GaryZ

In the March 29th edition of About US magazine there is an article stating the number of preferreds for 2007 is up 20% - no break down for individual tiers.

This news was obviously taken as a good sign for the airline, but for the rest of us, I can't see any good aspects about it, especially in light of some the recent (or hoped for) developments.

Jumpgate

Doesn't surprise me.

With Everything Counts and "free gold status to everyone" I'd be surprised if anyone wasn't preferred.

PHLDividends

Also, this whole "nominate a friend to silver status" never existed on the East side, so you may have a lot of new silvers who don't fly an awful lot but were just nominated by CPs (don't ask - I already used mine!)

dirkman

...or it could simply be creative accounting following the merger of the two loyalty programs.

AZ Travels the World

In terms of positive impact to the business this is a meaningless statistic, particularly given the way they hand out elite status, as already mentioned (CP nominations to Silver, Everything Counts, etc). Sounds nice in your in-flight magazine, being read largely by the average consumer, though, doesn't it? (Unless of course it's the US of the past couple of months and most of those customers have been to hell and back and are reading this wondering to themselves, "How on earth could people be so stupid as to choose to fly this airline all the time? )

I'm sure these guys are smart enough to know how meaningless this number is. What really matters are statistics like average contribution by elite members within the various levels, and whether their 'share of customer' is increasing or decreasing.

You gotta believe that those numbers are taking serious hit this year. I hope, for the sake of the airline, that they're monitoring them. It's the numbers, and only the numbers, that speaks to this group. It's only when those numbers start to look troubling that we're likely to see anyone pay any real attention.

KevAZ

Considering that my wife shouldn't have made SP and got GP, I am not surprised at all. Loads of "phantom" preferred people. I believe it was a complete screw up and not a marketing program.

BoeingBoy

Here's most of the meat from the article in the employee weekly newsletter:

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2007 is shaping up to be a banner year for Dividend Miles, with 20 percent more Preferred members than last year. That means more Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Chairman’s members are flying US Airways’ expanded, post-merger route network and are experiencing the perks of doing so.
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Then it lists the requirements for the various levels, before before going into:

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In addition to the traditional method of reaching preferred status – earning it – the US Airways Dividend Miles team offers two new options: a status purchase program, which was introduced in December 2006, and a new and improved Trial Preferred program, which is in the works. The Trial Preferred program – scheduled to debut this summer – will allow travelers to ‘test out’ the benefits of Preferred status for a fee during a 90-day trial period. If at the end of the 90-day trial period the member has flown a certain number of miles or segments, they'll retain Preferred status. Look for more details to come.
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Then it lists the perks of the various levels.

Jim

debbieb

Preferreds up 20%, they advertise "free unlimited upgrades" but then they cut the number of first class seats. Sounds like that leads to alot of disappointed people.

ibrandsguest

I assume a paid Trial Preferred program will replace the free Fast Track? I'd guess getting Preferred automatically and earlier is better, but yet another fee!

PhillyPhlyer40

I personally am responsible for 6 silver nominations! Of those 6, only 12 or 14 revenue trips will be booked.

vysean

I wonder what the deal is with the fee? Any added benefit to the revised program, or just another way to nickle and dime people? The current trial is pretty generous - immediate silver status for 90 days...

I wonder if you can trial different levels, or if it works similar to the current program? And I guess there'd be no refund if you hit your tier by miles or segments in the 90-day window...

Thanks, BoeingBoy, for posting that!

jimcfsus

Easy answer... easy money for the SandCastle.

If you make the challenge, you "earned" actual status by spending $$ with the airline.

If you don't make it, you paid for the opportunity.

Either way, it's win-win for US.

vysean

But not for us...

Sally4th

Like suddenly taking an interest in meeting with FFOCUS?

PHLGovFlyer

Exactly! The true metric for any airline's FF program is the effect on revenue. FF programs are really all about maintaining customer loyalty, and that loyalty is expressed through increased spend by the customer. If an airline increases its elite membership by 20% but that 20% doesn't actually spend like an elite the airline is just chasing it's tail.

On a conspiracy theory note, I wonder if some of this is designed to make US appear like a better takeover target - "look at how many more elite customers we've got now compared to last year, we're clearly doing much better and are worth a ton of money..."