Every airline has room for improvement, but JetBlue is hands-down the best run domestic airline in the US, IMO. Having said that, I can't believe JetBlue has been around for eleven years, yet still does not offer any type of preferred loyalty benefits to its most loyal fliers.

The reason I have to impose a JetBlue blackout over the winter is that I simply can't roll-the-dice on how JetBlue handles weather issues impacting my business travel. I know that no airline can control blizzards, however every other airline except for JetBlue offers priority rebooking (as well as a separate 800 number that brings you directly to a rep, without hold time) to their most loyal customers. It makes me want to pull out my hair that US Airways (not even a mediocre airline, IMO) and every other major carrier offers this benefit, but a great airline like JetBlue still doesn't.

Case in point, during the extreme blizzard that closed JFK last December, I couldn't even get through to JetBlue customer service for two days (the automated message said to "call back at another time"). When I did finally get through, the wait time was quoted as "60-75 minutes." And by the time I talked to a rep, all flights were completely full for the next several days. Again, I understand this is what happens after a major airport is forced to close, however when PHL (US Airways's hub) closed due to a blizzard the previous March, I was able to get to a US Airways phone rep (through their silver preferred line 800#) instantly, and rebook my flight before everything filled-up. Plus, I had the added assurance that if more flights were canceled, I know I'd get priority standby on any full flight.

Now that JetBlue has two hubs (JFK & BOS) in areas where weather is guaranteed to wreak havoc in the winter, they NEED to offer some sort of preferred program if they truly want frequent business travelers to chose them as their primary airline. If JetBlue implemented my suggestions below, I would move 100% of my business to JetBlue (in cities they fly to), effective immediately--and I imagine many others would, as well!


Here are my 5 suggestions that JetBlue should offer to "Super Blue" members (my way around calling them 'elite' members, since that takes away from the JetBlue motto).

1. An unpublished 800# that has practically no wait time (similar to every other elite program). It doesn't need to be staffed by anyone different (99% of the phone reps are great, that's why we love JetBlue!) however it would allow the most frequent customers to know they can get through even during snowstorms. Since EVERY other airline offers this, it's frankly long overdue.

2. Free confirmed flight changes--on the day of travel--for ANY flight (earlier or later). Again, most airlines offer this to their elite members and there's no real cost in JetBlue offering this to their most loyal customers. I recently had to take advantage of JetBlue's standby option (only available for one flight earlier) and even though it was a Wednesday, it was a nail-biter as to whether I was going to get on the earlier flight. The current system is first-come for standby, but why should someone who has 50+ JetBlue flights a year (many on last-minute, expensive fares) be on equal footing with someone who only flies once a year? It's Business 101 that a company should help its most loyal customers!

3. Free second bag. Again, all airlines offer this & while most frequent customers don't need it (and wouldn't use it for most flights) it's a nice perk for vacations.

4. More point bonuses after reaching 'Super Blue' status. Since TrueBlue is now a revenue based point system, this GREATLY reduced the cost of the FF program to JetBlue. And although that means the business customers who are less price sensitive get more points, that's not necessarily the case. This is because most of us can't book our flights directly Jetblue.com, as we have to go though our internal travel department (and therefore only get 3 points per dollar, not 6). Personally, I'd suggest that 'Super Blue' members get 6 points for their flight and 8 points if booked on jetblue.com. All 'Go Long' bonus tiers would also be 2x to 3x that of a standard True Blue member**.

5. Allow 'Super Blue' members to move their seats to the EML seats (if they choose) for free, starting 7 days before the flight, but via jetblue.com only. Again, by having this as an online ONLY option, it means there is no change at the gate (and no passenger who feels like they are 2nd class). Also, the boarding passes of the 'Super Blue' member (and companions) will print out as being Even More Speed tickets, allowing them to use the priority security line (as all other elite programs offer).


If JetBlue was to implement these steps, I believe they would see a drastic increase of business customers at their NYC & BOS hubs. And I would think that gaining these high-value customers with these extremely low cost suggestions would greatly help JetBlue become even more successful as an airline. Perhaps even more importantly, all of my suggestions are back-end changes and the average customer, who won't qualify for this new status, is not negatively impacted. In fact, they wouldn't even notice any change! Everyone still gets great customer service, but at least business customers can get at least SOME of the benefits of 'elite' status they'll be giving up to switch their travel over to JetBlue.

** Elite members on other airlines earn a 25-100% mileage bonus on every flight they take. So, as an example, a BOS-LAX roundtrip is often only ~$350. On JetBlue, one can earn 1,050 TB points (if booked online) or 2,100 points if booked at jetblue.com. (You would also technically get 2,000 towards the 'Go Long' promo.) On United, however, a Premier (or 1K) elite member would get around 6,000 base miles + 6,000 (100%) bonus on the flight, so 12,000 total miles.

