WorldPerks 2004 Program Changes
 

Here they are:

http://www.nwa.com/features/wp2004.html

All NW operated flights will continue to receive 100% EQM. Discounted fares on CO-operated flights will receive 50% EQM effective Jan 1, 2004. However, all economy class fares on Delta will receive 100% EQM effective Oct 26, 2003. That's kind of odd.

http://www.nwa.com/features/dlcomileage.html

Also, reward first class North/Central America awards to Hawaii increases to 75000 miles. Double for rulebuster.

And upgrading 'domestic' itineraries will now cost 15000 miles.

The most interesting change is that from Delta, actually increasing to 100% EQM from 50% on L, U, and T class fares.

Not much can be said for the lack of notice. Two days notice for the Delta change, and less than nine weeks for the Continental change.

[This message has been edited by keithguy (edited 10-24-2003).]

All NW flights will continue to earn 100% EQMs!

This is an excellent, gutsy, brave stance on the part of Northwest Airlines! We MUST reward NW with constant business, buying all fare types, starting immediately!

We must write to Beth and thank her for doing the right thing! And assure her that she hasn't made the wrong bet!

Goodbye forever CO/DL!

Let the collective sigh of relief begin! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I will be dropping a note to Northwest thanking them for not gutting their program and hope others do the same. The first paragraph of the announcement almost reads like a stab at CO for their changes, see below. Thank You Northwest!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

WorldPerks will maintain its industry-leading Elite qualification structure. To keep Elite qualification realistic and attainable, Northwest will continue to award Elite status based on either Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) earned OR Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS) flown in a calendar year. Northwest will continue giving full mileage credit towards Elite status on most discount fares. Members traveling on Full Y fares will continue to earn a 50% bonus towards Elite status. Members who purchase business fare types and/or travel short distances can earn Elite status with as few as 20 Elite Qualifying Segments. Our flexible options for Elite qualification include the following:

(edited for spelling)

[This message has been edited by OutOfOffice (edited 10-24-2003).]

Reward those who pay more for their seats:
This to me makes a lot of sense. Use a carrot, not a stick. NWA has a lot of class in my books. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

With the changes to segments on CO, I would suspect that CO elites will have to switch to NW in order to get the full miles, not just fly NW.

I was already trying to figure out if I could possibly stay at Gold -- it wasn't pretty. While I seems that I an usually flying "Q" there certainly are some K's and V's in there (as well as B's and M's). This CERTAINLY will keep most of my flights on NWA.

One has to wonder whether Gordo will keep the 50% qualifying mile rule in place or back down. The current structure pretty much guarantees that few NW elites will ever plant their butt on a CO airplane.

Just two years ago I always chose CO over NW if it was an option. During the past year CO's EUA shenanigans and arrogant agents made me fly NW the majority of the time. These latest developments, along with the new 330, ensure that I will be on NW for ALL my Eastbound flights, even the $6000 full J European trips that my company pays for.

Thank you Richard & Beth! Gordo: Time to release the sequel - "Worst to First and Back to Worst"

Kudos to Anderson and his management team, who realize that real-world frequent travelers book a mix of fares. He has also learned what Bethune used to preach: that by providing superior service and benefits, NW can derive a premium over other airlines (a lesson that Bethune seems to have regrettably forgotten). In addition, NW has kept its program user-friendly and easy to understand: no stupid HoKeY rules or figuring out what fare bucket qualifies for what elite mileage. As a CO elite, I have to say I'm incredibly surprised and pleased and can only hope that it will cause CO to back down. If not, NW is starting to sound really good to me right about now! I wonder what's up with the DL changes...

Cheers,
Brooklynflyer

[This message has been edited by brooklynflyer (edited 10-24-2003).]

The new NW terms seem almost like a judo-like attempt to turn the tables and isolate CO... whereas until now it looked like CO and DL were trying to isolate NW!

NW will award 100% EQMS on all NW and DL published fares... but only 50% on CO discount fares!

Ha! Gordon can go fry ice! He can wander through Terminal C watching the tumbleweeds blow around! He can have all the Baby Bonbels in the PC to himself! He's been trumped! NW has defied an industry bully and will be justly rewarded by its (and CO's) customers! This makes me so happy...

But DL offers few upgrades... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

But at least I have an option to fly DL, not CO (where it's 50% EQM and upgrades are always hard to get).

