nsx

If ebay really wants to prohibit RR auctions, they certainly can. After all, if you can search and find them, so can ebay.

ebay will only want to shut down RR auctions if SWA has a solid lawsuit, whether threatened or actual. Only one thing counts for ebay: money.

WN LUVS U

I can't got into specifics, but a search would reveal my words of caution several weeks ago. There is a BIG effort to put a stop to the resale of award tickets.

gregorygrady

Yes, I guess that is true.........

My calculations tell me RR tix are a cashcow for Ebay though. I figure that Ebay takes in almost $500,000 a year in Ebay + Paypal fees on SWA RR ticket auctions.

nsx

For the search-impaired, that would be this post.

Because of its lack of capacity controls, SWA has a much bigger reason to curtail sale of awards than other airlines. I'll say it again: ebay sales are the enemy of a generous RR program.

ByrdluvsAWACO

What's the purpose of WN lifetime credit totals?

nsx

Nothing more than bragging rights, AFAIK. Maybe it carries some weight when you ask a favor, but SWA doesn't make much of a habit of favoritism toward ultra-frequent customers.

Boraxo

I'm surprised this didn't happen a few years ago.

Most of the legacy carriers, particularly DL, have been quite vigilant about shutting down auctions. And ebay seems more than happy to comply even though the auctions do not violate any listing rules. (Ebay claims that the listings violate its ubiquitous "intellectual property and trademark violation" policy, but come on, there is a big difference between selling a pirated copy of windows and a voucher that was earned by foregoing a cash rebate on your visa or buy spending $$ to fly). Anyway, the upshot is that Ebay does not find it profitable to argue about such things, much less risk litigation, so it will just shut them down.

Will this stop people from selling awards? Hardly. It simply means that they will go back to the old system of using coupon brokers, which means that the sellers will receive less $$ and the middlemen will get more profit. Or perhaps they will simply list them for sale in other online locations. Ebay is way too efficient!

This is simply my view of ebay - I leave the ethics of FF award sales to others.

gregorygrady

Oh.......you must be unaware of the Lifetime Companion Pass perk for RR members that have acheived a CP for 10 consecutive years (meaning a minimum of 1,000 RR credits). Whoops, J/K That would be nice though...................

Dan Burgess

What an interesting and thought-provoking thread this is. Here are my two cents:

The airline has already been compensated for the credits that generate awards. Hertz, Marriott, Nextel, Visa, and all the other partners pay for the credits they give out; and quite obviously, there is direct revenue corresponding to credits given for regular travel.

After passing along an award to a passenger, that gift should not have a bunch of strings associated with it. I think it's rude to give someone a lamp and then tell them what room they have to put it in; likewise, I think it's inappropriate for an airline to micromanage how we use our awards.

(Southwest has been following this polite principle since the inception of The Company Club / Rapid Rewards by allowing us to transfer awards to friends and family without any hassle. In fact, they brag about it on the Rapid Rewards page.)

Thanks to the sensible policy allowing us to transfer awards to our family and friends, the airline can't possibly stop us from selling them to said family and friends. I can't count how many times a brother, cousin, or good friend has called me saying, "I want to go to Las Vegas (or wherever) next weekend; Southwest wants $350 roundtrip -- will you part with a freebie for, say, $200?" Would any executive at Southwest really frown on me for having occasionally answered yes?

If executives would permit us to sell awards to our friends and family (and I think most would), then why not just let us sell them on eBay for whatever the market will bear. They've gotten their money for the awards already. And 14% of them go unused anyway.

Southwest should focus on keeping costs in line, continuing to improve efficiency of aircraft and employees, and getting good fuel hedges beyond 2009. This airline knows how to make money, and they've done it now for 30-something years straight. If a few frequent fliers also make a little money by selling awards that they have worked to earn, then so be it.

Concentrate on what matters, Southwest.

JS

Interesting line of thought. I suppose that since my checking account does not accrue interest, yet the bank has earned interest on my balance all this time, it's OK for me to go into a branch and rob them of $20 or so. Not thousands of dollars, just $20 every so often. The bank should focus on cutting costs and not pissing off loyal customers like me.

But seriously, the RR tickets are not to be sold. That is part of the product regardless of whether you try to rationalize breaking those rules.

cxn

What people need to understand, the RR Ticket/Award is worth more than $300/RT. With the recent price hike from WN, even a RT x-country or even a SEA - PHX is $168 One Way! Even SEA - LAS is $265 RT today and that is not for weekends, which the lowest price I could find was $296.

My guess is, the real value of the RR ticket is $400 right now for summer travel.

Christian

Dan Burgess

They're going for around $350.

nsx

I figure I got about that much value out of the ones I used for spring break to MCO. And I'm getting at least that out of the ones my family and I are using this summer. Planning summer get-togethers is a breeze without capacity controls.

charlieootj

In your Voucher Notification letter it states that the vouchers are void if sold. None of us argue this point. As stated above SWA points out that you can use these for FRIENDS and family. Would you call me your friend if I gave you $350? Would you feel friendly enough to part with one of your vouchers? I don't see how SWA can smack down us FTers. They don't know that I don't have friends all over the country? SWA needs to be as careful with this as the Ebayers do. If they went and just whacked enough RR accounts someone would get pissed and call a lawyer and have a calss action suit for false advertising. People fly airlines for more reasons than just price.

Just my $.02

Dan Burgess

charlieootj makes a great point.

eBay calls itself a "Community", and often participants feel like they are part of a unique group of people. It's not that far of a stretch to consider the buyer of one's item to be a friend within the community.