A quick fix to NWAs nightmare Roach Choice Program
 

It occurs there is an easy way to balance the needs of the revenue management and needs for incremental revenue with the expectations of NWAs most loyal customers.

What if all Premium/Coach Choice seating was available as follows;

1. Free to all Platinum and Gold members at time of booking
2. Free to all Y and B fares at the time of booking(Give an incentive to the last minute traveller)
3. Free to Silver members 24 hours prior (Sorry Silver but 25K miles is not all that much.)
4. Available to purchase at $15 to all passengers for all premium seats 24 hours prior.

This would accomplish the following.

1. Preserve the benefits of Elite seating
2. If NWA believes that F upgrades are as available as they claim it will leave the premium seats open to the non regular traveller
3. It will provide an additional incentive to purchase higher $$$$$ fares in Y and B.

I personally tend to purchase tickets on the day of travel or only a few days before (1-2) when travelling domestic Y. They tend to be expensive $$$$ fares and typically I get stuck with crappy seats and battlefield upgrades. (This has a lot to do with my love of the D, Z, YUP, F, C, J fares as typically the cost is a negligable difference. This is the line in the sand for me and hence It will determine if I stay or go. Ironically, I fly paid World Business Class far more then Y. Yet this makes a big enough issue that I know I can jump to CO or DL or AA or UA easily. They all want my $$$$$.

My $.02 for consideration.

I do not see this as much of an issue like you do. I never even look at the seat I buy, because I average almost 100% on upgrades. High fare tickets. I do not see why you are drawing a line in the sand. I can see the other airlines doing this in 6 months. and then what are ou going to do? If I was a silver I would be upset as this hurts them the most. I also fly a lot of AA they took back the extra room in coach, not to long ago people complained, but they made more money by doing it. I normallly fly coach with them, because you need coupons to upgrade, but I still fly coach with them often.

It is a big deal to me
 

Why?

Because;

I do not average 100% upgrade
I tend to travel at last minute (Same day ticket purchases)
Battlefield upgrades are NOT a sure thing
I earned the seating options with their program and their rules

This is my line in the sand. Maybe I will see you on AA soon.

So, I can take my $35,000-70,000K a year in travel (Varies over the last 4 years) and fly AA/BA or UA/LH or anyone else that I chose.

Sorry Silver but 25K miles is not all that and a box of chocolates???
 

I like it a lot, it makes good sense. I could live with out demeaning the Silver population, it was not necessary.

The irony is, you are the very customer that NW claimed to be saving these seats for. I'm seeing a single F/P on ITA being reserved until a few hours before flight, so there's room in F. And if you by a Y, hopefully there'll be a $C/E$ available for you to buy, to get that up-front seat.

Of course, that brings up the deal-killer... most companies won't reimburse for upgrade fees, even $15 for an up-front Y seat. So the entire model falls apart. NW needs to figure out how to get the $15 into the base-fare (original receipt?), so that the $15 can be expensed by the business traveller.

And again... it's not that they did this program, it's that they didn't implement it correctly. Doesn't anyone in marketing know about the "no upgrade reimbursement" agenda of corporate flyers?

Steve B.

Had already changed it... I agree it was out of place.

I'm silver, and I agree about making it free to PE/GE. Take a couple international flights, and you're silver, plus the glut of them form last year's double eqm promo. Now I made it on segments last year, so yes, I did it the hard way. However, at DCA, when they board by levels, 10 plats, 10 golds, then 100 silvers and 25 regular...

I agree that the best seating should be reserved for the highest revenue generating customers.

The chocolate comment was a little uncouth ;)

My company wouldn't pay for it. I could slide it through, but it would 100% get rejected in a month or two....

It seems like you are basically proposing a hyrbid of AA and UA's handeling of E+/Exit rows. AA gives exit rows to Plat and EXP for free, while UA sells E+ access to non-elites. I support your idea to the extent that I think an integrative solution is necessary to this case, (i.e. the NW elites are likely going to have to give up something, but hopefully not as much as NW is taking right now).

Thanx, again it is a good idea...IMHO

Silvers should not be treated like dirt (or close to it). They are valuable customers for any airline -- and NW is no exception -- even if Platinums and Golds are more valuable. And I'm wouldn't be surprised that, as an aggregate group, that Silvers provide more total revenue to NW than Platinums and/or Golds based on their sheer number.

The "quick fix" to the "Coach Choice" program is to exempt all elites from it. Elites -- whether Platinum, Gold, or Silver -- should be able to pick any seat they want at the time of booking at no charge.

If NW is unwilling to recognize the value of its Silvers, then they will almost certainly find comfort in the arms of another airline mistress. UA, AA, et al. all allow even 25,000 mile per year flyers to choose exit rows, bulkheads, and forward aisle seating at no charge. This is a particularly acute danger because it is the Silver flyer that is most likely to be adversely effected by this change since Silvers are the least likely of the elites to get upgraded and the most likely to ride in coach as a result (ergo, comfortable coach seating as a free benefit is most critical to them).

Maybe I am biased. I am a Platinum, but my wife is a Silver (and in most years does not qualify for elite status on any airline). I have no interest in waiting until 24 hours (or 36 hours or whenever) to find out if she will be able to sit next to me at no charge. Furthermore, I will not always be a Platinum or Gold. And when I am a mere Silver, I expect to be treated to a bare minimum of benefits like priority check-in lines, priority boarding, and priority seating at no extra charge. I, for one, will not stand for any effort by NW to divide and conquer its elites.

I would agree with this for the most part. It is a good fix, though I would give it to silvers at the 36/48 hour window. They deserve a chance at them for free before the "rif-raf" have a shot at it.

