FF Industry Changes (CO, DL, etc.)
 

Well, CO has been the next airline to fall. "Down with low-fare-paying scum!" their new policies scream, echoing the sentiments of others before them, such as DL. (For more on this, just read the 6-page-and-growing thread in the CO forum.)

My opinion: These airlines have it all wrong! They are always attempting to punish, restrict, set terms & conditions... tendering out a carrot, but only letting us feed on enough to make us happy. Then pulling back to see how far we'll go until we snap.

What should they be doing? Rewarding positive behavior instead of punishing "neutral" behavior. LH has learned this well. They reward passengers very well that bring in the most revenue -- F passengers get 300% elite qualifying miles. THIS MAKES SENSE TO ME! Why don't others do the same?

Has this been a "bad" experience for LH? I don't know that it has. Look at it this way... what do the airlines like CO want? They want to have high paying customers. Now, tell me this... given the new policies, as a Full-Y or F-paying customer, do they incentivize you to fly CO? I didn't think so. In fact, if I bought primarily F and J class fares, I would be a paying LH customer! What CO is trying to do is force its customers to up-pay (whereas given company policies many of them are not able to) instead of attracting customers that can pay the kind of fares they want (by improving their product and giving them rewards).

Negative change management is very hard. Positive change management is much easier. That's what I advocate.

<sigh> Silly airlines... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

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"There are those who travel, and those who travel well."

DL gives out 1.5 and 2.0 times qualifying mileage for high fare coach and business/first travel.

Continental is taking customer feedback at (713) 324-2950. Call them. It is ridiculous. My company demands that I buy discounted tickets. I am a NW elite and I am sure they will go this way as well. If CO and DL do it, there is no reason NW wouldn't. I go out of my way to book travel on NW/CO because of the Elite program qualification. I am going to squeek by and obtain Gold this year which means I MIGHT squeek by and get silver next. That isn't good enough.....if there is any doubt to my ability to obtain status, there is no reason to continue supporting CO or NW in any way. Though I live in the Detroit Metropolitan area, there are other choices besides Northwest including Spirit, Southwest, and America west at DTW, Air Tran at FNT, and TransMeridian at TOL. They will get my business if NW adopts the policy that CO has by spitting in the eyes of their most loyal customers for buying fares that THE AIRLINE sets! It is absurd. Here is the number for CO again: (713) 324-2950