Posted by Seth on March 17, 2012 under frequent flyer, Mileage Run, Trip Reports | 
My United Airlines flight into Brussels arrived at a hard stand this morning. I generally find those annoying for any number of reasons, but in this case it gave me the opportunity to chat with another passenger about our trips and share a couple quick travel stories. Among them, I related that I generally enjoy coming in to Europe because the immigration process is so easy and it is such a quick flight from New York City for a day or two. She was ahead of me in line when we got to the immigration desk and made it through with only the slightest questioning. I was not so lucky.
The questions started in the normal manner – what is the reason for your visit and how long are you here for – and my answers were my usual ones, one day for holidays. Apparently this agent was not happy about the one day stay. Thumbing through my passport he noted, "You seem to come to Europe a lot, only for one or two days. I find that strange." Yes, I do. I like visiting. Can I now continue to do so? Not so fast.
Do I have a hotel reservation? Yes, I do. Where? Here’s the email confirmation; I don’t really remember the name as I just made it yesterday. Still not convinced.
I tried explaining the miles angle and he was having none of it. He complained about the taxes on awards and I started to try to explain that those weren’t nearly as big an issue in the USA-based programs but that didn’t seem to be helping my case either.
At this point – about 5 minutes in to my stay at the counter – he leaned over to his neighbor and started talking about me. I only caught a few words but the gist of it was that I’m apparently suspect. He started to fill out a form, one I’ve never seen before, which I’m guessing was sending me to a secondary inspection. He went to make a call to find someone, I’m assuming with the rubber gloves, and then noticed that a supervisor was standing right there. Lucky me.
I explained again that I really do just love traveling, that the ticket was only $350 and that I really like Belgian beer. I figured the flattery might help, plus it is the truth. The supe wasn’t quite as skeptical, but he still wasn’t convinced.
It was at this point that the supervisor noticed the luggage tags on my bag. I’ve got quite a collection and they’re great as souvenirs or to help folks identify me when I’m meeting a new group. In this case, they also seemed sufficient to prove that I really am a crazy travel person, but a harmless one. The supervisor flipped through them, made a couple more comments to the agent and then I heard the magic words: "You seem to have convinced my supervisor."
I’ll settle for the fact that the guys think I’m crazy – they’re not wrong – so long as I can also go get my beer.
Posted by Seth on March 7, 2012 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
I have always heard great things about the Oregon coast line. The scenery is supposed to be spectacular. So combining a great fare from NYC-Portland and a 3-day holiday weekend seemed like the perfect way to get that opportunity. The holiday I chose was President’s Day. It turns out that mid-February is probably not the best time to make that visit.
I picked up a rental car downtown and headed out towards the coast, hoping that the early morning fog would burn off and that I’d get some decent weather out at the ocean. I was simply fooling myself.
The fog was thick and didn’t clear up much. There was precipitation ranging from mist to drizzle pretty much the whole day. And I was not dressed the part at all.
About the only good thing that came with the weather was that the beach was pretty much empty. I made the hike down to Crescent Beach, somewhat ignoring the warning signs, and slipped and slid in the mud along the way. It was sloppy, but I was the only person there, for obvious reasons.
I did discover a group of folks even more crazy that I am, however. A bunch of surfers were headed out into the water as I was leaving the park. Yeah, they had wetsuits so they were at least prepared for the situation, but the waves didn’t look all that great. Then again, I’m not a surfer so what do I know.
My original plan was to hike around along the coast throughout the afternoon and overnight out by the beach, making the drive back to Portland in the morning for my flight home. The bad weather, combined with exhaustion, conspired to send me back into town that afternoon instead.
Much like my visit to the Great Wall outside Beijing, I was stymied by the weather. Doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy myself, but I know that the version of the experience I got is very different from the "normal" one. In this particular case I’m actually a bit disappointed about that. I guess I’ll just have to go back.
