A challenge for ALL FT's
 

ATTENTION ALL FTers:

I have a mission that all of us could participate in. The Continental Airlines OnePass program is one of the few, if not the only major program that requires a Saturday night stay for domestic/Canadian rewards. I believe that this is most unfair, especially when, for instance, CO partner NW does not have the same restriction.

So, I am asking that each and every FT with a OnePass account (which is probably many of us) email CO at [email protected] and ask them to rescind this unfair and restrictive rule.

Thank you for your help!

>I believe that this is most unfair, especially when, for instance, CO partner NW does not have the same restriction.<

NW does have the same restriction . . . .

US Airways also has this restriction. In fact, I thought most of the majors do at the standard award levels...

What? Another good thing about Canadian ff programs, no Saturday stay required for Canadian or Air Canada.

Wasn't aware that some of the majors also had that restriction. NW does not have it though. I was able to book a Thanksgiving trip on NW without a Saturday night stay for just 20,000 points.

Perhaps we should expand this: every person who belongs to a FF program with that restriction should write to the carrier voicing their opposition to such an imposition.

There are things I am concerned about with CO's FF program, but Saturday night stays are not one of them.

General availability of award seats, particularly to Hawaii and Europe, is one. I believe the Consumer Reports Travel Letter, which did the excellent study of award seat availability, had CO at 5% of seats for travel to Hawaii, far lower than any other airline.

Another concern is the ridiculous rules regarding use of upgrade awards, where those things don't typically clear until 60 days before the flight. I guess the implication here is if you can't upgrade with miles when you buy your ticket, don't bother (or be prepared to ride in coach).

Finally, the extra miles (35K) required for doing a stopover on a domestic coach ticket. I can't even complain too much about this as UA doesn't permit stopovers at all.

I can live with the Saturday night stay given the off-peak coach awards from Sept-May at only 20K miles and the generous bonus promotions CO usually has.

>NW does not have it though. I was able to book a Thanksgiving trip on NW without a Saturday night stay for just 20,000 points.<

The Saturday night stay restriction may well have been replaced with a Thursday stay restriction during Thnaksgiving week, just as was done with revenue tickets. Nevertheless, NW, like both CO and US, does have such a restriction.

Nothing is 'unfair' if it's free and they don't have to give it to you at all.

It might be unwise competitive policy, but I always think about what it must have been like before FF programs existed.

Wow, I have never even heard of such a restriction! Did not know any airline did this (I consolidate my points to AC).

Dorian

100K, "free" awards are not free. I've paid thousands of dollars of my personal money to get "free" tickets. So, the statement that requiring a Saturday night stay is unfair is valid. It's one reason I don't patronize airlines that have such a restriction.

Northwest does require a Saturday night stay; please see http://www.nwa.com/freqfly/direct/charts/

Free awards are perks the airlines provide to you as a loyalty bonus. You paid them your hard earned money to get you from point A to point B. The airlines are free to set any restrictions they want on the award tickets. You are free to voice your opinion. They are free to change or not if they perceive a valid business reason for that change.

Gee, and I thought Continental was so wonderful. http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I'm not aware of DL having this rule, the free tickets I've booked have usually had a Saturday stay or in two cases had an open return (which I never ended up using, so basically they were one-way tickets, but I could have used them if I had the opportunity).

The reason that CO has the Saturday stay restriction is that not enough people yelled when they instituted it several years back. I believe another airline (UA?) tried this and there was an outcry and they backed off. As a CO Platinum Elite, I am now paying for it. Still, it is still the best program.
There is and will continue to be inequalities between NW and CO. Remember that even though NW "owns" CO, they are supposed to opperate independently. There is probably a legal limit on how closely they can allign the programs. Also, Both programs developed over the years by providing benefits that each airlines marketing program felt its customers wanted. They will tread carefully in changing benefits.The inequality that irks me the most is the inability to upgrade Internationally on CO on the cheap fares. On NW, one can use miles to upgrade on ANY fare. I wish CO would change this.

I believe another airline (UA?) tried this and there was an outcry and they backed off. yes - they (UA) tried to introduce this last year (98) and backed off.

USAirways implemented the Saturday night stay this year along with a bunch of other changes. Personally I don't care since if I make any award reservations it will be over Saturday night and like the other changes (segments for status, etc) so I did not complain. Apparently neither did enough other people because the change has stuck.

UPDATE

I wrote CO customer service, and here is a part of the reply:

Dear Mr. ****** :

Thank you for writing to the OnePass Service Center. We always appreciate feedback from our customers.

Currently, the Saturday night stay policy is currently under review. If a change is made, it will probably will be done within the next few months.

Thank you again for writing to us. We look forward to welcoming you aboard another Continental flight in the near future.

So as you can see, we CAN make a difference on this. Our combined input could make the change a reality.

So START WRITING!!!

This is hardly a concern of mine since I don't use miles for coach rewards. And shouldn't this be in the CO thread?

DL Doesn't require a Saturday night stay and is just one of many reasons why I fly with them.

The recent policy only underscores the need to write to these programs about any concerns we may have. Without the complaints, yes COMPLAINTS, of their members (especially elite memebrs), the airlines will contiue to shaft their frequent-flir memebrs.

Think of the "rules" as "guidelines." Saturday night stay rule? Just show up at the gate for the flight you want to take, before the Saturday night. I would bet you they will just let you on the flight. Especially with a free award. If they ask you any questions, just say you have no idea about the rule. And again, don't make the mistake of calling res and asking them to make the change. They often will document your pnr (passenger name record in computer) to say they have advised you you can't do what you asked. Then your "I've never heard of that rule," will not work at the airport. They will say "But Mr. Jones, it says right in the record, you were advised you had to stay a Saturday night...I'm very sorry but you will have to follow the rules." Before you just head for the airport, be sure to check loads on flights of interest. Good luck, and remember the rules are just suggestions.

flyer18- I hope you'll forgive my skepticism here!!! It's just not my idea of how to start out on a trip- business or pleasure!!!

Vulcan's right-UA tried to impose a Sat night stay on domestic awards a few years back. But they rescinded that, maybe before it went into effect.
I never fly CO because it's impossible to use their program for oevrseas Bus1st awards. And someone said they have a 60 day clearing of upgrades for overseas-their policy says 30 days.
As for Flyer18s suggestion of acting dumb at the gate and hoping they waive the rule, well that would certainly fit with the incredible behavior I've seen at boarding gates.