|
Wal-Mart changes FF policy
Interesting article on Wal-Mart's FF policy:
Full story here Fort Worth Star-Telegram Posted on Sat, Jan. 28, 2006 Wal-Mart will allow employees to keep frequent-flier miles By TREBOR BANSTETTER STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER After decades of missing out on one of the most widespread business-travel perks, employees of Wal-Mart will finally get to keep their frequent-flier miles beginning this year. Effective Feb. 1, the retail giant will change its long-standing policy of collecting miles earned by traveling employees and using them strictly for corporate trips, executives said. Wal-Mart will also allow employees to travel in first class or business class for the first time on certain flights. "We feel like this enhances our ability to recruit and retain our associates and makes us a higher-level employer," said Dan Fogleman, spokesman for the Bentonville, Ark.-based company. For 25 years, the vast majority of people who travel for business on most major airlines have been able to accumulate frequent-flier miles for their personal use. That was one of the key elements of the program when it was invented by Fort Worth-based American Airlines. The idea was that if the traveler personally received the benefit, he would make sure his corporate travel department always booked flights on that airline. It succeeded far beyond American's expectations, and today millions of people are enrolled in frequent-flier programs with every major carrier. Airlines also partner with hotels, car-rental agencies, credit cards and a host of other businesses to distribute miles. Business travelers are typically among those who benefit most, cashing in miles for free trips to Hawaii, Paris and other vacation spots. But a select few companies, including Wal-Mart, Chrysler and Anheuser-Bush, were able to negotiate deals that allowed them to pool employee miles and use them for business travel, said Randy Petersen, who publishes a newsletter, Inside Flyer, that caters to corporate travelers. Those deals, although rarely publicized, were allowed because of the immense volume of travel those companies booked. "Wal-Mart has been doing it this way for a long, long time," said Petersen, who managed Wal-Mart's frequent-flier program as an independent consultant in the late 1980s and early '90s. He estimates that at the time, the company was saving close to $1 million annually by using the miles for business travel. The policy change means the airlines will have the opportunity to build loyalty among Wal-Mart's employees. Executives at American say that many travelers rank the carrier's frequent-flier plan as a top reason to fly the airline. Fogleman said Wal-Mart hopes that some of its business travelers will use their miles for upgrades to first class. "When they travel on a regular basis, this can help them arrive both physically and mentally prepared to do the job," he said. Petersen said that with airfares at historically low levels, the cost of managing the pool of miles had likely become greater than the free travel benefits. He also speculated that Wal-Mart got lucrative corporate discounts with major carriers last year, which allowed the company to finally turn the frequent-flier benefits over to employees. American, Delta Air Lines and others renegotiated most of their corporate discounts last year after an industrywide reduction in business fares. ------------------------------ Trebor Banstetter, (817) 390-7064 [email protected] |
thanks for posting, a good friend of mine travels alot for WMT. ill have to let him know. i always thought it a waste to not get the miles. couldnt they have taken the miles but still gotten the perks?
grb |
Interesting, thanks ^ And welcome to Flyertalk, FWFlyer :)
In case you didn't know, Randy Petersen who is quoted herewith, is our Godfather, so to speak :D |
I understand that the Wal-Mart traveller didn't get to keep the miles earned, but did they get to keep any status earned?
|
Glad I've not even had the urge to set foot in their stores for 6+ years, much less work for them!
|
Originally Posted by Spiff
Glad I've not even had the urge to set foot in their stores for 6+ years, much less work for them!
|
Originally Posted by boazs
One can only imagine what would happen to loyalty programs and the airline industry once Wal*Mart Airways and its associated Miles & Smiles Frequent Flyer Program are launched... ;)
Well, the age of the greeters at the door will be still about the same as what I'm used to on the majors. :rolleyes: Outoftown, today in Portland, OR. |
Originally Posted by boazs
One can only imagine what would happen to loyalty programs and the airline industry once Wal*Mart Airways and its associated Miles & Smiles Frequent Flyer Program are launched... ;)
|
Originally Posted by grbflyer
thanks for posting, a good friend of mine travels alot for WMT. ill have to let him know. i always thought it a waste to not get the miles. couldnt they have taken the miles but still gotten the perks?
grb |
Originally Posted by cur
Some companies allow you to collect miles for status, but they wouldn't allow you to use miles for personal trips. IMO, that's a reasonable compromise.