Posted by Seth on March 6, 2012 under frequent flyer, Mileage Run, points, Trip Reports |
Lots of people go out for brunch in Santa Barbara. In fact, based on the wait we had to get a table once we got there, I would say that it is a quite popular event. But I’m pretty sure that we were the only folks who did so starting in Philadelphia.
A while back a pretty good fare came up for flights between Philadelphia and Santa Barbara so I bought one. I was going to be in Philly anyways so the positioning costs were basically nil and I was up for a bit of sun and warmth. Why not?
The trip started entirely too early, with a 6am-ish flight from Philadelphia to Dulles. The only redeeming quality of the early morning departure was the opportunity to watch the sun rise. I love the visuals but hate the alarm clock required to make it happen.
The connection in Dulles was fine, other than a relatively last minute gate change and my forgetting one of my bags in the lounge. Fortunately I got it back and we made it to the plane in plenty of time.
We had one of the international config 772s, meaning the complimentary upgrade was in to the international business class seats. Sadly, it was the old seats still, but having that for nap time was way better than a domestic seat. Breakfast was nothing to write home about and there was no cereal option. Not horribly offensive, and that’s about all I look for on a domestic meal these days.
We pushed back from the gate a bit late due to some power issues and that had us in to San Francisco a bit late, too. Somehow, the travel gods were smiling on us, however, and the flight down to Santa Barbara that was one earlier than our original booking was also late. We raced to the gate and inquired about getting on the earlier flight. It was full, but they were still working out the last-minute load numbers. Weight and balance issues are often a challenge on the Embraer E-120s and they had previously bumped two passengers to a later flight to lighten the load on this relatively long small prop hop, but the somehow managed to load us on the plane at the last minute.
We chatted with the flight attendant (I was basically sitting in her lap thanks to being assigned 1C) and confused the heck out of her and the others within ear shot as we explained that we were just headed to the beach for a couple hours before catching the redeye back to the east coast. The strange looks were worth it, however, as we got guidance on how to walk from the airport to the beach (about 15 minutes) and from there where to find a great brunch. We followed the instructions and were rewarded with sun, sand and a couple celebratory beers while watching the locals bundle up in the "cold" mid-60s weather.
We could have stayed longer at the beach – our original departure gave us about 6 hours in Santa Barbara – but that would have meant no dinner at LAX or, possibly even worse, eating in the T6/7/8 complex. Fortunately for us there was an earlier flight that gave us plenty of time to get off-property and over to In-and-Out for a proper dinner. So we walked back to the airport, got on the standby list and enjoyed the brand new terminal for a few minutes before walking out to the plane and making the short jump into Los Angeles.
Dinner was good and we enjoyed watching the planes land. We even got a couple wide-bodies coming in which is always fun. And then it was back to the airport. We walked, Partly because we had the time, partly because no one ever walks to LAX and partly because there is actually a cute little flower garden that you go through (I’d seen it before a couple times) and the flight attendant on the SBA-LAX flight insisted that my buddy see it. From there it was in to the United Club where we stayed hydrated for the hour or two before the redeye home. No upgrade there, but the exit row window seat was comfortable enough and pretty soon we were touching down in Newark, almost exactly 24 hours after leaving Philadelphia.
Yeah, just another normal Sunday brunch in Santa Barbara.
Tags: Dulles, Embraer, frequent flier, frequent flyer, Los Angeles, Mileage Run, Newark, Philadelphia, Photos, points, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on February 29, 2012 under Flying, frequent flyer, Mileage Run, points, Trip Reports |
Today was a good day for mileage run booking. I got myself a nice <3cpEQM run on mostly United Airlines metal (good for both upgrades and Million Miler credits with the new program rules) covering just over 20,000 miles in a 4 day span. I’ll get to visit the 50th state a couple times and even actually sleep in a bed once or twice in the middle of all the crazy.
With some of the flights also on what is considered today to be Continental metal I figured I should log in, make sure that my frequent flier number is correct in the reservation and get some seats. I headed to the website and clicked the link to see my reservations. This is what I got:
Apparently I have no real trips planned in the next two months, just mileage runs. Zoinks!
Logged in to the main reservations display page things get a bit better in June, but not before another four day marathon crisscrossing the country (including two three-hour jaunts in Hawaii) for over 20,000 miles flown:
Hat tip to gtitan for finding this one!
Oh, and a couple weeks later I go back and I’ll actually spend a few day in Hawaii while celebrating the inaugural service of both Hawaiian AIrlines’ JFK-HNL service and United’s IAD-HNL service in the same week.
At one point a few weeks ago I was worried about fare prices and not having enough good trip opportunities. I guess that’s over, at least for a few weeks.
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Posted by Seth on December 14, 2011 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
A visit to Hiroshima can be exhausting. Thank goodness for the island of Miyajima, just south of town, where a visit is rejuvenating and uplifting. It is a great counter to the emotional drain of the Peace Park in the center of town.
Miyajima is actually just a nickname for the island; it means "shrine island." The real name is Itsukushima and the island holds a long and storied history of religious significance. It was in 806 CE that a monk ascended the mountain on the island and established it as an ascetic site for the Shingon Buddhists. The island also has great significance in the Shinto religion as well, and the two have coexisted in an impressively symbiotic manner through the years. This is a great thing for visitors as the two present great sites to visit in a very condensed area.
Perhaps the most famous site on the island – and a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is the Itsukushima Shrine. Known mostly for its floating torii gate, the shrine complex is actually on stilts to help preserve the sanctity of the island. It doesn’t hurt that the stilts also keep the temples out of the water as the tides roll in, but the idea of keeping the commoners off the sacred soil is pretty nifty, too.
The temple itself includes a number of buildings, all lacquered in bright red, but the focus is the "floating" gate. It doesn’t really float; it is solidly planted in the ground just off-shore. But when the tide rolls in the base goes underwater and the visual is awesome. There are boats that offer tours of the gate, taking passengers out to see it up close. There is also a kayak rental shop on the island if you want to get up close on your own. Or, you can do what most tourists do and just take a photo from the shore, either inside the temple grounds or out. That’s what most the folks I saw were doing, including some incredibly cute kids dressed up in their finest.
The other main shrine complex on the island is the Daisho-In. For me this one was much more impressive. Maybe because it wasn’t packed wall-to-wall with tourists. Maybe because it seemed more dedicated to prayer. Or maybe just because I thought the architecture was more impressive. Likely a combination of all of the above. It was pretty awesome.
Just walk 5-10 minutes inland and uphill from the Itsukushima and you run right into the Daisho-In. The grounds are dotted with small prayer statues (hundreds of them and they all appear to be different) and there are a number of prayer wheels on the grounds. Some are on the stairs and others along the paths. All of them are said to bring great fortune to those who touch them as they visit.
There is also an impressive collection of prayer offerings at the shrine. The island is, for some reason, known for its wooden rice spatulas, and that is one of the main souvenirs that is on sale in the markets on the island. It is also apparently one of the more common prayer offering vehicles at the Daisho-In shrine. There were hundreds of them with prayers offered up on them. Some of the prayers were less traditional than others.
The town itself is supposedly maintained in "classical Edo-era" style but I didn’t see much evidence of that as I visited. It mostly seemed like a series of shops all selling basically the same trinkets or food options. And there were a ton of people crowding the area and trying to avoid having their snacks stolen by the local deer which are known for such shenanigans.
But snack options were yummy, including grilled oysters, a variety of street meats (including seafood) and some sort of potato thing wrapped in bacon and then grilled. Mostly delicious, all cheap and worth a try to provide nourishment as you’re wandering around the island. Oh, if you do go for a snack on the street buy your beer from the vending machines scattered about; way cheaper.