Just sent off an email thanking the folks for no major changes. Also plan to send a letter to Beth w/ a cc to Richard.

I haven't seen a Bonbel in an airline lounge in a very long time... Where have they gone? Have they joined the Doritos and Milanos (fortuantely, America West has Doritos and Northwest has Milanos)?

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"We will not cut benefits from OnePass, our industry-leading frequent flyer program, because we remain committed to rewarding our most loyal customers."

-- Gordon Bethune (Continental's CEO) two weeks before significantly cutting benefits of the OnePass program

I'm flabbergasted. When I saw the subject header, I thought, "Oh no, here it is." This makes me want to head to the airport and take a MR right now!

YAY!

I am looking forward to bringing as much business (both for work and for fun) as I can to NWA next year.

Same here... and I will never put my butt into a Continental seat again! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Good job NW!

Anyone know Beth's e-mail addy so I can send her a nice thanks?



[This message has been edited by slippahs (edited 10-24-2003).]

Anyone have any ideas about the sudden change for Delta flights?

My instinct says that DL will soon do the same for Delta flyers on NW operated flights with deeply discounted tickets, i.e. 100% EQMs.

This will leave CO management in cold http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif Long live Northwest! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif

I guess we get away without http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starsmilie.gif enhancements http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starsmilie.gif (to quote snake) this year too!

I hope that CO severs the EUA link with NW post haste. If NW doesn't want to go along with the EQM scheme, then its Elites can wait till the day of departure for upgrades...

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Has YOUR airline won an award lately?

This is incredible, i opened this topic with a tremendous sense of fear, but it was no Halloween trick, rather an extremely early Christmas present!

The strategy they're announcing is rather interesting... Continental isolation and an increase in Delta's EQM -- does this mean Delta is giving fill miles for those fare levels to their members now?

Don't worry... no NW elites will be flying CO if Gordo doesn't back down. And CO's own elites will be flocking to NW in droves. You'll have the front cabin to share between yourself and the non-revs http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif

"Scheme" is a very apt description for CO's plan!

I hope NW severs ALL links with CO!

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Has your airline stood its ground lately?

[This message has been edited by RKG (edited 10-24-2003).]

Uh oh folks....

...remember the last time a CO partner tried to do something customer friendly, relative to what CO itself wanted?

*cough* HP *cough cough*

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

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Faire du ciel le plus bel endroit de la terre c'est impossible sans Concorde!
~ConcordeBoy

Try the Unofficial Continental Airlines Dictionary

So what does a CO plat do now, I'd love to switch to NW; but since they do not comp CO, and I would hate to start at the bottom again, ie... no status... is there any idea how to get either a challenge or plat comp????

With all the NW elites leaving CO in droves, I don't think you'll have any problems upgrading, until Uncle Gordo goes all ERJ anyway! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Unfortunately NW still lag AA on International upgrades. My 8 AA VIPOW's were great. With all the Z fares on offer you think NW could at least give coupons to upgrade on B fares - Same price as Z

I won't mind if NW severs ALL links with DL either, unless DL backs off.

The good news: 100% on all NW operated flights.

The bad news: 50% on all CO flights (except full fare)

While it could have been worse, this still severs the alliance. And since I don't live in an NW hub city, that's a significant hit. For me, it's only the combined operations of NW and CO that formed a "virtual airline" of reasonable proportions.

No way can I manage flying only on NW's network -- it's simply too small and inadequate as far as flight times and frequencies go.

Sadly, I think this is it for me. I'm just going to have to pay the domestic upgrade Gods on AA. Fortunately, I've got 50,000 miles of international flying to do before year end to help build up a balance.

Steve

Not that I was counting on anything one way or the other, but two days ago, I booked a discounted fare on CO -- ONT-IAH-LGW on Dec. 31 and PRG-AMS-IAH-ONT on Jan. 7. ($70 cheaper on CO than NW and I had a CO $400 TCV to spend.) Because I purchased on line, this whole trip would earn full credit were I to credit the miles to CO. But, it looks like I'll only get 50% on the return.
Maybe I can convince NW to award full credit since it was booked before the change was announced? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

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ONT
NW Gold, after many years of Silver, but my flying has been out of ONT, SQR, and BDL.

[This message has been edited by mot29 (edited 10-24-2003).]

