If I book an award for next July now and want to change the dates later (after March 1), will I be asked for the difference between the old and new prices?

I agree, I think NW�s knee jerk reaction to follow suit with other airlines that have diluted their FF programs is a bad call.
We now have a choice of earning great (albeit abysmally diluted) miles, being treated relatively nice by the majority of NW personnel and having the best F (domestic) upgrade opportunity of any other top 3 or 4. (I am at 100% myself)
Or:
Change over to another airline that offers a more advantageous/liberal FF program and be content sitting C more often.

Interesting choice, instant gratification of sitting in F or better chances of using your miles for the seats you want and when you want.

I will wait till the first few months before I do anything drastic.

I too think some of you might be taking actions too soon to bail. Most airlines haven't announced plans for 2005 yet, and it seems probable that devaluation of miles may be forthcoming for the others, if not by bankruptcy, then by adjustments to its costs. If it doesn't happen this year, it might happen the next. Others will eventually make their adjustments. True, mileage required for some of your dreams might be increasing, but so is the cost of travel.

I'm staying on board Northwest.

Jiburi

huh? from my perspective, the long term trend seems stable if not downward in real terms.

Well, all I have to say it thank goodness I left NWA this year! I would have really, really screwed especially considering the amount of miles i have collected on UA this year (400'000 with the Early Bird).

2005 changes may have not yet been announced at other airlines (such as UA), but I am sure that UA would not do changes as drastic as this. 120'000 miles for WBC to Asia? In the NEW World Business Class? The problematic one?

I can fly First class on ANA/Asiana/SQ/United for the same amount of miles.

Why would I be loyal to NWA?

I see things as less black and white than a lot of you. I am with jiburi on this one. The news for NW just came out and folks are jumping ship already! The bad news is that they really do not know what they are getting into. Fine with me, more room in FC! ^

The Platinum Point scheme is not yet out and that could make a big difference.

Apples vs. Oranges. People are comparing NW '05 to UA '04. Wait until the other airline plans have been released before making any decisions. Assuming there will still be some differences between them perhaps the best policy is to book the largest number of flights with the carrier that is most convenient / best schedule / or with the best package of bennies, but accrue miles on a second carrier for that award flight (Australia/Europe).

People are also comparing carriers as if there was no difference in the likelihood of the failure / liquidation of each carrier. NW, with the new pilots agreement and anticipated debt reschedule, is relatively strong compared to for example UA. Unless you are planning to earn and burn miles within a short period, a more favorable schedule would be worthless if the carrier fails.

For my requirements, NW offers the schedule and pricing that is better than other carriers and the Worldperks plan is best for me. I think I will be making WP Silver this year after a four year absence. But I will be taking notice of the reduced miles on other carriers (UA) for Australia and thinking about how I might pick up some miles on them.

Wow..all the folks jumping and bailing..sad to see it happen but for selfish reasons the less elite members the more upgrades for me!! I think that looking at NW's changes in equipment to both Europe and Asia and some drastic decreases in the size of those business classes that the increase in mileage doesn't really surprise me much. Why give the seats away when you can sell them and make money on them?? NW still, IMO, has the best domestic upgrade policy and will continue to in 2005. They kept EQMs at 100% which I love since all of my travel is done on my dime so I can possible keep my status. Airlines are really in some financial binds right now and maybe next year if things turn for the better and costs continue to be driven down, mileage requirements may come down. I won't be at all surprised to see other airlines follow suit and increase their mileage requirements as well. Don't get me wrong, I am disappointed that any freebie tickets I may want to use may go up in mileage costs, I can live with it. They kept the most important things to me in place for 2005 so I will enjoy my newly received Gold Elite Status and hope to improve on my 87% success rate as a Silver and continue to support the redtail!!!

Jer

I think there is an "inflation" in NWA miles. I have a "monetary theory" about this.

NWA is letting us earn more miles (Milezilla, etc.). So, there are more miles earned out there per person per year (than let say UA miles). So, value of 1 NWA mile depreciates faster comparing to 1 UA mile, because 1 NWA mile is less scarce than 1 UA mile. To fight this depreciation, NWA has to increase the cost of award fares in some markets.

Now, if "1 NWA mile is less scarce than 1 UA mile" is true and if we suppose that it costs about the same in $ to fly someone on an award ticket, then in some markets NWA may want to charge us more miles per award ticket than let say UA.

