yogimax

This issue has been discussed and debated ad infinititum.

Just wondering if there has been any word from Scoop regarding NW's current position.

hnewman

I hit 1M BIS miles in 1997 and got a Coach Leather Notebook and 2 1 MM luggage tags. I currently have 2.1 EQM and about 1.9+ BIS miles. I will hit 2M BIS miles sometime mid next year at my current rate unless I start doing some international travel which is very unlikely.

SteveinA2

I've heard all the arguments against Lifetime /.....but

I lived in DTW and Moved to DCA - - - THere is no perfect airline in DCA - - - (or IND, SDF, CHM, MCO, MCI, TPA, MCI, DSM, PIT, GSP, CHS etc etc)

I am lifetime Gold In AA so when I moved I chose the lifetime airline - now I fly AA

What NWA forget is people move and have choices in air travel. If NWA had a lifetime level then maybe I'd spend my dollars with them. Now because AA offer one (and I've not flown AA for 5 years) I'm now back to AA

It is sad how stupid NWA marketing folks are

They lost me because of myopia - and no doubt lost much more revenue too.

SchmutzigMSP

AA Gold < NW Silver.

Personally, AA Gold doesn't do much for me. I guess YMMV.

DanTravels

I wasn't referring to the issue (which has been discussed and debated ad infinitum) of what NW should do when someone reaches MM status, but rather to how it's calculated.

That's something that there should be an absolute answer to, and not just a "current position" - I hope!

MusicMan

After my 1st Million with NW, they sent me a very nice letter and an engraved brass luggage tag with the NW logo and imprinted "One Million Miles". On the flip side, my name was engraved in it. I still have it on my carryon, though it is a bit scuffed up--nice. I also received a choice of 3 different items (I don't remember exactly what the other two were), but I chose the travelpro roll-a-board bag for Mrs. MusicMan (also NW Platinum).

Upon reaching my 2nd Million Miles with NW 3 years ago, (after a 7-year, weary time with Delta--also reaching 1MM with them--Delta gave me a Tumi leather million-miler portflio and LIFETIME Silver status), I received another nice letter from NW and a very nice upscale pen with my name engraved on it. I also received a "Million Miler" luggage tag made of brass on black leather--however, it doesn't say "Million Miler" on it--it is just the NW logo. I didn't like that part of it. No one other than fellow MM's know what that tag is...

Currently, I'm at 2,716,000 total NW mileage since enrollment and only 12,000 miles short of requalifying for Plat again this year. I figure I should hit 3MM sometime during the next three years--I'll let you know what they give me then.

NW "lurkers" from the company: Please consider giving some kind of "lifetime" status to us! I'd love to stick around to hit the 3MM mark and the 4MM mark, and that would probably ensure my loyalty. I enjoy flying NW and SkyTeam. If not, I may look for greener pastures--I DO have a choice.

Hope this helps....Blessings and Kind Skies to you all

mrcimino1

Be careful what you wish for.......you just might get it. And then......???

Every FF benefit has a "cost" associated with it. It only stands to reason that if a Lifetime Benefit is added to the program, then in order to keep the entire program economically viable, other benefits will have to be taken away. What are you willing to give up in order to have Lifetime Status offered as an added benefit?

Right now, NW's program is as close to perfect as I can hope for. Domestic upgrades are virtually guaranteed for Platinums, and while I would like more International upgrades, that just is not in the realm of possibility within the confines of the current program. It is what it is, and everyone is welcome to take it or leave it, as they see fit.

Of course, IMHO, the other "lifetime" choices leave a lot to be desired:

1) AA--you can have preferred seating, and the option to pay for an upgrade after the real "high mileage" folks have had their choice of it. Meantime, while you were earning that privilege you had to pay for every upgrade. Not for me.

2) UA--not much better. Though if you fly a zillion actual miles with them (equate that to living on an airplane for the better part of your life) you could get something a little more tangible, but you still have to pay for all of your domestic upgrades along the way.

3) DL--a nice carrot to dangle out there, but how many people will ever see 4 million EQM's in their lifetime? Once again, you have to spend almost every waking moment on a DL airplane for about 20 years, in order to even get close to that number. The rest of the offered awards are meaningless to real "high mileage" travelers. And in the meantime, domestic upgrades are much less frequent on DL than they are on NW.

NW has made a business decision to tailor their program to the people who continue to support them, year in and year out, and for current and future customers it works just fine. For past customers, who happen to fly on NW only occasionally now, you get what you get. Which equates to transportation from point A to point B, and a 6 oz. cup of soda or fruit juice. Exactly what you paid for!

