The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that airlines are now taking advantage of advanced scheduling systems to remove some of the best bargain flights and seat prices from their inventory. They use Southwest as the example of complexity in scheduling:
"No airline has a more complex schedule than Southwest. The low-cost carrier now has more daily flights than any other airline, and it runs a frenetic operation with planes hop-scotching across the country and spending only 20 or 30 minutes on the ground. With more than 500 airplanes and 60 cities to link together, there are literally billions of different ways to set the airline’s schedule.
Southwest’s November schedule was developed with an upgraded version of its in-house schedule-optimization system that reworked the airline’s entire 3,400 daily departures. The airline now flies a completely different schedule on Saturdays – in the past it just erased some flights here and there from the regular schedule on Saturdays. Now some cities like Omaha, Neb.; Salt Lake City; Oklahoma City; and Tulsa, Okla., get nonstop flights to Orlando only on Saturdays.
In January, Southwest will cut 190 flights, reducing its capacity by 6% in the slower winter travel season. That’s more schedule jockeying than the airline has ever done before. And next year, it will add Minneapolis-St. Paul to its route network without increasing its capacity. The scheduling system trimmed flights here and there and improved efficiency, freeing up airplanes to fly to and from Minneapolis."
The next step for the industry is to have different travel schedule for each day of the week. The downside for you the traveler: fewer bargain trips as the airlines maximize their revenue and optimize their resources. It appears that the powers of economics and supply/demand are starting to work against us.
From their website:
"Rediscover what you love about Delta—and get a special gift of 1,000 bonus miles. Register today, then book your round-trip ticket and fly by November 15, 2008."
Plus, if you book at delta.com you’ll earn an additional 500 bonus miles. You’ll always find our best fares at delta.com—guaranteed—and you’ll also enjoy:
- Easy and flexible search options for flights
- Zero booking fees (that’s up to a $25 savings)
- Fast online check-in
Earning up to 1,500 bonus miles will get you closer to an Award Ticket. We’ve added new nonstop international destinations to choose from:
- Atlanta (ATL)—London (LHR)
- Atlanta (ATL)—Shanghai (PVG)
- Atlanta (ATL)—Stockholm (ARN)
- New York (JFK)—Cairo (CAI)
- New York (JFK)—Cape Town (CPT)
- New York (JFK)—Dakar (DKR)
- New York (JFK)—London (LHR)
- New York (JFK)—Lyon (LYS)
- New York (JFK)—Malaga (AGP)
Delta Airlines is seriously out of touch with their best customers. 1000 bonus miles is a "special gift" ? With the fees and usage limitations on frequent flyer miles, 1000 bonus points is not much of an incentive to fly Delta Airlines.
Short and sweet. Click here to sign-up. If you’re already flying, its more points for little effort. Given all the point devaluation events these days, you’ll need as many points as possible if you want to redeem them for flights. The following details are listed for your convenience, but also included in linked page.
Ticketing dates: October 1, 2008 - December 15, 2008
Travel dates: October 1, 2008 - December 15, 2008
“Selected Mileage Plus members can earn up to 40,000 redeemable bonus miles from United when they fly between October 1 and December 15, 2008. Register, and then complete up to six roundtrips (three domestic and three international) in one of the qualifying booking classes on United® or United Express® between October 1 and December 15, 2008."
You can earn between 2,000 miles and 40,000 miles total - the more roundtrips you fly, the more miles you can earn.
Domestic Offer (MPD618) (qualifying booking classes: F, A, P, C, D, Z, Y, B, M, E, U, H)
| One completed roundtrip | 2,000 bonus miles |
| Two completed roundtrips | 5,000 bonus miles |
| Three completed roundtrips | 15,000 bonus miles |
International Offer (MPD628) (qualifying booking classes: F, A, P, C, D, Z)
| One completed roundtrip | 5,000 bonus miles |
| Two completed roundtrips | 10,000 bonus miles |
| Three completed roundtrips | 25,000 bonus miles |
Happy Tuesday, road warriors.
Getting to the airport at 5am on Monday mornings should be the least of our worries considering how hectic a traveling week can be. I was reminded of this after receiving an angry rant from a co-worker paraphrased as follows:
"I am bleeep fed up with taxis failing to show up on time. This morning I had to get my wife to drive me to the airport at 5am and I still ended up missing my flight. How hard is it to get decent bleeep taxi service in this city? Does anyone have a good referral for a RELIABLE car service?"