The other problem I have is that we have a new travel policy in effect from one of our major clients. The policy is that we are to travel the lowest available ticket cost from A-B involving not more than one change of plane. Further they do the booking, but we pay out of our pocket intially, so there is no way to sneak in the $15 on the original ticket. Second in there policy, and I do not like this at all, we are not permitted to deviate from the cost of the ticket even out of our own pocket. (we are required to submit actual BP's and ticket reciepts for reembursement.) The rational for the policy is that they don't want employees/contractors traveling in F/C or premium Y. They specifically cited UA's E+ access and pay for F programs as not allowed practices. Therefore, the CoachChoice program is probably going to get nailed by this as well. Technically, under this program, we cannot accept the F upgrade perk, but the comment from them has been if you recieve this without any form of additional payment then it is fine, but if you pay, even through a coupon, you cannot take it. Lately I have had to prove the upgrade did not cost money, otherwise they refuse the whole bill.

So, I am strongly in favor of any policy that gives these seats to Elites without a fee, otherwise, when traveling on business for this and possibly other clients i am hosed when stuck in coach.

Assumptions
 

I of course should have made myself clear...

I assumed (Wrongly) that anyone travelling on the same record as an elite would be eligible to get "good seats" similar to the way it was previously.

Of course I should have said this.

FYI-I understand the comments about travelling with the wife. However, This year she is a Skyteam Platinum (Delta) and I have enjoyed the benefits of DL as her spouse.

Frankly, That is something that makes it very easy to transition over to another carrier if needed (Delta) or to AA where I also an now an EXP.

So lets recap....

Eligible for Priority seating

a. Platinum and Gold Elites (Skyteam Plus)
b. Y and B fares
c. 48 hours prior Silver elites
d. 24 hours prior anyone for $15 per seat

So far seams quite workable......

Generates $$$ for NWA... Preserves elite seating benefit...

Solves everyones problem... OK NWA send me 100,000 miles for my resolution of the problem.

Yes it makes sense to a degree, but we're on a nickel-and-diming slippery slope here. Just sets a bad precedent.

What about 49K?

Maybe I stand alone here, but for me, it's not the paying, it's the coming back to the website to spend energy and $$ for a seat change for every segment...

If you're away from the office, access to your reservation withing a certain time window is not a given. Are you going to interrupt a meeting to say: Gee guys, can you give me some time to access the web? I've got to book my seat! This is complete nonsense!

I buy my ticket, I agree with the fare I must pay, I select the seat and I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HAVING TO GO BACK TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT.

Staying on Topic
 

This thread is about a "Quick Fix" so let's discuss that. But first, we need to define the "problem" that is being fixed.

If the only problem NW has is how to generate more $$$, then the quick fix is to raise the fares. But I think most of the problem lies in the fact that there has been an explosion in the number of Elites this year, due to the Double EQM promo match that was recklessly entered into last Fall.

So, if all of a sudden you now have a lot more "best customers", the natural reaction should not be to screw all of them. It should be to take care of all of them and keep them coming back again and again. Simply expand the "Elite Seating" area to accomodate all of them. Add a couple more rows to the Preferred Seating section, and maybe add all of the aisle seats also. Then continue to let those seats go to your best customers: your Elites AND those who have paid Y fares. That has always been the rule, so why change it now. Just add enough seats in that "Preferred Section" to accomodate the demand.

This might mean that the folks who bought $89 all-in tickets for CMH-DTW-ORD (as cited in another thread on this topic) might not be able to sit together. In fact, they might not even be able to select their seats until they check-in at a kiosk at the airport. (Does that sound a little like WN, or what?) Who cares, since they are only flying NW because of the cheap fare, and will wander to another airline next time if the price is $1 less. These are the stupid non-loyal customers who will fly on XX airline just because it is a little cheaper, even if they have to sit in some airport for 6 hours between connecting flights. They'll never understand that there is a price:value relationship, so let's not even worry about them. The best customers, no matter how many of them there are, MUST be taken care of!

Now, how simple is that??????

Your idea makes sense. Without an upgrade I would like to enjoy some empty seats next to me and those always seem to get filled with incidental flyers who didn't even bother to (or couldn't) reserve a seat when they bought the ticket.

No, it doesn't.

Silver elites still get the short end of the stick.

Why should they have to wait until 48 hours out to find out if there's a decent seat available for them? And I'm supposed to sweat it out as a Platinum until two days before the flight to find out if my wife can sit next to me?

If I was a Silver instead of a Platinum, I would still want to take my business elsewhere. As it is, I specifically book flights that have the seats that I want open and avoid others that don't.

The solution, as I said before, is to continue to allow all elites to choose the seat that they want -- subject only to a prior claim to that seat -- at the time of booking. If NW wants to charge its infrequent customers for the privilege of reserving a better seat to raise revenue, then so be it. But no elite should be adversely effected by the "Coach Choice" program.

Silvers
 

The problem with Silver is that with some of the promotions last fall anyone can be a silver with a RT to Europe or a couple coast to coast flights at EL Cheapo fares.

The real value is typically the folks who fly regularily enough to make a difference and spend $$$$.

One J class from USA to Europe/Africa can run $6000-$10000 USD

That would be around 50-60 el cheapo coast to coast hops for a single ticket.

I believe there should be a 100K Miles level and add even more benefits.... Or maybe 150K. (I would have given NWA more miles last year if there was a real benefit at a higher level, but, stopping NWA at around 125K Base miles I spread the $$$ and got Gold on two other carriers.

If they had a 150K level and NWA had "REAL" benefits I would have spent a bunch more $$$.

Now with Roach Coach Choice I am pulling all travel (Except award redemption) until they fix the "Screw the Elites" program.