Also, consider lower award levels. Frontier gives away a domestic round-trip for 15,000 miles.

Maybe. How about 15,000 for a two segment round trip and 20,000 for a round trip with connections?

I am not likely to ever be flying Independence Air, so I'll leave the questions of potential benefits to those who will. On the other hand, it so happens that I was recently thinking of just how benefits should be earned in an ideal FF program, so here goes.

It's my thought that elite status should be earned on trips flown (trips, not segments; the airlines should be able to tell by now whether your segment has an X or and O in the stopover field -- and I'm referring to one-way trips). This is, after all, billed as a "frequent flyer" program. Using non-Independence examples, I shouldn't be getting more credit for flying LAX-LHR once than I do for flying ORD-LGA three times. And I shouldn't get more credit just because I fly ORD-DEN-SEA instead of a nonstop flight. I reiterate that these comments apply only to gaining elite status.

General rewards, though, are quite appropriately accumulated based on dollars spent. Using strictly airline travel as an example (to keep things simple), I would allow for an airline credit of, say, .1% of dollars spent. It could not be redeemed until a certain minimum amount had been accumulated ($500 credit, perhaps), but I would have no minimum on the redemption. The credit could then be applied as part payment of a fare, to pay for an upgrade (obviously not on Independence), or whatever complete unrelated way the airline chooses to offer.

It's been said again and again, but let me reemphasize it.

DON'T LET YOUR POINTS EXPIRE.

I LOVE trueBlue, and I think the most perfect FF program would be trueBlue with no expiring points and maybe even some FF/hotel/car partners.

As someone who flies ACA a LOT and has mixed feelings (yes, they can be pretty bad but I've been pretty lucky), Independence Air might be a good change of pace. I would like a FF program based on trips, with a rolling expiration count (if you don't travel in over a year, then your points expire. However, if you travel within that year, all your points are still OK, kinda like the majors right now) I would go similar to Jetblue with short, medium, long, and make it so four long trips earn you one free roundtrip, and similarly for the rest.

Just my $.02

Here's an idea that I'm surprised no one at all has suggested yet: a two tiered system. One for business travelers who are always on their own, and one for families where you can earn points on adjascent seats (ie mommy daddy and baby's points all going to the same account). Of course the redemption rates would be higher for the family one, but you could make them more geared towards families (ie 200000 points flies two adults and one child to Orlando from anywhere in the US, 50000 for each additional child)
For the business one, they could have stuff like 3000 points gets you free broadband on the flight, etc.

Edit: Holy Crap! They're flying to YOW (or so they say) I've never heard of this airline before but I hope they're really cheap. Are they?

[This message has been edited by canrocks (edited Mar 16, 2004).]

FWIW, things that I'd rather have:

Elite check in. Costs almost nothing to implement and goes a long way.

Elite Security Lanes. Always a winner.

Elite Boarding. Costs zero, but is a benefit.

Automatic club (or discounted club) membership. I don't fly much through IAD (though that may change), is there a way to partner with another airline on Lounge access? A place to wait away from the crowds is always welcome, and if it can be had for the cost of a few points and a few dollars, it'll sell well.

Perhaps the ability to upgrade Vehicle rentals by use of points. I dunno how hard it would be to implement, but if it could be pulled off it'd be something no one else (so far as I know) has even thought about doing.

Pick a mainline hotel partner like Mariott or even Holiday Inn and give special bonuses to elite members (free breakfast buffet or free internet access) or the ability to use a small number of points for these things.

Use the WLAN hotspot in the Airport and allow for lower cost or free internet access (perhaps points related).

Most or all of these can be tied to the members account number / pin.

Since the cost of the tickets on Independence Air is already going to be low (relatively speaking), it doesn't make as much sense to concentrate on free tickets, as opposed to other amenities that make life a bit easier. Just the ability to access the airport WLAN for less than 6 bucks a minute (or whatever the ridiculous charge is now) would be a tier benefit that would interest a lot of folks as much if not more than a free ticket, because it's easily attainable and of immediate benefit. Really, if you run your own WLAN in your bording areas or lounges you can do this at moderate one time infrastructure cost, with negligible continuing cost.

