This isn’t exactly recent news but worth calling out because I think it’s good for frequent fliers. Delta sent the following email to a co-worker:
The co-worker had this to say:
”Basically, I had 70,406 MQM (qualifying miles for status) in 2009, which qualified me for Gold status (50k) but short of Platinum (75k). To ensure the 20,406 MQM I had above and beyond Gold status weren’t wasted, they rolled the miles over to give me a head start for my 2010 status.”
That’s pretty sweet, anyway you spin it. Nice job, Delta.
Courtesy of the Economist, J.D Powers has surveyed more than 12,000 passengers who took round-trip flights last year (2009) to develop its North America Airport Satisfaction Study.
The Economist notes:
The top-ranked airports in the large, medium and small segments were, respectively, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, Kansas City and Indianapolis. Overall, though, the company found that satisfaction with airports was "considerably" lower than in other travel segments such as hotels and rental cars. That’s largely because the essentials—prompt baggage delivery, good seating and clear signs—are not being consistently met in spite of technological improvements in many areas including Wi-Fi, parking-lot management and online check-in.
That's not surprising since we are truly a captive audience.
Here’s a disturbing article from the LA Times which digs into how pilot fatigue is a big problem with airlines.
Some interesting quotes:
"Seven of the last nine airline crashes in the United States have involved regional carriers, and pilot fatigue was likely a factor in at least four of those incidents, according to federal safety investigators."
"Critics say the situation has been exacerbated by the airline industry’s long slump, putting pressure on airlines to cut costs by forcing pilots to work longer hours."
"A 2008 study by NASA found that about 80% of regional pilots said they had nodded off during a flight."
"One recent bulletin reviewed by The Times noted an upward trend of pilots taking off without knowing their aircraft’s weight and balance figures – numbers crucial to the way stabilizers are adjusted on a plane’s tail. Improperly set controls have caused crashes."
—
This article does not make me a happy flyer.
This is pretty big news. I recall this used to be customary on certain airlines back in the late 90’s and early 2000. It’s somewhat indicative of the traffic in this economic downturn for United to make an offer like this, but its a big bonus for frequent flyers who have elite status.
United plans to launch this in the 2nd quarter of 2010 so you’ll have to wait a little bit, but if you’re thinking about getting elite status this year, this might be the extra incentive you were looking for.
All the details can be found here (http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6867,53216,00.html).
From the website:
Upgrades. They’re complimentary. They’re unlimited. They’re yours. When Unlimited Domestic Upgrades are launched, we’ll be transitioning all of our elite members to the new upgrades, replacing 500-Mile Upgrade certificates. Elite members can still use their existing Regional Upgrades during their full 12-month validity period. However, new certificates will no longer be issued. If you’re not an elite member, don’t worry – you’ll still be able to use your existing certificates any time during their full 12-month validity period, just like you do today. Further details on Unlimited Domestic Upgrades and other exciting enhancements will be available on Mileageplus.com in early 2010. Stay tuned.
We know how you value the ease of travel being an elite member brings to you. Now we’re making it even easier. In the second quarter of 2010, we’ll automatically request an Unlimited Domestic Upgrade on behalf of all elite members and up to one companion when they travel within the Continental U.S., Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Happy flying.
It looks like the Clear program will close down operations due to financial difficulties. Here’s an email received by a fellow co-worker who was enrolled in the program:
Clear to Cease Operations
At 11:00 p.m. PST today, Clear will cease operations. Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.
After today, Clear lanes will be unavailable.
Sincerely,
Clear Customer Support
I never saw any Clear lanes at the airports I traveled through so I guess they never got around to pushing it out everywhere.
AT&T just announced the availability date for the new BlackBerry Bold. If you’re an avid BlackBerry user, this is happy news. I currently use the BlackBerry Curve and have been quite jealous of the 3G speeds and the beautiful browsing experience of the 3G Apple iPhones. That said, I still prefer a full non-virtual keyboard and the better Enterprise integration of my email and address book. With the introduction of the BlackBerry Bold, at least one of my high priority items are being addressed (3G speeds).
