A Warning Regarding Targeted Promotions
Oct 15, 2002, 2:42 pm
#33
Suspended
Join Date: Apr 1999
Location: Promoted to Chairman of the Most Wonderful Continental Airlines Highly Valuable OnePass Program Security and Ideological Purity Bureau
Posts: 4,129
The House of Miles is the name for Randy's headquarters in Colorado (IIRC). The message is legit; the only debate at this point is whether the threat has teeth.
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Thank you for choosing Continental Airlines, a proud member of the SkyTeam Alliance.
Oct 15, 2002, 2:47 pm
#34
Original Member and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
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I just received a letter from Mike Isom (Director of Dividend Miles at US):
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Mike Isom said:
We did ask FlyerTalk to advise customers that we were going to correct accounts that did improperly register for and earn bonus miles and tier miles for promotions for which they were not targeted for but we did not tell them that we would be freezing or terminating accounts. We will ask them to change the verbiage.</font>
We did ask FlyerTalk to advise customers that we were going to correct accounts that did improperly register for and earn bonus miles and tier miles for promotions for which they were not targeted for but we did not tell them that we would be freezing or terminating accounts. We will ask them to change the verbiage.</font>
Oct 15, 2002, 2:49 pm
#35
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: controlling the internets from an underground bunker
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Mike Isom said:
...but we did not tell them that we would be freezing or terminating accounts.</font>
...but we did not tell them that we would be freezing or terminating accounts.</font>
Oct 15, 2002, 2:53 pm
#36
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
Programs: UA 2P, AA LT Gold, Marriott LT Titanium
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rtpflyer:
I've always simply assumed that such offers to me were "lost in the mail" or thrown out with the other junk mail, and that if I signed up for them based on FlyerTalk postings and the miles were credited to my account, then I must have been in the targeted group.</font>
I've always simply assumed that such offers to me were "lost in the mail" or thrown out with the other junk mail, and that if I signed up for them based on FlyerTalk postings and the miles were credited to my account, then I must have been in the targeted group.</font>
Not to mention some of the offers came from Hilton, Amex, FirstUSA, etc. Does Hilton send them a list of every DM miles member who received the PHX double miles bonus offer? And even if they did, would their IT system be able to process it?
Oct 15, 2002, 3:05 pm
#37
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Commuting around the mid-atlantic and rust-belt on any number of RJs
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:
Mike Isom said:
We did ask FlyerTalk to advise customers that we were going to correct accounts that did improperly register for and earn bonus miles and tier miles for promotions for which they were not targeted for but we did not tell them that we would be freezing or terminating accounts. We will ask them to change the verbiage.</font>
We did ask FlyerTalk to advise customers that we were going to correct accounts that did improperly register for and earn bonus miles and tier miles for promotions for which they were not targeted for but we did not tell them that we would be freezing or terminating accounts. We will ask them to change the verbiage.</font>
Improperly implies that it won't work, or you are somehow warned that it won't work. See the post with the contract law analogy--it speaks for itself.
The right thing to do here is fix the IT systems such that one cannot register for bonuses one is not targeted for. Not waste valuable IT cycles trying to figure out how many people slipped thru the cracks of said broken system. By doing this, it's almost like throwing good money after bad--a practice which a bankrupt enterprise really ought to learn to stop partaking in.
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Saving the world, one clue at a time.
Oct 15, 2002, 3:08 pm
#39
Original Member and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 1998
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gardener:
So if (1) we are all too busy to read all the junk mail we receive in credit card offers, emails, etc. etc. and (2) USAirways doesn't have the means to tell who is targetted for what (otherwise their computers would screen out non-targeted pax) then how are they going to know which miles to remove? I mean if their systems are so lame that they can't prevent signups or awarding of miles to non-target pax, how can they justify removing miles?
Not to mention some of the offers came from Hilton, Amex, FirstUSA, etc. Does Hilton send them a list of every DM miles member who received the PHX double miles bonus offer? And even if they did, would their IT system be able to process it?
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So if (1) we are all too busy to read all the junk mail we receive in credit card offers, emails, etc. etc. and (2) USAirways doesn't have the means to tell who is targetted for what (otherwise their computers would screen out non-targeted pax) then how are they going to know which miles to remove? I mean if their systems are so lame that they can't prevent signups or awarding of miles to non-target pax, how can they justify removing miles?
Not to mention some of the offers came from Hilton, Amex, FirstUSA, etc. Does Hilton send them a list of every DM miles member who received the PHX double miles bonus offer? And even if they did, would their IT system be able to process it?
