Just curious...

Before the days of FF programs, how did airlines treat regular flyers? Were upgrades given to familiar faces at check in?

How did airlines track Million Mile Flyers? Did customers send in ticket stubs?

I know the the AA Admirals Club was at first invitation only to VIP's. Did other clubs have similar policies?

Were f class sections often half-full? (Yesterday, was on a 777 with 46 in Y but every seat taken in F becasue of all the upgrades).

[This message has been edited by zrs70 (edited 03-06-2001).]

Good question, this is before I was flying much but it was also in the time when there was only 3 fare basis, First, Coach and Economy/excursion. I think even Business class on international flights is a quite recent (last 20 years or so) occurance.

If I recall correctly, Delta had their Crown Room Club in Atlanta. It was hidden away behind an unmarked door. Delta marketing people would contact those that were very loyal customers and offered the use of the facility at no charge.

You would call and make a reservation for the room in advance. Upon opening the door you would find a desk with an employee with a reservation log. After checking in you would head up the elevator to a nice club.

No charge...

TW

Back in the mid-70s, my father flew frequently between IAD & LAX on UA, AA & TW and he got in their clubs (most of the time we visited AA's Admiral Club at IAD). He said he got in UA's Red Carpet Club for free after filling out some paperwork to prove he has flown over 100,000 miles with them. I guess he did the same with AA.


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UA PremExec (2001)
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

I think that the arilines would send you little medalions for each city you visited, if you were a frequent flyer for them.

Re: the DL club in Atlanta...

Even up until the mid '90's, DL had small CRC's in almost all cities they served (save the really tiny markets). Some cities were never listed as having one, though they did. You showed a membership card at check in, and they would tell you the code to punch in (as there were no staff in these locations).

Still, there were self-service bars and snacks.

DL closed down many rooms in the 90's. Some that come to mind are:

SDF
LAS
CLE
PIT
BWI


[This message has been edited by zrs70 (edited 03-06-2001).]

[This message has been edited by zrs70 (edited 03-06-2001).]

I've read many stories thoughout the years about people who have a very old certificate from United honoring them as a Million Mile Flyer. Try as they do, United refuses to honor those certificates for lifetime Premier Executive under the current MM program, claiming that only Mileage Plus miles count, and those certs were from the pre-MP era. Since they are worthless now, they are quite abundant on eBay.

By the way, I just remembered their is an old Frequent Flyer Magazine issue about this (that's the old magazine printed by OAG, to complement their flight guides, since discontinued) called the Way we Were. I saved many interesting FF Magazines, so I'll look later for this one.

The airline clubs were the original perks for frequent flyers. Airlines invited their best customers to make use of the club, and this continued until a lawsuit resulted in the ruling that such invitation-only clubs was discimrininatory and airlines were "forced" to open the clubs to all at an equal fee.
As to upgrades, I think local managers and perhaps gate agents had wide discretion on offering these to passengers they knew to be frequent flyers. It was, however, done very quietly. I can remember travelling with someone when we were taken aside very mysteriously and told we were "invited to make use of the first class."

My Uncle has, and still uses, one of the old United Million Mile luggage tags from the '60s. I don't know how United tracked these miles.

My father flew extensively in the 60s and 70s and still has United and Pan Am million-mile flyer luggage tags. He also flew extensively on TWA and JAL. In appreciation he was given, along with my mother, lifetime memberships in United's Red Carpet Club, Pan Am's Clipper Club and TWA's Ambassadors Club. Of course, Delta bought out Pan Am and continued to honor his lifetime Clipper Club membership by giving him a lifetime Crown Room Club card.

As to upgrades, he tells me that if you wanted to fly first, you paid for first - no freebies. Only employees were entitled to fly upfront without paying. He had no problem with that. One exception was Western, which would always upgrade him when he checked in at the airport if there were seats available.

As for business class, I believe Pan Am was the first to introduce a buffer between first and coach/economy and christened it Clipper Class. Seats were the same as coach, food was also the same as coach although you had a better appetizer, wine was complimentary and you had free movie headsets.

My dad had a special UA 100,000 mile club card -- don't know what it got him.

Related question...

When the FF programs did formally begin, at what point did the idea of elite levels kick in?

FF programs started around 1980.

AADVANTAGE was the first program, established in 1981.