So this is probably a dumb question that I think I already know the answer to but I want to verify to make sure as NW gives conflicting answers.

I have a flight booked from BWI-CLE-BUF-DTW-BWI. The NW agent told me that I'd earn a total of about 1296 EQMs for the flight. I was always under the impression that the minimum amount of miles one earns per segment (as it is written below) is 500 miles - so the above flight should theoretically earn me 2000 EQMs - is that right?? I looked at my previous flights and there is nothing that is below 500 miles!

This is from the NW website regarding earning miles:

After your travel, the correct number of miles will be credited automatically to your account based on the nonstop mileage between your origin and destination, as shown on your ticket. If your trip includes a connecting flight with a change of flight number, you will receive mileage credit for each flight segment.

Mileage/Class Bonus
500 miles minimum or actual mileage flown.
50% mileage bonus for purchased World Business Class or First Class travel.

I told the agent that I thought she was wrong and she told me that I was wrong & that if I ever got credited 500 miles for a segment that was below 500 miles that it was mistake on NW's part!

I'm right, correct?

Edited to add - I just called Worldperks & they verified that it is 500/segment and that the above trip is worth 2,000 miles!

[This message has been edited by bhatnasx (edited 08-12-2003).]

It is 500 miles minimum per segment.

UNLESS there is one flight number for the itinerary.

Given your routing, that is not so, so you will not get the direct point-to-point miles from BWI-BUF-BWI. You will get 500 base miles * 4 segments - 2000 base/EQM miles. Unless, of course, any of those segments exceed 500 miles, in which case you will get the actual mileage...sorry, too lazy to check this.

OK, I lied...I did make the time to be non-lazy and checked the miles.

I could not find anything on NW direct BWI-CLE. They have a connection in either Detroit or Newark.

I even tried one ways. Maybe I am not searching for the correct dates of travel?

In any case, you still get a minumum of 500 miles for each segment.

Urgh... such retaliation from a CSR... what ever happened to the customer's always right (even if they're wrong)...

I think the lesson here is never to tell a phone rep that he/she is wrong. Just politely say Thank you, hang up and call again.

A lesson I've learned the hard way.

[This message has been edited by slippahs (edited 08-12-2003).]

If it is BWI-CLE direct, it must be a NW coded CO operated flight.

There are two ways that Worldperk miles are calculated as mentioned ealier on this topic:

1) Statue Air Miles for flights with a stop and no change of Flight number.

2) Statue air miles with a minimum of 500 credited flight miles (even if the flight is actually less than 500 statue miles)

Senario #1:

If you were flying CMH/DTW/FNT on direct flight from CMH with a stop in DTW you would earn 500 Worldperk Miles.

Senario #2:

If you were flying CMH/DTW/FNT with a change of planes and each segment had a different flight number you would earn 1000 Worldperk miles.

RC

I actually goofed - it's BWI-DTW-BUF-DTW-BWI, all on NW flights - so I'm assuming it would be 2000 EQM's...
Thanks for the info everyone...

I wasn't going to create a new topic, but since it has been raised then I will add a recent experience of my own.

Last weekend I did a pseudo-mileage run to see the family. Thursday was BWI-DTW-PHX-DTW-IND and Monday was the reverse. Of the four flights that were less than 500 miles (BWI-DTW; DTW-IND; IND-DTW; and DTW-BWI), on two of them the FA announced that "WorldPerks [et al] members will earn X miles", where X was the actual flight distance.

Both times I very politely let the FA know that there was a 500 mile minimum. Both times I expected the FA to say "Oh, that's right. I'm always forgetting about the 500 mile minimum." However, in both cases the first FA actually responded with "huh, I didn't know that."

Mind you, both times they were very friendly and we actually had short discussions on the subject. But it still suprised me that they were making the announcements and didn't know.

/s/ basicdude

------------------

We have some very informed FA's on FT that are more familiar with the Worldperks program than the average FA.

I'm sure they know most of the Worldperk rules, however there seems to be a lot of FA's, GA's, CSR's and supervisors that don't know the Worldperk rules.

At CMH one of the nwa supervisors believes that a Plat Elite upgrade occurs 3 days before departure (discount ticket/space available)

I explained that that was the "old rules" and now Plat Elite Upgrades are done 5 days ahead (since program year 2000)

It seems like nwa does not keep the inflight crews informed about the Worldperk rules.

Maybe they will do a little more training this year.

RC

"Both times I very politely let the FA know that there was a 500 mile minimum. Both times I expected the FA to say "Oh, that's right. I'm always forgetting about the 500 mile minimum." However, in both cases the first FA actually responded with "huh, I didn't know that.""
________________________________

Actually, I've seen this happen quite a bit. For the naive, it leaves room for them to be surprised on the upside. Moreover, it's "safe", since it prevents the FA from having to get into a qualifying statement such as "Our WorldPerks members will get 500 miles, UNLESS you are continuing on our flight from Palookaville, in which case you'll get XXX miles." Who needs that?

Believe me...WorldPerks is one of the last things we are given information on as CSRs.
With the constant changing promotions, partnership programs, and various mailing to selected customers and honestly very few questions about it from our customers, it's one of the least of our priorities (no offense...I realize it's of major importance to the customer). With the constant changing security directives (from an agency (TSA) that doesn't know it's head from it's foot), procedure changes that seem to be changing by the week from HDQ...most agents have a hard enough time just getting someone checked in to Tel Aviv with an Indonesian passport and a US green card.

The flight attendants read the mileage off a print out given to them for each flight from the gate agent...the computer calculates the exact mileage with no minimums...perhaps something the programmers need to look into.

The mileage from CMH to DTW is 162 statue miles. The FA's sometimes announce that "Worldperk members will earn 162 Worldperk Miles" They should say 500 Worldperk Miles, but if they are reading a statue miles calculation the Fa's need to add a line to their announcement saying that a minimum of 500 Worldperk miles will be given.

RC

On all the Northwest flights I've been on, an actual distance was read...

... however, on all the Continental flights I've been on, the FAs usually say, "... and our OnePass (and WorldPerks) members will be earning valuable miles on this flight."

In one perspective, it's nice to keep the customers informed... on the other hand, if FAs don't know the difference (rules of WPs, min. distance, EQM, etc.), I think CO's way works best.