</font>
Oct 15, 2002, 3:28 pm
#40
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Beckles:
I just received a letter from Mike Isom (Director of Dividend Miles at US):
I just received a letter from Mike Isom (Director of Dividend Miles at US):
Mike Isom said:
We did ask FlyerTalk to advise customers that we were going to correct accounts that did improperly register for and earn bonus miles and tier miles for promotions for which they were not targeted for but we did not tell them that we would be freezing or terminating accounts. We will ask them to change the verbiage.</font>
We did ask FlyerTalk to advise customers that we were going to correct accounts that did improperly register for and earn bonus miles and tier miles for promotions for which they were not targeted for but we did not tell them that we would be freezing or terminating accounts. We will ask them to change the verbiage.</font>
I would love the FT'ers because they fly so much and have so much influence over others.
I would hate the FT'ers because they expect so much and have so much influence over others.
Oct 15, 2002, 4:07 pm
#41
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: BOS
Programs: AA LTG EXP, HH Diamond
Posts: 3,419
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gardener:
I would hate the FT'ers because they expect so much and have so much influence over others.
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I would hate the FT'ers because they expect so much and have so much influence over others.
</font>
Now if they touch any of my miles, then they need to hate me for my influence over other people.
Note to Mike Isom, yes I am entitled to all of the bonus miles you have given me. You and your BK airline have received plenty of my money because of them, if not for the bonuses I would have been on AA. I also expect to see the bonuses appear on all the flights that I have already ticketed, I bought them because of the bonuses, I expect to get them.
Look you can be unreasonable about this and stiff you customers out of miles they earned on PAID flights, and we can stop paying. Giving me a lot of miles does not result in lost revenue, having me, my wife, my kids, my parents, my friends, and everyone I can talk into not flying your airline.... now *that* will cost you revenue. I mean it, if anything bad happens I will make it my personal hobby to talk as many people out of flying on US as I can.
Just a suggestion, if this is for real, (all he have so far are second hand comments) then make an official policy statement that effective, as of, oh say 1/1/03 you will enforce your bonus policy, and actualy *define* what it is. And we will keep giving you revenue.
Oct 15, 2002, 4:12 pm
#42
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2000
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Who's the maroon at "Flyertalk Management" who went as far as incorreclty quoting Dividend Miles management. If Mike Isom has confirmed they didn't threaten "freezing" or "termination" of accounts, then why did the Flyertalk poster put such a serious statement in quotes if it isn't even accurate.
That being said, I'm not budging. If they pull miles that I wasn't targetted for, then so be it. Easy come, easy go. I don't think they would go so far as removing earned miles or tier/class of service bonuses. They were earned regardless of the promotion codes.
That being said, I'm not budging. If they pull miles that I wasn't targetted for, then so be it. Easy come, easy go. I don't think they would go so far as removing earned miles or tier/class of service bonuses. They were earned regardless of the promotion codes.
Oct 15, 2002, 4:22 pm
#43
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: The USAirways Customer Formerly Known as Deelmakur
Posts: 67
Screw them. Targeted promos are a perversion of the whole loyalty program function. By their very nature, these are discriminatory. Since the software can't stop it, and they have laid off so many people in the back office, they have little compliance control,they need to resort to threats in an attempt to prevent what's going on. If they would treat all customers equally, this stuff never even happens. Good luck.
Oct 15, 2002, 4:37 pm
#44
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Greensboro, NC (US Air CP = Compassionate Proctology, Hilton Diamond)
Posts: 304
My guess is that Mike Isom is responding to those of us who wrote him complaining about the recent onslaught of fast track promos. He likely wants to put a lid on the folks who flew the "stated" miles or segments from finding out that you really only need to wait until near the end of the year and fly just a fraction on the "stated" miles or segments.
In my opinion, US Airways wants to have their cake and eat it too. They want one group to be loyal and follow the original rules and they want to give the same rewards to a second group who are far less loyal. I wonder if my wife will let me cheat on her the last three months of every year even though the rules at the beginning of the relationship were that we had to be faithful all year long? I wonder if Mike's wife would be ok with such an arrangement?
In my opinion, US Airways wants to have their cake and eat it too. They want one group to be loyal and follow the original rules and they want to give the same rewards to a second group who are far less loyal. I wonder if my wife will let me cheat on her the last three months of every year even though the rules at the beginning of the relationship were that we had to be faithful all year long? I wonder if Mike's wife would be ok with such an arrangement?