Seven for One. Seven trips gets you one freebie. Simple, easy to maintain, and a goal that is neither too easy nor too hard to achieve.

Use points, factored on miles flown + tier status divided by class of ticket. This keeps the holiday specials folks from skewing the system.

Get a couple of town cars and drivers and allow upper level elites to use it at cost to and from the airport within some reasonable distance (say 20mi or to/from the partner hotel). Alternatively, contract with a service for this.

Most of these suggestions are relatively low cost to implement and encourage people to stay with the program and the airline, because they are almost all peripheral services that don't cost as much seat revenue yet make the program stand apart.

Make the airport *experience* better for your elites and they'll be happier, even if the plane is delayed. They'll also buy more tickets because they feel like they're getting more in return.

Regards,
-Bouncer-

The program is live.

Sorry if I get out in left field here, but I must plead ignorance on Independance Air. Some observations, that is all:

1. Since there is no FC seating, I wouldn't go for a revenue-based model. I think that pax would be flying here because the fares were better than what they could get elsewhere. If the fares were on the level of the majors, then I think most FF'ers would buy a ticket on them, hoping for extra miles, upgrades, etc. So, I'd say consider segments.
2. Have one elite level and offer it pre-boarding.
3. Have preassigned seats.
4. Don't lie to us.
5. Make decisions quickly. If there's a problem, know when "to fold 'em" versus trying to fix it or wait for conditions to clear until past midnight, when there is NO possibility of getting to your hotel until after 1 am with no chance of getting a meal.
6. Probably not practical, but in relation to #5, could we have free hotels even if it is weather-related? (I know, probably not, as margins are thin already, but just a thought)

Best of luck!

They did the 12 month thing. :td: :td:



50% off of $69??? :D


Double the points for a transcon seems a little steep, especially since I only imagine hitting the bigger spots in the west (LAX/PHX/SFO/SEA/LAS) and a paid ticket will likely cost much less than 2 eastern-only trips. Look at fare differentials on Airtran eastern vs. transcon travel.

I'm still in favor of the concept of an IAD based low fare network carrier with good frequencies on routes--- but I'm not too impressed with the FF program thus far.

United fly 4, get 3 free promotion
 

Using DTW-IAD $138 all-in as an example, you'd need to take 11 roundtrip flights to earn an award ticket (and a short-haul one at that).

Not bad when compared against, say, NW, which has eliminated online booking bonuses and would therefore take 25 DTW-DCA roundtrips to earn an award ticket (25,000 miles for short-haul or long-haul).

But then look at United's WAS promotions:

* Fly 2, get 1 short-haul free with RTW promotion
* $25 off and 2,500 bonus miles on first flight
* 1,000 online booking bonus each roundtrip
* 2,500 WAS bonus each roundtrip this summer/fall (just announced today)

So someone could do DTW-ORD-DCA roundtrip 4 times (@ $149 all-in as of today, may drop to $138) and earn 3 award tickets: two short-haul from RTW and one regular just from miles: (2000 flight miles + 1000 online bonus + 2,500 WAS summer/fall bonus) * 4 + 2,500 first-time WAS bonus = 24,500 miles (plenty of non-flight ways to earn those remaining 500 miles).

Although you could use the award tickets to go to more expensive destinations, even if you used all 3 award tickets to fly DTW-WAS again, your average cost for each of the 7 roundtrip flights would be $85 all-in.

Marketing 101
 

OK, Kids....let's start at square one. (kinda long...but bear with me)

The first rule is: "Give the customer a reason to purchase from you rather than your competitor." Second rule: "Don't ever let them forget that reason".