12,000 United miles = 1/2 a free roundtrip award ticket (especially for a 1K member, as United holds extra 25,000 roundtrip award seats just for them)

2,100 TrueBlue points + 1/5 of 'Go Long' (aka 2,000 points) = 4,100 That's not even enough for the (minimum) 5,000 one-way ticket. And the 5,000 award points (an approximate value of only $50) is only for short-haul flights like BOS-BUF or JFK-SYR anyway.

nerd

There is a separate inventory bucket for 1Ks. That does not mean that there are extra award seats held for 1Ks.

Frequently the 1K bucket has the same number of seats available as the regular/saver bucket, and when the latter is zero'd out, it's not uncommon for the 1K inventory to be zero'd out as well.

afsinfo

On my most frequent route, the most likely to operate their flight in bad weather is B6. Yes, once in a while they suffer for it...but I've made it out of NY 3 times in the last year when AA, US and DL didn't operate. And, with a little belief in weather forecasts, I've changed everybody's tickets to leave before a storm without penalty... DL (especially Comair) is generally first to cancel, and offer ridiculous and/or fictitious re-routes automagically.

pete4abw

@moulder3, Excellent. As much as I grouse about WN and RapidRewards 2.0, at least they recognize frequent fliers. B6 does nothing unless you buy one of 4 seats for extra space. Also, with RR2.0 you at least know what your reward ticket will cost. Usually fare x multiple = points. With B6 it is somewhat arbitrary. You're never quite sure what a reward tix will cost.

B6 definitely should recognize its frequent fliers somehow. How about access to the express security lane -- even if you don't purchase a more space seat? How about bonus point multiples?

This does not have to be complicated. Something simple like fly X-segments in a year and get elite status, or even better, fly round trip in a week and get a bonus in points.

They could do like WN does and have specific promotions for bonus points on certain routes.

Right now, B6 frequent fliers are viewed the same as all. Maybe that is B6's plan. No differentiation. But to me, I want more than just the 3 or 6x multiple for purchasing tix.

Good thread. I've written B6 about this, but hope someone from B6 lurks here.

nsx

Delay-prone hubs are a weakness that leaves JetBlue very few good ways to ameliorate. Priority re-booking for top customers, perhaps even including buying a ticket on another airline, is one possibility.

Not until 2011 did Southwest begin offering priority standby for its top customers. Until this year it was strictly in order of entry onto a handwritten waiting list at the gate. This was ostensibly motivated by egalitarianism, but actually it was for operational simplicity.

Southwest has finally seen the light on priority standby. I doubt that JetBlue is far behind. Then again, JetBlue hinted at an elite program more than a year ago and they haven't announced it yet. Something or someone must be gumming up the works.

JCK75

These seem like very good suggestions overall. Most are invisible to the non-elite, which I suspect JetBlue would prefer.

My guess is that they are not going to give out better rewards. I certainly see your example with cheap coast-to-coast flights being far more lucrative on UA or AA as opposed to B6, but the counter argument to that is the short, expensive flights that earn relatively few miles, but can cost a significant number of dollars.

If you're flying regularly on JetBlue, you also have to factor in the "Go big bonuses" which effectively double your points earned once you hit 12,000 points for the year.

sbm12

Most airlines offer some version of this but not to the level you're suggesting. And there absolutely is a real cost to doing it. The question is whether the cost is worth it or not. But there is most definitely a cost.


You know that the Bo Gig bonuses are also tied directly to the revenue spend and that those scale up as you spend more money, right? That is the TrueBlue equivalent of the 25-100% RDM bonuses from the other programs and TrueBlue's numbers are pretty competitive on a cpEQM basis on this front. They get even better if you're also flying longer flights.

From some of the discussions I've had I think they already are seeing that up-tick. Just some food for thought.

A person who has spent ~$1800 (5x of the trip you've described above at $350/ticket to get to 25K EQMs to be a Premier Elite) would also get 3,500 points for Go Big. And you'd have the 10x segments you need for the long-haul to get the full 10,000 points of the Go Long bonus, too. So that's actually about 25K points on JetBlue. On United you're looking at 30K EQMs and 45k RDMs (only a 25% bonus for a Premier Elite). If you're flying it enough to make 1K then your repeat Go Big and Go Long earnings on JetBlue are actually pretty attractive. The 17 return trips represent a $6,000 spend. That's 39,500 in Go Big bonuses and 30,000 in Go Long. Plus another 36,000 for the spend. That's about 100K points in TrueBlue which has a pretty decent value.

Of course, that same passenger flying BOS-FLL at the same price-point will do SIGNIFICANTLY better on JetBlue, netting ~15K points (no Go Big) while the passenger on United will have earnt 12K points because they aren't flying enough to get elite status. Flying it 10x means just enough to get Premier and so the first year the earning is only 25K RDMs on UA and then 32.5K the next year for a $3000 spend (~$300 return). On JetBlue spending the $3000 gets you the 18K points for the initial spend plus 15,500 in Go Big and you get those the first year and each additional year.

The interesting thing about the suggestions, however, is that they seem focused on rewarding the high value customers. That's very different than the example you provided. A passenger on $350 tickets transcons isn't a high value customer. A walk-up BOS-LAX-BOS for departing tomorrow and returning the following day is just over $1,000. That's a high value customer.