Car Service 1
Taxi Service 0
The truth is cab service can be unreliable, but there are better ways to remedy the situation than resorting to car service. I have nothing against car services, but I’ve met both good and bad cab drivers so I like to help them out as much as possible especially since many are struggling to make ends meet with gas prices so high.
Truth be known, I take a taxi to the airport every morning and I’ve been doing it for the past 2 years. It’s bad enough being stood up, but being stood up by a cabbie only to end up missing your flight and pro-longing a Monday morning commute, trapped in a crowded airport – that’s an experience I don’t wish upon any road warrior (even one who puts his carry-on AND his laptop bag into the overhead bin).
What I’ve done is found a good cab driver and given him the opportunity to make a steady weekly fare. All he needs to do is be at my front door at 5am every Monday morning without fail. I pay him the same fare every week and he always has my change ready to go. I don’t have to specifically arrange a ride for the morning – it’s a given unless I give him a call. A cab driver will go out of his way to be reliable if he/she can depend on a consistent stream of income. Most cab drivers know you will probably never meet again so being reliable is not essential to making money (although it usually helps with tips).
So my advice is find a cab driver with the following:
- A clean cab
- Doesn’t talk too much (I’m not a morning person)
- Is considerate with air conditioning and heating
- Always on time
- <Insert your personal requirements here>
Then offer the driver a steady fare and never have to worry about your Monday morning commute again. Just make sure you call your driver if you aren’t flying for the week - that’s just common courtesy.
Support the little guy and build up some good karma. May you always have a SAFE and QUICK morning commute.
Go ahead, pick your promotion! This offer allows you to select a promotion based on your travel needs. Asking for recommendations gives you a few guidelines for picking one which fits your needs.
Select the scenario that best fits you and we’ll help you choose the right reward options.
- I know I’m going to be traveling and want to shoot for elite status faster.
- I have a lot of stays coming up. I’d like to maximize my Starpoints® balance.
- I have travel plans and I’m interested in earning Free Night Awards toward future travel.
- I have one or two long trips planned and I want to maximize the amount of Starpoints I can earn.
- I’m new to the SPG® program and I would like to jump-start my Starpoints balance fast.
- Show me some rewards other than Starpoints for my stays.
SPG® You Choose allows you to choose and earn rich rewards when you stay at more than 890 participating Starwood hotels and resorts between October 1 and December 31, 2008. Simply make your choice and register by November 15, 2008.
Go crazy.
It started with an update to the Marriott website which was inadvertently placed on their rewards page. Someone posted the update to the FlyerTalk forums:
Marriott Rewards has announced enhancements to the program beginning January 15, 2009.
- No blackout dates on points redemptions for standard rooms
- Increase of Platinum member elite bonus from 30% to 50%
- 4th night free on a 3 night hotel redemption using points
90 minutes later, the update was removed from the Marriott website and within 30 minutes of the removal a post was made to the same thread:
"Earlier today, information about possible changes to the Marriott Rewards program was mistakenly published on Marriott.com.
Based upon your feedback regarding blackout dates and capacity controls, we are evaluating potential program enhancements. We have nothing to announce at this time. We’re sorry for any confusion this might have caused and we’ll be sure to provide advanced notice of any future changes.
Marriott Concierge Team"
If this program is eventually implemented, it would be a huge contrast to the negative trend in airline point programs and a bright spot in an otherwise terrible environment for travelers. Higher ticket prices, increased airline fees, and the "cost reduction" changes to frequent flyer programs may be having a detrimental effect on hotel profitability. As prices increase and the economy continues to implode, clients, companies, and travelers will naturally look for ways to cut expenses. Unfortunately for us, airlines have a lock on travel (we’re a captive audience), but travelers have more flexibility in moving to lower cost lodging, even if it means losing out on points. It would be smart for hotel chains to look at the big picture and be proactive about targeting and retaining their best customers. Kudos to Marriott for looking ahead. Hopefully they execute…
At MTP we stress that points are just the icing on the cake, not the cake itself. These days there is not much to look forward to when traveling. Spend your time on the road wisely so you have more time with family and loved ones - that’s the cake.
USA Today has a good summary article highlighting some of the recent changes impacting frequent fliers of the major carriers.
A Few Choice Highlights
- Continental Airlines said Friday that it is reducing the number of miles it awards fliers on many short flights and lowering the bonus miles it gives to many of its most-frequent fliers.