So, just what can Independence give as a reason for purchase vis-a-vis UA or any other major. Any alliance tie-in just emphasizes the miniscule nature of any Independence award vs. MileagePlus. With no F seats, lots of CRJ's and a lousy reputation, the questions become: "Why should a business traveller fly us rather than Brand X???" and "Why should a leisure traveller fly us rather than Brand Y???"

If the answer to either question is the FF program, then you have BIG shoes to fill. It had better be the greatest thing since both sliced bread and the two hour lunch. OTOH, if it is merely the icing on the cake, then you have a different situation to work with.

Personally, my suggestions would be:

Mileage or segments. Not $$. Dollars caters to those on full expense accounts without a lot of controls. Those flyers are dwindling, as the Big6 are finding out (just ask DL and CO about their EQM situation). As for miles or segments, look at your route structure. If you have most flights going the same/equivalent distance, go with segments. Easier to administer. If you have a wide disparity in stage lengths, make it miles. You shouldn't get the same credit for IAD-PIT as you would for IAD-SFO. Not if you want to keep the SFO pax.

Elite levels. Absolutely. Go back to rule 1.

Elite benefits. If you have no F, then the best seats in the house go to your elites. And you keep the adjoining seat empty to the last minute. And the gate agents can not be allowed to be lazy and just fill the plane from the front since it's the first screen that pops up on the computer. Priority at security is also important.

Awards. A lot of the ideas presented in this thread are good. But again, you HAVE to make it something to get people away from the Big6. Otherwise, you're just a gnat that they will either ignore or swat away. WN came up with the Companion Pass. Not necessarily for everyone, but something that no one else had. It made them stand out. Have a range of awards that can matter to the once a week flier and the once a quarter flyer. And make them obtainable. Don't have such restrictive capacity controls that you can't use them. Think about this....what you really want is to have so many awards to issue that you're running into trouble filling them. Why? Because the source of that "problem" is that lots of people flew your airline in the first place!!!! Don't complain about the commissions you are paying your top salesman. He's bringing in the business!!!!

Program Rules. Make them simple. Make them understandable by both the flyer and the staff that has to administer them. Ask DL and CO about that.

Finally, recognize that no matter how great an FF program may be, if the flights are late or cancelled, if the GA's are rude and not helpful, and if the FA's make your time aloft a miserable experience - you won't keep passengers, and you won't get any from referrals either. FF is part of an overall customer relations strategy, not the solution.

Beyond all that, my consulting rates are reasonable.... :D

Good luck.

I'm going to have to be on their side on this one. While it's not as generous as any other program out there, I don't think that's their point. It's just a program to reward those buying the last minute higher fare tickets more than the "cockroach" crowd. When I can pay $330 for a ticket and get 37K miles in my account (not a mileage run -- this was a standard vacation trip I planned 6 months ago and some bonuses came up since then), the airline is asking for trouble. Having a revenue based model more accurately reflects the awards based on the revenue someone has given to the airline. I get the same thing on my rewards points at the grocery store -- it's not how long I sit in the store or which brands of cereal I buy, just the amount of money I spend.

For your average person, that's very easy to understand. We might all be experts in going to the Great Circle Mapper and figuring out the exact mileage for our routing to ensure we hit whatever goal we're looking for, but face it -- we're severely in the minority. They want something easy for your everyday traveler to understand. I didn't see if they did, but family pooling of points would get them even more family leisure travelers, so that's definately something they should do.

The 12 month limitation is probably a message from their finance and accounting group. I get the same thing from mine if I have any outstanding liabilities that are going to be hanging out there for too long -- they want to make sure these will be cleared off the books within 12 months whether used or not. There's nothing too restrictive about it -- someone flying enough (since they don't have any other partners at the moment to get points another way) to get a free ticket is flying enough to use it. It makes perfect sense in this program to use your awards as soon as you get them (or as soon as you get two if you want long-haul when that comes available).

I know it's not like the other programs we run into, but that doesn't necessarily make it evil. People will take less benefit to have something they can understand. I think we've all seen that when trying to explain to people why they should sign up for whatever program they'll be flying with, and they just complain that it's too hard.