Is it fair to lower thresholds for elite qualification when flights are reduced?

I think we need a little more context and detail to understand and, hopefully, respond to your inquiry. Who's lowering requirements for elite status? Is there any airline(s) in particular you're talking about in terms of award flight availability? Some specifics would help a lot.

Both AA and UA have reduced flights out of Ohare, this means fewer choices, higher fares, which force me to use other carriers. Our travel department found Midway is an option and less expensive, my employer is looking hard at costs and wants value. A reduction in Ohare flights translates into more expensive fares and less flights for me. Do you think this will have UA or AA consider reducing the requirements for elite status?

I am confuzed, because what you are asking makes perfect sense as a concept so not sure why you are asking. If their current elites are going to have less options to fly their metal then yes it seems like the airline would reduce the thresholds to retain those elites.

What wouldnt make sense is raising the thresholds and reducing flights.

For those of you so lucky to be in an AA town I don't see the prob with qualifying elite. I am in ATL and make my plat status, not to easy from here on AA metal. Seems like I am always gong to have to go through DFW or ORD.

Less convenient, perhaps - but think of the extra miles you earn each time!

That's kind of what I was thinking. Given that many elites maintain status out of a non-hub airport, I find it a bit unrealistic that any airline would lower status for people based out of the hub airport because of schedule reductions at the hub airport.

I'll use myself - a GLD at AA, pushing towards PLT - as an example. My home airport, RNO, currently has 12 daily flights on AA/AS where I can earn Q-miles and Q-points on AA. (The breakdown is 4x to LAX, 3x to SEA, 3x to DFW, and 2x to ORD.) In the next month or so, though, we're losing 1x to ORD - and we lost 1x to DFW in August and 1x to SEA not long after.

A reduction from 14 in August to 11 in November is just under a quarter of our daily flights on AS/AA completely removed from the schedule. Yet I don't see any move for AA to lower my qualifying thresholds for 2005. Given that, there's no excuse for ORD or DFW (where their schedule cutbacks are a drop in the bucket in comparison, percentagewise) to get a similar benefit.

Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the information one way I think I can qualify for elite is by placing in the top percentage of flyers form the Ohare market for a non hub based carrier. I don't have the luxury of connecting.

Pardon me for being dense, but could you explain "placing in the top percentage of flyers" as a means of achieving elite status? On which airline(s) is this possible?

This worked for me on NW. They look at a top percentage of flyers by market and offer elite status. This has worked for me in the past.

Maybe OP's going for UGS?
UGS is united's top percentage of flyers [in revenue].

In what market would the top percentage of flyers (however that is defined) have less than 25,000 EQM?

To the original question: are UA and AA going to alter their FF programs because of fluctuations in the number of available seats in/out of Chicago?

No.

This would not be a published feature of a program, because the qualification threshold would not be known until the year ended. Nonetheless it happens, many years ago Delta promoted me to the next level of their program even though I was somewhat short of the published mileage. The letter explained that the decision was based on the amount I had flown versus others in Miami. I believe they did the same for my wife another year.

dennis

Thanks for the reply. I wonder how often Delta still does that? Probably no way of ever knowing for sure .... I know they comped me status years ago - I was AA PLT at the time - in an effort to convert me, I presume. UA did the same a few years later after a flight with them to SYD.

While I understand that an airline might comp an elite to higher status (or renewed status) under certain circumstances, I was under the impression that the poster was seeking elite status on an airline in which s/he currently has none. I'm trying to understand how someone with no status would be one of the high-percentage fliers in any given market. (pinniped was more concise. I should have phrased my original question more clearly.) And if my assumption is wrong then .... never mind.

I'm based at a small regional airport that use to have a UA station with flights to DEN, ORD, SFO, LAX. They pulled out a few years back and left me with Skywest to LAX as the only UA option from here. Yes, it's difficult and yes, AA has more mainline flights from here but I CHOSE to stay with UA and maintain my 1K status (at my expense). Stuff Happens and well all move on. I don't cry over it, I have a choice -continue with UA, go to AA, or Alaska! Everyone has a story, so just move on and do what you can to maintain the best status on the best airline. (At one time, I was top tier at 3-4 diffrent carriers- unfortunately, not anymore).