As I sit here reading Randy's AirMail article
on the "Universal Alliance mileage card," no
now picking up all my frequent flyer/hotel
cards that my cat Eddie Knocked with wallet
all over the floor I got to thinking a crazy idea (but maybe doable someday...)

What about a Universal Frequent Flyer Card.

The card would:

*Be linked to all Frequent Flyer and Hotel programs you designate.

*Points would automatically (hopefully) credited to the airline when you check in,
the hotel when you check in and whatever other programs you use them for.

Rather than a membership number cardholders would use a "codename." (Like in my
case: CATMAN) which would save remembering
dozens of numbers and one password to all
accounts.

*Several programs could be on the card or
ALL programs.

*Flyers can pick individual statements and/or
one complete monthly and updated statement.

THis would also save carrying a lot of cards
around and remembering a lot of letters and
numbers.

Of course this maybe far fetched, costing
hundreds of millions of dollars in new technology and computers and training.

But it could be the future. Any views?
CATMAN

I second the idea. The technology with smart cards is already there. Also would be great if you could swipe your card and get an instant deposit in your account and a receipt. Would save all the botheration of uncredited miles and repeated phone calls/emails for getting miles credited, and would eliminate the delay in getting miles credited to your account. So the future is "smart cards".

I've been thinking about this since I read Randy's editorial (I really missed reading one of his missives to a ff provider this month). I would LOVE to know what the big wigs at these airlines are thinking. I mean, wasn't the point of frequent customer programs to build brand loyalty and pride? But now, with the inter-changeability not only between hotels and airlines, but among the airlines themselves, the original purpose seems to be defeated. I dont HAVE to fly Delta to get Delta miles anymore...I can give my business to United. They've created a world where we even consider a Universal ff card. It just seems totally inconsistant with the concept. Maybe next I should ask Food Lion to accept my Safeway savings card...

And wouldn't the concept of the Universal card make it even MORE complicated. What if I SAID I wanted my miles in Delta, but the agent HEARD Varig -- Since the card says both, the miscommunication would not be rectified.

Finally, with regard to this topic, I seldom if ever have to remove a cards from my wallet. The number is given at the time of the airline/hotel reservation and are saved in my online reservations program, so unless an overzealous agent wants to check my status for priority boarding, the card is not terribly meaningful...

Matt you make some good points about why
a Universal FF card might cause problems.
But if you make a reservation and mention
the program you want I think you would be protected from miles going into the wrong account.

But there should be a failsafe measure where
if that does happen then you have a time frame to get the miles corrected. (I don't
know how this would work... As I said this
is just a wild idea.)

In my experience, United doesn't pay a big
deal about the card. Neither does Continental. But American always demanded me
to show my card, even as a lowly average member. So does Delta when I check if my Skymiles number is in there.

Pgupta011... thanks for the vote of confidence! Here's to fewer cards, phone
calls, web site clicks and easier miles!
CATMAN

I have a United 1K card. I hardly ever show it: the folks at the 1K centers I frequent recognize me, the FF number is with my travel agent and stored in the United connection software, and the boarding passes display the status so I just show my boarding pass for early boarding. While non elite members may switch between United and delta (which they could for most routes do anyway before the alliance), elite members still have strong incentives for choosing their respective carriers. I also read in the Wall St Journal that codesharing between United and Delta has been scrapped or delayed. I would think that brand loyalty is still alive.

Smart Cards are the answer. And, pgupta011,
I like your new word, "botheration". Save the loyalty that airlines think they build,
but a whole new industry was just invented right here. Think of the millions of $$'s that all airlines spend in storage, computer
processing costs, people devoted to FF programs, postage and what have you. If there was a Smart Card with all one's FF info on it, then a mere swipe at your favorite airline gets you the miles. Secondly, what about the liability of award
tickets that airlines say they have? If one could use miles in any program, then the liability gets spread around. Probably "pie in the Sky", but an entreprenural giant could
take over all programs and relieve the airlines of some costs and headaches. In this wonderful world of computers it is a familiar word that most airlines are doing in one way or another.

"BOTHERATION", i LOVE IT!!!