The Worldperks Program works for NW, and for a lot of their customers too. If it does not work for someone, they certainly can look around at the other options available, and hopefully find a program that meets their personal needs better. If that is you, please look quickly, so I don't have to compete with you for my upgrades!

martin33

if only top level status will do, then yes no lifetime program will fit the bill--- only DL offers such a thing and for all but a grandfathered few it's indeed not reachable.

that said, UA and AA both offer lifetime status at their mid-level on reachable terms (1MM from BIS on UA and 2MM from any source on AA). Neither is anything to sneeze at, for folks who no longer will be flying enough to shoot for top level status.

SteveinA2

I agree living in MSP.....but if you moved and had a choice in Air carriers, where NWA was just equal to other airlines....with Lifetime status on NW would help you choose NW....or if you stopped flying for 5 years and then restarted - you would choose a carrier again and having silver on NWA for life would probably make the decision easy.

LIfetime does nothing for a Platinum based in a hub who travels - but that is not the point is it??

hnewman

Now, if DL and NW merged I would be now closing in on 3M.

SchmutzigMSP

The point is that NW Silver is much more valuable than AA Gold. NW does not have a "3P" program like UA, either. So handing out SE status as much as AA hands out Gold would severely dilute the program even further than it is right now.

NW Silvers enjoy a lot more benefit out of their status than AA Golds do on theirs. As such, it should take a lot more to earn SE status (like actually flying 25K) because of its higher value.

Plus, as I stated earlier, in my opinion one who reaches 1MM, 2MM, 4MM, ... should have enough miles to travel in comfort for quite some time, especially if they were elite while earning all those MMs.

I think mrcimino1 got it right on with how NW handles their business plan. Their aim is current and future customers and they reward them quite well while they are current with the airline -- other than int'l upgrades for elites, WP is one of the top programs out there in many peoples' opinions.

Personally, where I live doesn't matter about the airline. I prefer multi-connecting flights and dislike the fact that with NW, I usually have to pay considerably more out of MSP to do multi-segment flights. I would actually prefer being an elite out of a non-hub. And if/when I stop flying enough to be elite, I know it's really not that hard to attain SE status again.

Just my two cents. If they offered lifetime status, would I go for it? You betcha. But am I leaving for another carrier if I move from MSP, simply because they offer lifetime status in a diluted program? Not likely.

SteveinA2

To your two points


AA gold has given me 100% upgrades on 8 flights this year - to what is a significantly better product than NW

NW has also given me 100% upgrades and I've got 4 upgrades on Alaska DCA-LAX thanks to NWA this year

Not sure why you think NWA Silver is better than AA gold - The 25% extra miles are not that significant. NWA used to have great bonus opportunities but recently these have dried up - yet AA has many.

I do think the fact AA charges for upgrades is a reasonable point in NWA's favor - But I have 32 upgrades in my AA account and have never paid for 1 as I earn them quicker than they go away.

To your second point - I don't think the logicc you proposed is the situation we are talking about. If you left MSP and moved to Florida and stopped flying more than a few trips a year and had NWA elite Silver for life then you would be incentivized to stay with NW. However if you moved there and had no status on NW and had gold on AA then why would you fly NW for occasional flights.

NW scoop

This topic comes up very frequently. Basically, our viewpoint has been (for a number of years) that if we give lifetime status for any Elite tier, the most active Elite members would then be competing for domestic upgrades with people that may not fly or spend as much.

Example: many of you would like lifetime Platinum status for the Million Mile mark to use in your 'retirement' years (meaning not flying as much). Let's say NW did this and then Mr. or Mrs. current heavy flying Platinum Elite doesn't get an upgrade because a Million Miler that now flies a few times a year got into the auto-upgrade process at the right time.

In this example, who should the seat go to? Those of you that are at or above a Million BIS Miles are going to say "me". Those of you that are under the MM threshold are going to say "me, because I'm flying NOW all the time."

We have chosen to reward the latter. Other carriers have made the choice to reward the former. With that said, we are constantly looking at the best way to handle this particular situation and we take your (MM customers) feedback into consideration.


NW scoop

SchmutzigMSP

Thanks for personally following up on this issue, scoop.

I've had the privilege to fly non-revenue a few times in my life. As such, a non-revenue passenger only becomes eligible for a seat after all revenue passengers have been assigned their seats and then, if there are seats available, they can be distributed among the non-revenue passengers based on a proprietary formula amongst themselves.

Perhaps an adaptation of that could be implemented, sort of like an unofficial fourth tier of elite status, like a "retired elite". After all Plats, Golds, Silvers, and Plats, Golds, Silvers on award tickets are upgraded, then perhaps the retired elites could be upgraded. It would still be something for the former high-mileage fliers and it wouldn't really hurt the bottom line of NW all that much. Although, admittedly, it may slightly reduce the availability of first class seats for current NW employees trying to non-rev up there...

NW scoop

Interesting idea, however there is no such thing as an 'unofficial' tier. We either have one and the programming to support it correctly or we don't. In any event, let me assure you that the plight of a non-rev passenger would never be a thought in the design process (...and I agree with that both personally and professionally).

NW scoop