As a road warrior, among all the features, I’m most excited about the new speed benefits from the 3G support and the beefed up processor. The processor is about twice as fast as the previous generation phones (e.g. Curve, Pearl, etc.) so the screen should be more responsive to navigation and load times should decrease for applications. 3G speed will play into anything you do which requires real-time connectivity (browsing, IM chatting, etc.) The higher resolution should also help with access to better fonts for readability.
There are plenty of reviews out there comparing it to the iPhone and previous generations of BlackBerry’s. If and when I get my hands on one, I’ll post an in depth review based on real-world experience as a road warrior. It won’t cover the lab tests of "academic" reviewers, but it will do a better job of covering real-world usage in airports and various cities :-)
I’ve copied the press release, but no need to read it unless you’re interested in hearing from the AT&T marketing machine.
AT&T Customers to Enter a ‘Bold’ New Wireless World
Waterloo, Ontario — AT&T customers will be entering a bold new wireless world with the launch of the BlackBerry® Bold™, a breakthrough 3G BlackBerry® smartphone that operates on the nation’s fastest 3G network and is the first to support HSDPA networks around the world, including in Japan and Korea. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Research In Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM; TSX:RIM) announced today that the highly anticipated BlackBerry Bold smartphone will be available in the United States for as low as $299.99¹ on Tuesday, Nov. 4, in AT&T retail stores nationwide, through www.att.com and select national retailers, as well as through AT&T’s business-to-business sales teams.
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone, which is being introduced in the United States only for AT&T customers, can be used in the most countries abroad, including more than 60 with 3G networks. AT&T is the world’s leading provider of BlackBerry services.
Bold Design
The BlackBerry Bold smartphone’s design and performance live up to its name. The elegant smartphone features a lustrous black exterior, satin chrome-finished frame and stylish, leatherette backplate with a stunning half-VGA (480 x 320 at 217 ppi) color display for eye-popping visuals and a newly designed full QWERTY keyboard for exceptionally fast and easy typing. On the inside, the BlackBerry Bold features built-in GPS and Wi-Fi®, a powerful new 624 MHz mobile processor that provides impressive performance, more storage memory than ever before — 1 GB on board and up to 16 GB via its microSD/SDHC expansion slot — and a rich set of multimedia capabilities, including an advanced media player for music, videos and photos and a 2 megapixel camera with built-in flash, zoom and video recording, as well as an optimized Web-browsing experience with desktop-style depiction.
"The BlackBerry Bold is the best BlackBerry smartphone ever, backed by the nation’s fastest 3G network and the hands-down best international coverage of any carrier," said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility. "The BlackBerry Bold is the complete package, providing customers with an absolutely outstanding mobile experience whether doing e-mail, browsing the Web, viewing streaming video or simply making a phone call. And it is being introduced in the U.S. only from AT&T."
Mike Lazaridis, president and co-CEO at Research In Motion, said: "The development of the BlackBerry Bold smartphone was an ambitious undertaking, and we focused intensely on the things that are most important to mobile customers when developing this best-in-class smartphone for HSDPA networks around the world. The BlackBerry Bold exudes quality in everything from its stunning display sharpness and incredible keyboard to its premium phone performance and sophisticated software applications. It provides an extraordinary mobile communications and multimedia experience, and we are very proud to introduce this breakthrough smartphone in the United States together with AT&T."
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.
In other words, they are reducing costs at your expense.
What This Means to You:
- Less planes
- Less airline staff
- First checked bag fee $15
- In-flight beverage "purchase" program
- No more bonus miles with Preferred status
“US Airways is also eliminating its bonus miles program for Preferred status Dividend Miles members. Preferred members currently receive mileage bonuses based on their status level. The Preferred bonus program will be discontinued for tickets purchased on/after Aug. 6, 2008.”