Glad you liked my new word jaws. One of the more popular topics in these boards is how miles do not get posted (look under United at the comments for mileage plus dining for example). I would like to clarify that a smart card does not mean that you can combine or pool all the miles in the account. It just means that the card is smart enough to know your various affiliations.

Pooling was not my design when I thought about a "smart card" but a card programed where most (if not all) ff and hotel and car
rental and other accounts were programmed
onto one card. It can even be linked to Max
Miles so once a week all the points earned
can be downloaded right onto your files.

Thinking of the card's design: It would have
the logos of your programs on them (the
Continental half globe, United's U, etc) so
the agent has some idea when you say "I want
Continental one pass miles."

Yes Jaws43 It would save the airlines millions and maybe they can invest some of
that money into providing more upgrade seats,
better customer service, etc in their programs.

I took like your word Pgupta011 "Botheration"
That's what's great about the ENglish language... new words rise daily.

ANd I like the fact teh only "number" you'll
have to remember on the "smart card" is any
code name you want... like CATMAN

While I agree that one card vs. seven cards is attractive, I think that I have the same problem with this idea that I have with alliances. Airlines are in business to make money. One way they have tried to do this is by building customer loyalty through ff programs. But as a result of the way they have structured the programs, they have (at least IMHO) become "entitlements." The programs have taken on a life of their own. What makes me so nervous is that the further an airline gets from its individual program, the easier it will be for a cost-concious ceo to slash ff benefits without direct reprocussion.

If the program is run by a ff consolidator, United could say, hey, its not US cutting the benefits, its the ff consolidator, go take it up with them.

Furthermore, as far as I am concerned, there is ALREADY too much collusion going on among the airlines. Allinaces and a universal ff card might just cement the oligopoly of the airline idustry.

I guess my bottom line is that I want to make sure that the ff programs continue to benefit the individual airlines as much as they do us. Because otherwise, the programs will be scaled back or disappear.

I have made this same point to UMP (as a premex AND a shareholder) in an e-mail that was never acknowledged. If someone here can tell me how an individual airline's bottom line benenfits from a business perspective from ff allinaces or ff program administration sharing, I'd love to hear it, because it would make me feel a whole lot better about these trends...

It is interesting that people are now looking at the alliances and wondering what loyalty means. But even in the pre-alliance days the majority of miles are earned not by flying but on the ground. Infact using Matt's example you can earn airline miles at Safeway by using an airline affliated Visa card. So the programs are already far off from the original purpose that Matt refers. And if the airlines did not benefit from it, they would not offer it. When the airlines sell miles they get the money right away and can invest the money years before you get to redeem them (assuming that the miles are not expired or depreciated by then). Even with alliances, elite benefits are structured such that elite members have a strong incentive to fly with the carrier on which they are elite.

Back on the original topic, I still like Catman's idea and also his idea of making web sites more user friendly so that you can for example register for a promotion by clicking on a web site. Some of these changes are already happening, and more such changes are likely to come. I look forward to them.

Matt, I have heard that the KLM-Northwest alliance was good for the bottom line of both companies. I am not an industry insider so I cannot offer you any details.

Matt Wald... I don't know the business end
of airlines but I would think a properly run
Frequent Flyer program or hotel program means
more business with lesser costs. (Maybe I
missed you point.)

Remember Continental's program was considered
one of the worst, now according to Inside
FLyer and J.D. Power and Associates, the
program because one of the best because traffic dropped and members left the program.
Sensing this is happenign at Delta, Time for
a makeover!

I just want the world of frequent Flyer travel to be a little easier than getting
tickets to "Cabaret" (the hot musical now
in NYC.)

Imagine if my universal FF card becomes reality. I guess you can call it "THE CATMAN
CARD" in honor of CATMAN

How about calling it "Cardman"? Sony might object to the similarity to Walkman. Women would doubtless prefer "Away", "Airborn", "TravelCard" or some other similarly gender -neutral name. But, hey when you're pipedreaming who cares about rejection?

Or Catcard. Or FLYCard. Both should be
gender neutral. SOrry if I forgot about
the women frequent flyers on the site!
CATMAN

I like your (unpaid) brainstorming on that topic.

One negativ remark: data-security/privacy. If it is all on one "smart"-card I am afraid that I loose even more of that.