Let's say you fly that 5x:

• On United you're in the exact same place as you were before. You've got your 32.5K RDMs and Premier status (assuming this is the second year you're doing this level of business) for your $5,000 spend. Oh, and you're not even in the fare buckets that get you extra EQMs or higher priority for an upgrade and you don't get to select an E+ seat until day of departure so there's a decent chance you'll be doing it in 31" pitch with no personal IFE.
  
• On JetBlue you've got 31.5K just in Go Big bonuses alone. Add on the 30K in spend-based and the 10K for Go Long and you're at 71.5K, more than double the earnings for the United program. And you get a minimum 34" pitch, free TV/XM and free snacks.

I know which one looks more rewarding to me if I'm spending big bucks on travel.

There is no doubt that at the cheaper tickets end of the spectrum the TrueBlue program isn't so appealing. At the high end, however, it is actually a quite rewarding program.

nsx

That's exactly the same for the new Rapid Rewards points program, which is quite similar to TrueBlue2. High-fare customers love it. Low-fare customers like me experienced a 2/3 loss of value. Oh well, it was great while it lasted.

moulder3

You make a compelling argument for point accumulation (especially for high spenders), however I think you overlook a few things:

1. While JetBlue is a fantastic airline, not getting ANY benefits for 30+ flights a year (possibly for several consecutive years) is crazy. When weather starts wreaking havoc with flights this winter, it makes ZERO sense that the most loyal (and least price-sensitive) customers are treated the same as someone who only chose JetBlue because it was the cheapest option available (and is therefore the least valuable customer to the airline).

2. When evaluating JetBlue vs. United, you assume the traveler has the option to book at jetblue.com--yielding 6 points/$, however many (most?) business customers have to book through a company travel agency, meaning they yield only 3 points/$--that's a massive difference! That is exactly why I suggest that the 'Super Blue' members get 6 points/$ regardless of where the ticket is booked.


As to the same-day confirmed flight option I proposed, why do you believe there is a cost? JetBlue currently allows free standby for one previous flight for all customers. And moving frequent fliers up to even earlier flights opens up seats for later flights in the day--making them available for expensive last-minute tickets. Even if the newly available seats aren't sold, it allows people with missed connections to still get out that day. If the delay was due to mechanical issues, having to get hotel rooms is BIG cost for JetBlue! Even if the delay was weather related, it helps get people home the same day--which helps maintain brand loyalty.

nsx

See the 7th bullet at http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php....2C_and_why.3F

In a nutshell, a same-day change or even standby option allows clever customers such as FTers to buy the cheapest flight of the day and potentially use the most expensive flight of the day without paying that high fare. The ability to do this is why we want the ability to change. The airlines want to force us to pay the high fare if that's the flight we intend to take. It's simple to see once you account for influence of airline policy on future purchasing decisions.

cleanfloor

This already exists. I haven't had any luck figuring out what the threshold is, but i've heard anywhere from "top 250 in your city" to "top 1000 world wide" from the reps when i ask.

It's a nice program though. Along with the phone number they send me a signed holiday card from the ceo, redsox tickets once a year, and usually something else like a concert (last year was grace potter).

pete4abw

I just happened to email B6 customer service and voiced my concern that there was precious little done to reward Frequent Flyers and that something should be done to enhance the point-earning power, access to first class security lanes, specific flight bonus opportunities. It should be more than flying long to earn. I fly short haul, low fare routes. Not much opportunity there. And my co. requires using their travel dept which takes 3x points off the table. I do use the Amex though. So I get 5x per flight.

Here was the response:

So maybe we can expect something better next year? I hope so, because I really do appreciate flying B6.

bmg42000

If they could give the frequent flyers access to the quicker security lines that would be a nice benefit (as well as 1/2 price EMS seats).

sbm12

You certainly get benefits in terms of points earning. The other stuff - "elite level" for lack of a better term - is coming and they've been working on it for a while now. I don't know exactly when it will happen, but it is coming.

That would be a great benefit but it eats at the costs of the program vis a vis the GDS fees associated with buying from a 3rd party rather than direct. The company is trying to reward their most profitable customers; giving more benefits to those who are more expensive to service doesn't play into that idea so well. I'm not saying that's the way it has to be, but there's certainly a reasonable justification for why they chose the approach they did.


Because there is. Letting passengers change at will has a net negative revenue impact because of both the chance that a customer will gamble on buying a cheaper flight and then changing to the more expensive one and also that the inventory goes away for walk-up tickets.

Yup, and there is a cost to that as well.

terrier

I wholeheartedly agree. I can't remember which late-nite TV host referred to B6 as "really more of a May-to-September airline" a few years back, but it really struck a chord with me after my third cancelled trip in 2 years due to a few snowflakes at JFK. I just don't fly B6 in the winter, even though they're my preferred domestic carrier when the weather's nice and they fly where I'm going. Burned too many times.

Every airline has issues when the weather turns at a hub, but the majors have a bit more slack to handle it - and much better customer service infrastructure.