Great Job Northwest. I'll continue my status with you and continue to fly your Airline.

- A Former Delta GM

Win-win here. We don't fly that many expensive or cheap fares - middlin' we are, but we win with our real cheapies going to count, and NW wins because we will now fly the extra this year for Platinum.

Which was in doubt. We had 3 months of no flying at all, and recently had to cancel two other trips. And since our upgrade % on NW as Golds was so good, we were thinking of just sucking it up and being Golds again.

Now I think we'll say Thank You, NW, and make sure we have a slightly better position in the queue of elites, which I think is going to get longer and longer this year...

TH - why don't you use your DL GM status to ask NW for a comp, eh? Of course you'd be a "lowly Gold" but see remarks above about how tough that is.

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email on profile

Whew! This will eliminate a possible MR at the end of next year to keep platinum.

It's pretty clear that if I buy a NW ticket and fly CO metal, I only get 50% EQM, right? That's the only downside, as I do that now and then. But, I'm so happy that I have no right to complain!

Yay! Good job NW! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif

I wonder if this means that NW is looking for a link with DL rather than CO... yes, I know. They have a far better relationship with CO right now, but I'm wondering what the motives are for NW to 'prefer' DL over CO. Maybe it thinks that it can join skyteam easier if it dumps CO and just goes with DL? Again, just me talking to myself again...

It would be nice if someone could post the e-mail addresses of the executives at NW so we can all thank them. It seems like most of the time the airline execs are a bunch of puppets who can only follow the other guy, but this is a great, bold move by NW.

Kudos to Northwest.

So as an elite on NW flying Continental, we still earn Elite upgrade, full mileage, but 50% EQM on select fares. Right?

Then on Delta, we get full mileage, full EQM but no upgrade.

Hmm....what should I choose.....Do I fly the airline who will continue to award me with full benefits(NW), or do I choose the airline with upgrade benefit but less EQM miles, or the one with full EQM miles and no upgrade.

I earlier wrote to Anderson and Steenland urging them not to follow the lead of a twice-bankrupt airline. It will be a pleasure now to write and thank them.
Would also like to write Beth Shultis. Does anyone have her email and postal addresses?

I too have unfortunately made a reservation on Continental.com several months ago for DTW-CDG in Feb 2004. Don't know if there is any chance of asking for full EQM creditfrom NW given the change.However, based on my rcent experience PDX-DTW, wonder if NWA would consider endorsing my CO tkt (on a space-available basis)?

Let's hope that NW going to the mattresses makes CO back down and get back to the business of making money. It's hard to understand why a company that just returned to making money would start tinkering with the very things that made it money in the first place....

Steve

You can hope for a schedule change that could justify cancelling the ticket for a refund.

Until today, I've always looked down on the dull looking NW platinum elite card, but now I am truly lucky to own this card. Platinum cards for Delta and Continental may sure looks snazzy, but when it comes to benefits, I think Northwest wins hands down.

Kudos to NWA.

However, I was extremely surprised to see the change allowing 100% EQM on all DL flights effective almost immediately. Perhaps DL is starting to back off with their "enhancements" and will again allow DL FF's 100% EQM on discount fares. I believe I recall reading somewhere that DL has changed their policy to allow 100% EQM on most NW fares as well.

In light of these changes, I suspect improvements in the partnership might be coming (more codeshares, possible ability to upgrade ?) and I would rather see ties cut with CO. Just my opinion of course, but CO seems to be headed in the wrong direction, IMHO, when it comes to customer loyalty. DL, OTOH, seems to be learning from its mistakes.

Many FF's such as myself are of the "mixed fare" variety. I will travel on full Y fares when needed, purchase Intl Business Class on occassion, but I also travel on deep discounted advance purchase fares in addition to "middle of the road" (M, Q, H) fares. Award me extra when I fork out more $$$, but don't penalize me when I buy the cheapest fare available for the day/route I need to travel. If I were penalized for flying on the lowest fares, I wouldn't be loyal.

Getting back to NW partners:

I suspect this is a sign that NW will align closer to DL and perhaps become part of SkyTeam. I could be wrong, but it seems like a good possibility in light of the KL-AF merger and NW getting closer to DL. Other changes including new partnerships (i.e. Air Europa) seem to suggest this as well.

Best,

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin