avidflyer

Exactly why I see a big red flag here. I don't believe this will last for Plats and it is a BIG sign of things to come for Golds. It would have cost nothing for DL to extend the waiver to all elites through this year.

indufan

They better have heard that loud and clear. Company stability MUST be their number one objective.
Actually there IS cost. It's from my Econ 203 class in college. It's called opportunity cost. What did they lose by giving away the award seat. Some of those last minute award seats are for business travel that they would have paid for with money had miles not been an option. Since, I, and most here, don't use miles like that we discount it but rest assured the airlines don't and it happens. They lose > $1,000 fares this way everyday. Now, of course, it's balanced the market dictates the balance.

tomh009

PEs are exempt until the rules change (or they no longer qualify for the PE level). Your statement implies a change after 2009. And you yourself stated in a follow-up that you were assuming that things would change after 2009.

That's speculation in my book.

PaulMSN

After burning all my miles earlier in the year, I was thinking of trying to re-qualify for Elite late last year, but this latest fee makes me glad I didn't. The one really good thing about having WP miles sitting around was being able to make an award booking up to the day of departure without penalty.

Now the program is like all the rest, and with the devaluation inherent in three tiers, there's simply no reason anymore for me to spend more money being loyal to NW, since I can't normally make Plat on my amount of flying. Gold with all those Delta elites just won't cut it for getting many upgrades, and what's left after that?

So I guess I'll be saving a bit of money this year flying the cheapest flights I can find. If I manage status on some airline, fine. It doesn't matter which one anymore.

SAT Lawyer

I was able to circumvent the Saturday-night stay requirement when I had to attend a mid-week funeral by booking an award with the outbound I wanted and a return incorporating a Saturday night stay then and changing the return date to move it forward over the telephone. The value of this enhancement is negligible at best and is massively offset by the sorry addition of new fees and the impending adoption of the awful three-tier award structure.

Exactly. The only time I have ever booked an award ticket with less than three-days notice was to attend the aforementioned funeral. And it is at times like these that a customer least needs a slap in the face for booking his or her "free" ticket.

What's really infuriating about the addition of close-in award fees is that airlines often hold back award inventory until close to the departure date anyway, assuring that the fees really start to add up. Moreover, as the date of travel grows increasingly near, DL/NW should be grateful that its frequent flyers are claiming awards and clearing liabilities on the books for seats that would be increasingly likely to go out unused, rather than levying an additional charge for claiming such perishable commodities.

motytrah

Not to pick too fine of a point, but miles have a book value. They don't give them away and last minute awards, if they are even available, have huge redemption requirements. You could do a perksaver to Europe for the cost of the domestic perk pass. I don't think people would pay it unless they are in a captive city. And at that point, it's the airline not the market dictating the balance.

avidflyer

Well last year I did not assume that I would be dealing with a 3 tier award chart, "close-in" fees" or any of the other "enhancements"...hows that working out for me?

As for the value of close-in fees; If it helped more than it hurts you would not see the outcry here. Instead of picking on my posts you may want to get a feel for the 98% here who think this sucks. It ain't just AvidFlyer.

tomh009

I'm not saying that the close-in fees are a good thing (though they don't matter to me personally).

However, I am suggesting that there are enough things that suck about these (and other) changes that we really don't have to make up other ones (like the PE exemption going away).

pbarnette

Have you ever thought that, perhaps, they do understand the value of a loyal and happy customer base and that it just isn't that much? At least as currently structured, most FF programs don't seem very well-designed to drive revenue premiums. Indeed, most (including NW and DL) disproportionately reward low-fare fliers.

MikeMpls

Do you really want to win at this point? NW is dead, deceased, gone. Bob is Jeff is Bob is Jeff. There's no difference anymore. Go reread some of Jeff's post in the Delta forum and notice the almost total scorn with which he greeted. He's pulling NW's strings now. Like it or not, that's now the face of WP.

Look at their history: They screwed their Flying Colonels, they screwed the FF members (Old Miles), then the screwed everyone left & right in the debacle that launched SaveSkyMiles.com. Eventually EVERYTHING that triggered SaveSkyMiles.com was REVERSED, but they're still at it.

My protest starts with a lot of LUV (and minimal fees) on 8 March. I expect it will be very long-running protest. We also looking into more immediate status matches before the pigs wipe their lipstick on us.

gsupstate

Could this be a precursor to the airlines quietly trying to end the loyalty programs altogether? Seems a big risk to take, but maybe they think it's worth it.

gsupstate

"Best in the industry" usually means best for the stockholders/bottom line, NOT best for those of us stupid enough to still have hope in our hearts. It's never going to get better from a FF standpoint, only worse it seems.

Getiton

I'm surprised so many are SURPRISED.

n7371f

I agree. I spent some time pre-merger over on the DL board so I could get a grasp for what was going to happen...and what's going on with WorldPerks is 100% DL's track record.

That doesn't mean this doesn't royally suck!

I've got to believe that when they roll-out the "enhanced" frequent flier program in 2010, Plats (or whatever the top tier is) will start getting nickle & dimed too.

pragakhan

The 100k (speculation) re-qual level might mean less plats so no need to nickle and dime them (speculation).

Here is some more speculation - hahahahaha!!!!!!!

25k Diamond - No upgrades, board with elites, 25% bonus, fee's.
50k Silver - Same plus, upgrades, 50% bonus, fee's.
75k Gold - Upgrades & Elite Security lines, 75% bonus, fee's.
100k Platinum - Upgrades & Elite Security, CRC, 100% bonus.
200k Palladium - All of the above plus, Int upg, 5 free companion tickets per year, automatic co-pilot, no fee's, unFAMable.

Bets?