I take it this means those of us who have 100 credits by 3/1 will have a CP until 12/2012? So we can still qualify for that CP for the next six weeks or so even if we're short some credits at the moment?

someone posted that if i fly lax-phx a lot, there's another airline i should be strongly considering. does anyone know what airline this is? all i can think of is us airways, but what benefit do they give me that southwest doesn't?? i fly lax-phx roundtrip EVERY weekend on WGA fares, usually $39 or $49 booked in advance so this new RR 2.0 completely screws me and i'd be happy to switch to another airline...help!

Well, as someone who earns 95% of his SW RR tickets by crediting my rental cars to the program, this works out pretty badly - unless I could count on dbl/trp promos all the time.

I currently can count on at minimum a double promotion from one of the large rental car companies translating 16 rentals into a free standard ticket. Under the new scheme - at least according to the new website simulator - 16 car rentals gets me 9,600 points which won't get me very far.

I'm not going freak out and rant and rave or *itch and moan. I'll just move along and say thanks for the previous years of decent earnings but it looks as though they're over. I'm out. Good luck with the new program and I hope it doesn't infect any of the legacies. ^

SWABrian clarified for me via PM that A-list preferred only looks at 1/1/11 and beyond. Even if you flew 200 flights in 2010.

I predict there will be very, very few black cards mailed on 3/1/11. (maybe less than the seven 10 million milers from the movie "Up In the Air")

Only folks with 50 butt-in-seat segments in the first 59 days of the year qualify. Later throughout the year, plenty of others will cross the 50 segment mark, or the 70k base TQM earning (15k of which can be via the Chase credit card)

The value in earning it as close to 3/1 as possible is that you can not get double points retroactively for flight segments earned before the A-List+ is in place.

My family frowns upon the thought of accumulating 50 segments from $19 LAS-LAX fares in the next few week. Plus those are not available on weekends so I'm short on my luck there. Though if there was a 2x credit promo for those fares I'd be booking flights rather than typing on here, and I'd be taking the family along WITH me :D

The first FTer who posts their RR plus card wins: an award.

Question....I have never had A-LIST status before. On March 1st, I will have 23 credits toward "A-LIST" status. This new system says that I need 25 credits in order to obtain A-LIST, so I would only need to fly 1 more roundtrip flight in order to get it. Does this mean that they are going back to ZERO as of March 1st, or will my point count still stay at 23?! Please help!

I don't understand why you don't believe there will continue to be car rental promotions in the future.

I think the bottomline on 2.0 is that it's impossible to game. Meaning that nobody can get MORE than their money's worth out of Rapid Rewards.

You can certainly argue that's "fair." And it's generally a good idea for a business not to "give away the store."

But there's a fundamental problem with this type of "fair" program: it's more boring than dirt. For the vast majority of WN travellers, it does nothing to foster loyalty. These are supposed to be LOYALTY PROGRAMS. The vast majority of WN travellers will now basically ignore Rapid Rewards. Sure, they'll take the credits when they fly, but it won't influence their purchase decisions.

It may be counter-intuitive, but the ability to get "more than your money's worth" out of the legacy frequent flyer programs may actually help these carriers make money. They are basically giving away unsold inventory, so giving away "high value" tickets isn't as expensive as it might seem. And it hooks you into the program -- which is what a loyalty program SHOULD do. Yeah, you might get "extra" value on those $99 transcons you buy, but you're also more likely to buy that expensive business travel ticket from them, too. Especially when you can combine all these purchases to reach the elite levels, which have tangible benefits (like upgrades!).

For the casual WN customer, the only value of the new program would seem to be in crediting car rentals and hotel stays to Rapid Rewards when the credit you can receive from a legacy program DOES NOT EXCEED $10. Like if you can only earn 250 miles on a car rental or something. This way you can use these points to buy free tickets on WN when WN's prices are lower than the other carriers (this still happens occasionally). You could also use cars and hotels to "top off" your RR 2.0 account to get to enough points for a redemption.

But I'm not sure many folks will bother. This is just a loyalty program at its most boring. My guess is that WN's legacy competitors are pleased.

It won't reset. You need 9 segments to earn A-list under the current rules (32 segments), and earn A-list until 12/31/2012. Or, you hit 25 and earn it under the new rules.

I got that..but my question is...I will be flying a roundtrip in mid march, so that would give me the 25 credits. Does that mean in mid march, I will get a list status? Even though the previous 23 credits were the "old system" credits?

The way I read things on the T&C and post #1, folks who miss out big will be those who had a good chunk earned towards Alist/Companion pass from mid to late 2010 travel. NSX-or SWABrian: please correct me if I'm wrong.

In the above example if he is still at 23 earned towards A-list, 9 to go on 2/28, the portion of your 23 qualifying flights earned AFTER 12/31/10 counts towards your A-list moving forward. The rest (earned in 2010) all get lost.

If you're at 99 CP points earned towards a new or existing CP requalification, 1 to go on 2/28, the portion of your 99 qualifying credits earned AFTER 12/31/10 counts towards your companion pass qualification moving forward. The rest (earned in 2010) all get lost.

I believe that the new system will count only 2011 flights, not 2010 flights, which would be quite a setback for you. I hope SWABrian can clarify this.

You might want to book a cheap RT to fly before March 1 in case my guess is correct.

Woo hoo! Thanks for the confirmation, Brian. Does the same go for A-Listers who have already requalified but whose current A list expiry isn't till after 3/1?

I'll use myself as an example (because it's all about how it impacts me, of course :D).

A-list expiration date: 3/3/2011. As of today I've earned 57 credits towards my next A-list (so I've more than requalified).

Do I get A-list till the end of 2011 or the end of 2012?

I have just this minute called Rapid Rewards Customer Service and asked this exact question:

"My current CP is good through 5/31/11. I have 71 toward renewal. If I get some more credits before 2/28/11 and thereby cross the 100 credit barrier, do I get extended until end of 2012 or will it stay 2011 as mentioned on Flyertalk?"

The rep went and asked the Help Desk and they told her until the new system comes online 3/1/11, the same old terms and conditions apply. She says that would be a year from today, if I converted enough Starpoints today, plus until the end of next month. So Feb. 2012.

ARRRRGGGGGHHHH.

WN, GET THIS FIGURED OUT, PLEASE!

Beware - Point Simulator miscounts award tix!
 

Don't trust the Point Simulator!!!

I knew the point value it was reporting seemed high to me. Eventually I figured it out:

They are counting award tickets as though they were purchased!

Those of you who used several award tickets last year, you can go through your list of flights in the simulator and delete the flights that were on award tickets (except that if you flew the same route more than once you have to delete the entire record and then re-enter that route with the correct number of paid flights).

That's the way I read Southwest's FAQ: "You have a one-time option to convert points... to reach a total of 16 credits." Option means you don't have to do it and it's not automatic.

Excellent analysis and an excellent idea. I will try to remember to add this information to post 1.