- Last month, US Airways ended bonus miles for its most-frequent fliers.
- In August, Delta Air Lines began an "award travel fuel surcharge." SkyMiles members redeeming trips online now pay $25 for a domestic ticket; $50 for an international one.
- Starting Sept. 15, Northwest will begin charging $25 to redeem a domestic frequent-flier ticket, $50 for a trans-Atlantic ticket and $100 for a trans-Pacific ticket.
- Continental says that on March 1 bonus mileage will drop from 125% to 100% for Platinum Elite members and from 50% to 25% for Silver Elite members. Fliers who annually earn 75,000 miles achieve platinum status, and those who earn 25,000 miles reach silver status.
- Beginning Jan. 1, for tickets bought on or after Nov. 15, Continental will stop giving a minimum of 500 points on flights shorter than 500 miles. Fliers will instead earn the number of miles flown.
- Denver-based Frontier Airlines, too, will stop awarding a minimum 250 miles on most short routes on Sept. 15. Fliers will earn the number of miles flown. Exceptions: Flights between Denver and four Colorado cities — Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Durango and Aspen — will earn 250 miles.
- United Airlines also stopped giving a minimum of 500 miles in July, and US Airways eliminated its mileage minimum last year.
Airlines need to go back to business school and re-learn the concept of building customer loyalty and how it affects profitability.
I hate to make this into an "us" (frequent flier) versus "them" (airlines) but the airlines are making it very difficult for their best customers. The airlines would do well to take a few lessons on improving the customer experience and building customer loyalty. A frequent flyer program is not the answer to building customer loyalty and these days it highlights just how little they care about customer loyalty.
This Fortune Magazine article describes how one flyer, Mitchell Berns, had his original non-stop Delta flight canceled "due to weather" and found himself booked on another flight, with connections, for the next morning. After checking the National Weather Service, he discovered snow was forecast for 5am the next morning, hours after his flight was supposed to land. Other airlines were still scheduled to fly, but Delta refused to give him a refund so he could purchase a ticket on another airline. He paid for a JetBlue flight out of his own pocket and landed at his destination without incident.
Back at home, he filed a small-claims suit ($15 in NY) against Delta for the price of the JetBlue ticket and won when Delta failed to show up in court. Delta offered frequent-flier miles (yeah, right) and then attempted to negotiate a confidentiality agreement (I can see why Delta wouldn’t want this story to be picked up in the press). Berns counter-offered with $100 off if Delta paid within 2 weeks OR the confidentiality agreement - not both. Surprisingly (or not), Delta took the $100 off the original JetBlue ticket.
"The lesson is, Don’t let them bully you with bogus cancellations," says Berns. The whole thing took him about four hours, he recalls, resulting in earnings of less than half his hourly billing rate. "But I’d do it again," he says. "That’s how good it felt."
It’s always a good thing to stay positive, but don’t let the airlines take advantage of you, the customer.
There has been chatter about TSA and laptop manufacturers working together to create TSA-approved laptop bags for speeding up security checks. The idea is travelers could avoid removing laptop from TSA-approved laptop bags. The driving requirement is allowing clear access to the laptop as if it were separated in its own security bin. You can expect bags which roll-out flat to separate the laptop from the other items in your bag which may prevent an unobstructed view of the laptop. Targus and a few other vendors have already announced TSA-approved models which should be available in the coming months.
I don’t believe this will save time in the short run as travelers and TSA personnel get accustomed to an updated security process incorporating the new laptop bags. I can see inexperienced travelers taking a cue from travelers with TSA-approved bags and sending in their unapproved laptop bags. Expect additional questions from TSA personnel if a travelers fails to remove their laptop into a separate bin. In the long run things should speed things up if there are enough travelers who purchase TSA-approved bags and we work through a few iterations.
I plan to keep my Tumi. I’ve my security process down to an art. Have a happy Monday morning.
Better late than never. A snippet from the email has all the information you need:
To thank you, our elite members, we’re offering you 500 bonus Starpoints® per eligible night in September 2008. These bonus Starpoints are in addition to any bonuses for which you’re already registered.
Simply register by September 15, 2008, at http://SPG.com/thankyou500 and start collecting bonus Starpoints for all your September nights. Feel free to forward details to your friends and family so they can take advantage of this offer, too.
We know the airlines aren’t giving us any point perks so get ‘em while you can.