- Increased fees for booked at airport or through call centers
- "Redemption Processing Fee" for using Dividend Miles
I hate being the bearer of bad news.
This is just another sign, airlines are moving towards an "a la carte" menu to extract additional dollars from their customers.
In business school, this approach involves extracting additional customer surplus to maximize company profits. By further segmenting the flying population, the airlines can extract additional surplus which it was giving away on a first come, first serve basis. With oil prices at a record high, airplanes are competing to stay in business, not steal away customers from other airlines. By cutting down on flight schedules, seat capacity is now in short supply so there is no concern about flying empty airplanes. In a market with limited competition, the customer will pay the price.
Just when you thought it was over…
Here’s a few choice quotes from the article:
"…the combination of reducing seating capacity within the airline’s fleet, moving toward an a la carte system of charging fliers for such things as checking bags, eating and drinking, along with expense reductions, will save the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier $500 million annually."
"In addition to charges for baggage and refreshments, US Airways has raised the $15 charge to book flights through its call center to $25 for domestic flights and $35 for international flights. The $20 service fee to buy a ticket at an airport or city ticketing office increases to $35 for domestic travel and $45 for international travel."
"Most airlines except Southwest have announced capacity and personnel reductions, and a la carte charges."
"Fare-paying now looks like the customer is just paying the base price for the flight…You want doors – that’s going to cost you more."
"Right now, you’re dealing with a panicked industry which, after fuel costs, is making about 30 bucks a seat…If they can get an extra $10 out of a passenger, that’s a 33 percent increase. The industry already has sold most of its product for July and August below cost."
Don’t hold your breath - you can expect the other airlines to follow shortly.
This is good news. It’s better than Continental and United merging. It means your points can be used to get to more places (with the potential for less layovers) and you have access to more airport lounges all without the consolidation of flight segments that usually happen with a merger. It’s an unexpected gem amid all the cost cutting and ala carte pricing we’ve been pummeled with in the past 6 months.
If you fly either airline you will enjoy the flexibility of the many more airports available to you since every Continental hub can be considered a United hub and vice versa – assuming it gains regulatory approval.
The email follows in all its entirety. Have an excellent weekend!
Dear Mr. *point* man,
As a valued Mileage Plus member, we wanted you to be among the first to hear that Continental and United today announced plans to cooperate globally, linking our networks and services worldwide to deliver new benefits to you. In addition, Continental plans to join United in the Star Alliance®, the most comprehensive airline alliance in the world.
Once implemented, this new partnership, will easily enable you to take advantage of the resources of both airlines to enhance your overall travel experience, and receive more value from your Mileage Plus membership.First and foremost, this partnership will include new frequent flier reciprocity that will enable you to earn miles when flying on either airline and redeem awards on both carriers. Travel on either carrier will count toward earning elite status. Similarly, members of either airline’s airport lounge program will have access to both Continental’s Presidents Club network and United’s Red Carpet Club® lounges.
Second, together with Continental, we will be able to offer you a more comprehensive domestic route network and together with our Star Alliance partners, greater choice of service throughout the entire world.
Starting in the U.S., you are going to see United and Continental develop extensive code-sharing that will facilitate travel whenever your itinerary involves both carriers. We will be able to provide you with a coordinated process for reservations/ticketing, check-in, flight connections and baggage transfer.Internationally, Continental and United will establish joint ventures that will allow us to cooperate with each other and with other Star Alliance airlines throughout the world. These joint ventures will enable us to provide you with highly competitive flight schedules, fares and service to more destinations than we do today.
In short, once regulatory approval is obtained, this new partnership between United and Continental will expand your choice of flights and destinations, and improve your ability to earn both miles and elite status in Mileage Plus. Together we will offer you more value whenever you fly. We expect to bring you the benefits of our cooperation starting some time in 2009, and until then, we will keep you informed about our progress.
We appreciate you and your business, and we look forward to seeing you on your next flight.
Sincerely,
Robert Sahadevan
Vice President – Mileage Plus