I fly the miles, I keep the miles. Anything less and I'm working elsewhere. |
Originally Posted by cur
Some companies allow you to collect miles for status, but they wouldn't allow you to use miles for personal trips. IMO, that's a reasonable compromise.
|
Originally Posted by cur
Some companies allow you to collect miles for status, but they wouldn't allow you to use miles for personal trips. IMO, that's a reasonable compromise.
|
NOW you guys are starting to understand what it's like having your airline employee travel benefits jerked around or limited or what have you... When I frequented the UA board in my UAX days, all of us were quite frequently blasted over our travel benefits and what classes or service we "should" or "shouldn't" be permitted to sit in.
This thread shows us that you guys receive travel BENEFITS just like we did. If you are in the seat as a requirement by the person paying for your travel expenses, why *should* *you* receive the miles associated with your travel? After all, it's like asking why an employee "should" be able to sit in Biz or F class. The truth of the matter is that it is a benefit negotiated by BOTH corporate travellers and airline employees. What would happen if the 0 miles fare classes really took off, and you were required to book into them? Then NOBODY would be able to split the pie. How would that sit with you? What if they told you you could get miles, but you would be required to pay the fare difference required? Would you pay it? |
Originally Posted by DHAST
NOW you guys are starting to understand what it's like having your airline employee travel benefits jerked around or limited or what have you... When I frequented the UA board in my UAX days, all of us were quite frequently blasted over our travel benefits and what classes or service we "should" or "shouldn't" be permitted to sit in.
This thread shows us that you guys receive travel BENEFITS just like we did. If you are in the seat as a requirement by the person paying for your travel expenses, why *should* *you* receive the miles associated with your travel? After all, it's like asking why an employee "should" be able to sit in Biz or F class. The truth of the matter is that it is a benefit negotiated by BOTH corporate travellers and airline employees. What would happen if the 0 miles fare classes really took off, and you were required to book into them? Then NOBODY would be able to split the pie. How would that sit with you? What if they told you you could get miles, but you would be required to pay the fare difference required? Would you pay it? |
Originally Posted by DHAST
NOW you guys are starting to understand what it's like having your airline employee travel benefits jerked around or limited or what have you... When I frequented the UA board in my UAX days, all of us were quite frequently blasted over our travel benefits and what classes or service we "should" or "shouldn't" be permitted to sit in.
... The truth of the matter is that it is a benefit negotiated by BOTH corporate travellers and airline employees... The fact of the matter is that FF programs are not a "benefit." They're a marketing program devised and adminstered by airlines to increase customer loyalty. Their purpose is not to reward past behavior, though that's what they do. It's to encourage future behavior. The minute they stop doing that, they're out the window in a heartbeat. An airline and company can agree that the company will receive discounts if it puts all or most of its travel on the airline. At that point the airline no longer has to encourage the company's employees to use it. The company takes care of that. The FF program is therefore, in terms of its original intent, useless. The downside to the airline is that, by removing something frequent travelers have come to expect, it will incur ill-will. That will show up in several ways: resentment and demotivation, avoiding beneficial but optional travel, avoiding the airline when employees have a choice, "proving" that using a different airline is "necessary" for a specific trip, bad PR for the company, and so on up to good people quitting. It's hard to measure the bottom-line damage all these do, but one can't deny that they exist. This has nothing to do with airline employees. It's a matter of airlines starting the game and making the rules. We try to learn the rules and play the game as well as we can. The airlines created the monster. Now they have to live with it. |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 4:40 pm. |
This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.