UA thinking of eliminating ff miles on cheap tickets
Jan 3, 2007, 6:45 am
#106
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 934
Does that include meals and drinks included. I have had a full meal including wine and dessert on a 40 min flight (of course within Europe). . . . A friend of mine just booked a fare 15% higher to earn miles instead of going with the lowest airline. I am sure she would not do this in the future....
LCC's have their market and those who fly them do so out of choice. FF programs are not a consideration to begin with. When I chose to fly AirTran versus UA, it is strictly a fare choice and I know I surrender any useful miles.
But, let's be realistic, by flying LCC instead of a "legacy" carrier because of a 50% or 0% earnings on fare class, who are you really punishing?? I guess it would depend on travel patterns and redeption.
As the survey shows, less than 1/4% of the a carriers substantial revenue base do not buy fare classes which are affected. The significant balance of travelers purchase based on fare. So, offering low fares without "perks" is what they ask for.
Paying 15% more for full frequent flier amenities is exactly what legacy carriers are looking at. So, in essence, your friends decision to purchase based on amenities versus price fuels the argument which carriers are likely to pursue.
Regarding your Euro flight, I agree, I had a nice meal on a CDG-AMS flight; but, also could not carry on over 8kg, did not have a business class (well, the glorified coach) and only earned 50% miles. My colleague just enjoyed a great trip to AKL, saving $300, the trade off is that no miles were earned.
Last edited by mjcasta; Jan 3, 2007 at 9:40 am
Jan 3, 2007, 7:24 am
#107
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Berlin, Germany
Programs: DL DM/2MM, UA PE, HH Gold
Posts: 1,080
No, not anymore. Ryanair is charging for every piece of checked luggage, Easyjet gives you one piece free of charge ( up to 20 kg's ) and is charging extra for any additional piece or extra kilo! And yes, they now charging you extra for premium seats too.
Jan 3, 2007, 8:43 am
#108
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Unbundling by a legacy carrier is absolutely stupid. People expect a legacy carrier to offer a collection of benefits in exchange for their ticket. People expect a LCC carrier to provide transportation for their ticket as well as a menu of other basic services which might be charged a la carte.
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Again. Full service airlines offer full service benefits. Bundled. Period. LCC airlines can unbundle their services and charge - the market expects and is OK with that. People Express pioneered it years ago (they even charged a fee for each checked bag). Different products. Different markets. Different consumer expectations.
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Again. Full service airlines offer full service benefits. Bundled. Period. LCC airlines can unbundle their services and charge - the market expects and is OK with that. People Express pioneered it years ago (they even charged a fee for each checked bag). Different products. Different markets. Different consumer expectations.
Jan 3, 2007, 12:21 pm
#109
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Sacramento, CA, US
Posts: 2,229
Rely on credit cards instead
Well, if this happened, I wouldn't bother trying to earn miles from flying on United. I would just churn their credit cards more often. Enough for several domestic roundtrips a year. And then take LCCs for trips one does pay for. Sort of a split loyalty.
Jan 3, 2007, 12:58 pm
#110
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Jan 4, 2007, 10:16 am
#112
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Jan 4, 2007, 11:07 am
#113
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On the flip side, I like the fact that UA is considering innovative products. "Elite for a day" sounds a bit strange, but why not try it? As a 1P I'm marginally concerned about the "watering down" effect, but statistically-speaking, it probably could never been significant. Try it out. See if it works. They already sell RCC passes, but who's buying at $50 a pop? Probably no one.
Selling individual seats seems like more trouble than it's worth. United already seems to have a good system with E+.
Selling individual seats seems like more trouble than it's worth. United already seems to have a good system with E+.
Removing current benefits on the other hand is not customer-friendly. I have to admit earning 35,000 miles (AKA free trip to Hawaii) as a 1P on a $700 T fare to SIN is pretty sweet!
Jan 6, 2007, 10:18 pm
#114
Join Date: May 2003
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My biggest concern with this would be that miles would then be much closer to having a published value. In the US, the IRS has not been able to tax the value of the miles because it can be shown that two people can fly on the exact same ticket price and one earn miles while the other doesn't. Thus, there is no cost to earn the miles (from the IRS perspective) and they have no value.
If something like this kicks in, then there will be some groups that will want to revisit that argument and see if they can figure out a value of the miles to start taxing the balance in FF accounts. It sounds ludicrous, but we've already had a lot of discussions on here before about value of miles and tax implications because of previous IRS investigations and decisions.
On the charging for every little thing, I just ran into this on Allegiant Air for a one-way I priced out FAY-SFB:
Base Fare: $39
"Standard" taxes/PFC: $5.90
Checked Luggage Fee: $2 per bag
Reserved Seat Fee: $11
Travel Insurance: $12
Online Booking Convenience Fee: $7.50
Total: $67.40
You can avoid the Convenience Fee by going to an ATO, oddly enough. My point is that they're just one step away from putting a coin slot on the restroom if they haven't already.
If something like this kicks in, then there will be some groups that will want to revisit that argument and see if they can figure out a value of the miles to start taxing the balance in FF accounts. It sounds ludicrous, but we've already had a lot of discussions on here before about value of miles and tax implications because of previous IRS investigations and decisions.
On the charging for every little thing, I just ran into this on Allegiant Air for a one-way I priced out FAY-SFB:
Base Fare: $39
"Standard" taxes/PFC: $5.90
Checked Luggage Fee: $2 per bag
Reserved Seat Fee: $11
Travel Insurance: $12
Online Booking Convenience Fee: $7.50
Total: $67.40
You can avoid the Convenience Fee by going to an ATO, oddly enough. My point is that they're just one step away from putting a coin slot on the restroom if they haven't already.