It's only my theory. I could easily be wrong and this may not make sense

I know that whenever I change a reward ticket, the miles are redeposited into my account, and then taken out again. From this, I'd say that if change it, you'll be charged the difference.

i would actually be willing to bet that they won't charge the difference. aside from having a strong hunch, the following paragraphs from the members guide clearly differentiate between changing and redepositing; the fact that the fee for both actions is $50 seems irrelevant:

27. Once award tickets are confirmed, any changes, including changes to date and times, will require a $50 USD administrative fee per person, per ticket when Northwest agents are required to revise the award ticket. Fee may be avoided or reduced if changes are made on nwa.com.
28. You may redeposit any number of award tickets for a non-refundable
administrative fee of $50 USD per person, per ticket when all valid tickets for
redeposit are from the same WorldPerks account and are presented at the
same time. Miles can only be redeposited into the account from which they
were redeemed.

I'd think you'd be charged the new amount. The reasoning is this. You lock in a price (in this case # of miles) only when you TICKET. If you change that ticket it will have to be re-ticketed, which means the price (miles) will be reflective of what is available that day, since that is when the ticket for those flights will be issued. In your case your price would no longer be available and you'd have to move up to what is.

I hope this is the case, but I can't help but notice that there are a few rows (awards) in the award chart that show only "N/C" (no change?) and/or "N/A" (not applicable?) straight across, such as US49 - Hawaii. I'm assuming these awards have no changes, yet do show up on the webpage award chart.

I would be even less pleased than I am already with these changes if your theory turns out to be correct. So, residing here in Asia, I don't get to take part in most of the great mileage building promos, credit card promos (the bonuses for credit card signups here are but a fraction of what they are stateside), etc., but I do get hit by the increases in miles needed for awards to most places, and in limbo (not knowing about intra-Asia or N. Asia to Hawaii awards as they were not on the new chart) on others?

I believe this is true in many ways, but contradicting those thinking of switching to UA, I think NW miles are just as valuable, if not more as UA.

EQM: ADVANTAGE NW
As an elite, UA provides 100% EQM, just like NW, but platinum requalification is 75,000 with NW, 100,000 with UA. The only spoilers to NW's 100% EQM policy is Continental and Delta's 50% policy on deeply discounted tickets. I must add that UA does have a fee based "double EQM" promotion going on right now though. (This promotion can be a major heartbreaker to fee paying double EQM'ers if UA decide to change mileage redemption levels)

MILEAGE EARNING POWER: ADVANTAGE NW
Both airlines provides standard "mileage flown" miles of its flights and its partner flights. The marked difference is the elite bonus miles. UA will only provide elite bonus (25% Premier, 100% Premier Exec and 1K) to United, US Airways, and Lufthansa(transatlantic only) operated flights. No elite bonus miles are awarded for any of its other Star Alliance member flights(eg. Air Canada, SAS, ANA, BMI, etc). NW provides elite bonus miles (50% silver, 100% gold, 125% platinum) to EVERY AIRLINE PARTNER in addition to the regular flown miles. (Obviously, the region where you begin and end your flying can definitely impact this, as you may not see service to your region) Also keep in mind that if your flying more than 75K, your NW platinum status will earn more miles than 1K at UA.

UPGRADE: Advantage NW-Domestic, Advantage UA-International
Upgrading is a different creature all together, where NW will provide its elites, high percentage of complimentary domestic upgrades. UA scores better on international upgrades for elites. Domestically, as a NW Plat, I'm 100% on NW upgrades (34 segments out of 34), and 87.5% at Continental (7 out of 8), and 67% at Alaska Airlines (4 out of 6). As a UA Premier Exec, I have to pick and choose where I get my domestic UA upgrades. I've only gotten 3 UA segments upgraded out of about 24 segments. UA, however scores better on international upgrades, as they provide for complimentary systemwide upgrades to some of its higher elites. They are, however limited to amount of certificates you earn.

MILEAGE REDEMPTION: Advantage UA for 2005 non-elites, Draw for Elites
Since Non-elites don't see any additional bonus miles, United is probably the winner (for 2005) with its lower award level. United, however, hasn't announced changes for 2005. For the 2004 levels, I think UA and NW is a draw. For frequent flyers, however, it would be a wash. NW provides more mileage earning opportunties(flown miles, bonus elite miles and non-flown promotion) than UA, but due to an upcoming 2005 increase in redemption level, NW elites may need to cough up more miles. UA hasn't announced any award changes yet, but despite its current lower redemption levels, United doesn't give out as much elite bonus miles as NW. In addition, United has less "non-flight" bonus miles earning opportunities.

Jiburi '04