Anyone want to wager if US drops web booking bonus?
Dec 1, 07, 12:11 am
#16
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: SNA and BNA depending on work and time of year
Programs: UA Silver/ AA EXP/Hyatt Globalist/Marriott Lifetime Titanium/Hilton Diamond
Posts: 2,184
A bit off topic but CO is also dropping theirs. So the person who predicted they'd all be gone is probably right.
This year has been really devoid of promos on most legacies. Only AA had a good one (fly 2 and get 25k or something like that), but that promo was so limited on city pairs that it wasn't very beneficial to a lot of people.
I miss the big promos. We can get more off those than the online booking bonus. But those seem gone as well.
This year has been really devoid of promos on most legacies. Only AA had a good one (fly 2 and get 25k or something like that), but that promo was so limited on city pairs that it wasn't very beneficial to a lot of people.
I miss the big promos. We can get more off those than the online booking bonus. But those seem gone as well.
Dec 1, 07, 2:41 am
#17
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: PHX/SFO/LAX
Programs: AA-EXP (1.7MM), BA-Slvr, HH-Diamond
Posts: 7,784
Dec 1, 07, 12:05 pm
#18
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Endicott, NY
Posts: 84
Another way to verify that the booking bonus is gone, at least for now... if you build an itinerary on the usairways site, then price it out, under the price info (on the Purchase Reservation page) there is a section for Estimated Frequent Flyer miles earned for this itinerary. That section used to contain the 500 mile booking bonus. It's gone today.
Dec 1, 07, 4:22 pm
#19
Moderator: New York City and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: AA PLT, Natl EC
Posts: 10,843
Dec 3, 07, 4:04 pm
#20
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Vermont
Posts: 432
If you bought tickets for travel in the future will you still get the bonus? I would hope so, otherwise I would be very miffed. Some of us have multiple tickets purchased ~6 months ago for trips next month or sometime in the future that we were promised bonuses for. And 500 per ticket really adds up.
Dec 3, 07, 4:12 pm
#21
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Programs: US1
Posts: 1,928
Remember when US gave us 1,000 miles (for the first web check in) and then 50 miles there after. I can't remember who took that away. If old US did away with it or was it HP when the merger took place?
Dec 3, 07, 4:49 pm
#22
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Tempe, AZ
Programs: US PP, MR SE
Posts: 309
Those were good times...
Dec 3, 07, 5:04 pm
#23
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: PHX/SFO/LAX
Programs: AA-EXP (1.7MM), BA-Slvr, HH-Diamond
Posts: 7,784
Speaking of "Good Ol' Days", HP used to give 5,000 miles for web bookings when they first started making that available. And, for a while, those miles were PQM when booked between certain city pairs! That's how I first got sucked into the old "Flight Fund Elite" program. Four 1K round trips + web bonus miles and you had Silver Elite status.
Those were good times...
Those were good times...
I remember the 3000 miles bonus for web bookings. I racked up 90k miles doing a bunch of segment runs.
Dec 3, 07, 7:30 pm
#24
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Programs: US1
Posts: 1,928
Remember guys they took the best of both programs and put them into the new DM program! What a crock.
Dec 3, 07, 8:57 pm
#25
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Philadelphia,PA
Programs: United 1K,Marriott Platinum Premier,IHC Platinum Ambassador,Hilton Gold
Posts: 1,898
It makes sense to drop the booking bonus..Most airlines no longer offer it..at the time it was an incentive to book online..Now they really dont need to offer that anymore..@:-)
Dec 3, 07, 11:30 pm
#26
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: PHX/SFO/LAX
Programs: AA-EXP (1.7MM), BA-Slvr, HH-Diamond
Posts: 7,784
Parker has got to go.
Remember they were hailing DM as "The richest program in the world"
Dec 4, 07, 11:28 am
#27
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Programs: Air Canada Elite 35; United Gold (maybe Platinum?)
Posts: 1,073
I work in direct marketing - from a best practices standpoint the airlines should have dropped this bonus 2-3 years ago. It long ago achieved its goal of driving people to buy online. Bad times and over competition probably prevented that. Once one did it there was a tidal wave of "me 2" bonus killings.
It was a perk designed to drive customers to shop online - and it worked. Most people buy their tickets online now. Why reward them for behavior they're already doing? When customers become too accustomed to something it's no longer a "bonus" or a "perk" it becomes and entitlement in their eyes - and that's not a good place for your customers to be. Now when they offer something with bonus miles it will truly feel like a bonus.
Think of it this way, instead of offering up hundreds of millions of free miles for this bonus, which is a balance sheet liability, the airline can become more profitable and give greater profit sharing to its employees making them happier and maybe even come up with real bonuses for the flyers they really want to entice to fly them. I don't know if that will happen, but we can always dream
Dec 4, 07, 3:59 pm
#28
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: PHL
Programs: US CP, SPG Gold
Posts: 111
I think they are going to pull it soon.
Dec 4, 07, 4:34 pm
#29
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Programs: US1
Posts: 1,928
Just wait, I am sure they will think of to add a service charge when booking via the website as well. $5 dollars via the web and $10 on the phone. Or is it $20 on the phone now.
Where there is a will these guys will think of a way.
Where there is a will these guys will think of a way.
Dec 4, 07, 4:39 pm
#30
Moderator: New York City and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2007
Programs: AA PLT, Natl EC
Posts: 10,843
have you read the thread? it's already been pulled.
