yurtripper

Check the discussion further up the thread for the pricing details. The only carrier imposed fee alongside the base fare should be YQ, so it shouldn't be too hard to get a ready reckoning by looking at ITA and applying the relevant multiplier. For the average traveller it certainly looks less clear but the main point that andywaw (the OP) and others make is not so much the lack of transparency but the fact that people are likely to get worse earnings in general (apart from the price-insensitive corporates who don't choose their flights in any case).

Raffles (of HFP) makes some great points in one of his blog posts today, discussing a possibly similar move on behalf of BA (I've retained his emphasis):
"The point of ANY loyalty scheme should be to encourage INCREMENTAL business. It is NOT about over-rewarding those who spend the most and ignoring the rest. This is especially true in aviation where your top customers are NOT actually your customers, as the tickets are bought by their investment bank employers.
When I was in banking we had a BA deal which meant I had to use them if possible. You could give me zero Avios or 1 million Avios per flight, it made no difference. The percentage of travellers on fully flexible Club World tickets who have no control over who they fly with due to corporate deals is very high – so why over-reward these people?"

More here: https://www.headforpoints.com/2018/0...xecutive-club/

Lack

You can still extract incremental revenue out of those people. Just incentivize them to figure out that the later the book, the more miles they earn (and the airline gets more revenue). Which should really raise some alarms at the corporate booking unit.

Not to mention, they do need to a token winner in these scheme to even try to sell it as an enhancement.

NiCre

I have the option to either book a 260 euro return trip AMS-NYC directly via Swiss, or the same flights on Swiss for 290 euro via the UA website.

Am I correct that if I book via UA, I will receive the miles like prior to the revenue based system, and thus, would it be better to book via UA? (I am eligible for the Executive bonus if that matters)

yurtripper

You're correct in that if you book via UA you will receive the miles according to the previous setup. You just need to double check whether that leaves you better off than what the LX booking gives you (you can't simply look at the final ticket price, you need the breakdown of base fare plus YQ as mentioned earlier). Maybe the Miles and More app gives this now to make it easier to check?

yurtripper

I'm assuming (possibly incorrectly) that such changes are ultimately driven by what is intended to be profit-maximizing, rather than sheer perversity or downright malice.

If that's the case then the point that Raffles makes still stands - "The point of ANY loyalty scheme should be to encourage INCREMENTAL business."

I don't see how having a token winner changes this equation, even if it makes the PR blurb sound a little less ridiculous.

Lack

I think it's cost cutting.

In this scenario yes. But with the whole spread from 25 to 300% mileage earnings they already were over rewarding those last minute ticket buyers, and at this point complexity needed for that encouragement could be a huge turn off for a majority of their customers.

lloydbuck

Just to chime in here as I've just got wind of this being about to book a ticket from MAN-HKG. I think some of the worst losers with this new system are premium economy fares, which is what I was about to book. Previously, this ticket would have earned me 13876 miles. This same ticket will now earn me 3108 miles. There is now no incentive to earn miles with this programme, I've previously gone out of my way to fly with LH/LX/OS, I certainly won't be doing so any more. There's no other way to book this route either as it is not available on a partner airline site in premium economy, in fact the only other airline site which can find the route is United, and they don't offer premium economy.

chris63

LHSEN

Purchased a ticket after March 12, 2018 on SWISS eco within Europe but upgraded to P class, flown last week and award miles earned still based on the previous award chart (750 pls ecexutive bonus), I thought should have been based on fare paid. Anyone encountered the same ?

chris63

Concerto

I got 625 miles for an X-class Eurowings flight I took on Saturday. That seems to be too much and appears awarded under the old system. So I suppose they will adjust my account and claw most of it back before awarding me 61 and a half miles under the new system.

chris63

Concerto

Fabo.sk

The base mileage is a minimum, if you are on a flight that's longer, then the percentage multiplier is applied to actual distance.

Concerto

Actually, in theory Adria Airways should be under the new system, but I bought it through flugladen.de which has a pretty good spread of flight choices. Obviously, I will report back on what happens in late June early July.