Looks like the end is finally here. Frequent flyer programs ending <eek>
Mar 31, 2009 | 9:29 pm
#1
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Looks like the end is finally here. Frequent flyer programs ending <eek>
Business travelers all across America have reacted with shock and dismay to news that all airline frequent flyer programs in North America will be terminated within the next two weeks.
All North American airlines abruptly scuttled their programs in a frenzied one-hour period late yesterday afternoon after You Is Airways touched off the wave of cancellations at 4pm with a terse statement that its frequent flyer program would bite the dust on April 31, 2009. Within minutes, the other airlines announced they too were getting off the frequent flyer merry-go-a=round.
As a result of the demise of the programs, members of frequent flyer programs must book any outstanding award trips by midnight April 15, 2009. All award trips claimed must then be completed by April 31, 2009.
The airlines, expecting a last-minute rush of award requests, will keep their Web sites open around the clock. Most of the carriers are even installing additional award redemption kiosks at the airport and automated recordings on their pay phone service centers, in an attempt to offset the anticipated onslaught of phone calls.
Don't blame me. I'm only the messenger. You can blame the author.
Link to the article ... http://insideflyer.com/articles/article.php?key=5331 If it's printed in Inside Flyer, it must be true.
dh
All North American airlines abruptly scuttled their programs in a frenzied one-hour period late yesterday afternoon after You Is Airways touched off the wave of cancellations at 4pm with a terse statement that its frequent flyer program would bite the dust on April 31, 2009. Within minutes, the other airlines announced they too were getting off the frequent flyer merry-go-a=round.
As a result of the demise of the programs, members of frequent flyer programs must book any outstanding award trips by midnight April 15, 2009. All award trips claimed must then be completed by April 31, 2009.
The airlines, expecting a last-minute rush of award requests, will keep their Web sites open around the clock. Most of the carriers are even installing additional award redemption kiosks at the airport and automated recordings on their pay phone service centers, in an attempt to offset the anticipated onslaught of phone calls.
Don't blame me. I'm only the messenger. You can blame the author.
Link to the article ... http://insideflyer.com/articles/article.php?key=5331 If it's printed in Inside Flyer, it must be true.
dh
Mar 31, 2009 | 10:30 pm
#6
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Nice try, Dan, but standby for the move to MilesBuzz. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.
Apr 1, 2009 | 12:56 am
#9
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I've loathed April 1st ever since the internet became a part of mainstream daily life. This was a good prank topic but there are some outlets that really make you think and research whether it's true or not!
Like RIM's Blackberry App World actually did go live at midnight! Shocker!
Like RIM's Blackberry App World actually did go live at midnight! Shocker!
Apr 1, 2009 | 2:43 am
#10
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awesome post. ^
happy april!
since i'm currently in thailand, i thought about a 'conrad bangkok presidential suite $1 on travelocity' thread...but i didn't.
happy april!
since i'm currently in thailand, i thought about a 'conrad bangkok presidential suite $1 on travelocity' thread...but i didn't.
Apr 1, 2009 | 9:02 am
#13
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Thank you, Randy, for an April Fool's shocker.
This is really funny (and if it were real, it would have been very sad to read):
This is really funny (and if it were real, it would have been very sad to read):
Meanwhile, economists are divided on how the demise of frequent flyer programs will affect the economy given the current financial situation. The most pessimistic forecast comes from Harvard University economist John Kenneth Goldbrick. "Without bonus miles, no business person in his or her right mind is going to go through the hassles and frustrations of taking your shoes off for the TSA," he says. "And without business travel there will be no business conducted. The world could be facing a depression equal to that of the 1930s ... uh, today."
However, newly elected president Arocka Bama foresees little long---term effect from the curtailment of business travel, "Entrepreneurs will simply find new ways of carrying out international commerce, possibly by way of using their Blackberry phones." He did however leave open the possibility that his government would consider a bailout of this situation with T-MARP (Troubled Mileage Asset Relief Plan).
However, newly elected president Arocka Bama foresees little long---term effect from the curtailment of business travel, "Entrepreneurs will simply find new ways of carrying out international commerce, possibly by way of using their Blackberry phones." He did however leave open the possibility that his government would consider a bailout of this situation with T-MARP (Troubled Mileage Asset Relief Plan).