My trip was limited in time due to a pressing need to get back to the ferry to get back to the train to get back to the bus to get to the airport so I could take my flight on the 787. I missed the ropeway and the hike to the top of the island, known for great views of the surrounding area. I also missed seeing the island without the throngs of tourists, most of whom leave as afternoon turns into evening. Still, it was an awesome follow-up to the gravity of visiting the Peace Park; the two really do go hand in hand. Plus I got to ride the local train and a ferry as part of the deal, both of which were fun.
Read more from this Trip Report under the Dream2011 tag here.
Posted by Seth on December 4, 2011 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
There are few things more fun than a behind the scenes view of how companies operate. For a travel junkie like me that means behind the scenes at airport operations, getting to "ride along" for the day while watching how the many people I never get to interact with work together to make sure that my flights run. In other words, getting to play airline for a day.
Thanks to the folks at United Airlines I had that opportunity this weekend. It was AWESOME!
The event was in Tampa, which isn’t so far away that it was a bad thing to have to make the trip. In fact, making the trip also put me over 150K EQMs for the year so that means more upgrade certificates, too. And that was part of the justification I had for making the trip. Even still, when faced with a VDB opportunity I declined to make sure I’d get the tour and I’m incredibly happy I did. Getting to the airport for a 7:45am departure after a night of drinking can be a challenge. In my case it meant no sleep and being still drunk when I got to the boarding area. Whoopsie. No matter; I was running on adrenaline by the time the tours started and there was no holding me back.
The tour involved about 15-20 customers and guests as well as a comparable number of employees from United. It was great to see them come in on the weekend and shmooze with the customers. And, if the few bits I overheard are to be believed, many of them were getting to experience some of the behind the scenes stuff for the first time as well, so it was fun for them, too.
The initial part of the day was meetings with these managers and talking through a number of the different services they represent. One of the guys who helps run the contact centers was available to talk about some of the difficulties being experienced as part of the merger (roughly the same number of calls but handling times are WAY up due to inter-carrier complexities, for example). There were questions about the computer systems merging, the loyalty program (I had more answers than many of the UA employees there on that category) and many other thins. After meeting everyone and talking about the Tampa station and some of the potential future changes it could see (yes, there is a space that could work quite nicely as a United Club once corporate real estate gets through the relocation aspect of the merger) it was time to head out airside for the tours. And by airside, I mean out on to the apron.
We visited a number of different departments on the tour. The maintenance guys have two different roles, working on ad hoc tasks during the day as planes come and go. On the overnight shift they are responsible for running basic scheduled maintenance operations for the planes that RON at the station. Even when there are no flights operating the folks working there are busy.
Flight operations is still split between the Continental and United subsidiaries but progress is being made, with some systems already aligned on the Unimatic platform for dispatch. Still, there are differences in things like fuel planning reporting, where United is a computerized system and the Continental folks are still filling out paperwork by hand and filling the various copies. Pretty interesting differences.
Back inside and up in the terminal we all got to take turns working the various aspects of the gate agent jobs while a flight was boarding. I got out of there before they were forced to handle an oversold F cabin for a flight to Newark but I did get to play with the computer system to make sure that the flight was fully boarded, make the announcements for the few passengers who were late getting to the plane and hand out BPs to the non-revs as they cleared onto the flight. Apparently my announcement style is "a bit curt" (I blame my Newark training) but otherwise I’m apparently pretty good at talking on a PA. Not that it is any surprise; I will talk about anything. We also got to take the final paperwork out to the plane, chat with the crew and close up the door (well, the real employees did that part) and send the plan on its way.
Back outside it was time to get a flight loaded up and ready to push back. In addition to being allowed up the conveyor belt and into the hold of the plane (apparently I have a penchant for finding myself in such areas) we also got to see how the folks working the ramp prioritize loading of the bags, handle the tracking and otherwise make sure that the bags get where they are going. I got to play with the scanner to "load" the bags and even found one that was supposedly missing to help the agents at the ticket counter verify that it was actually checked through as expected.
Finally it was time for the flight to depart. A few last-minute bags came sliding down the chute and were loaded into the plane and then things were sealed up and we walked the plane out for departure. Standing out under the wing as the plane pushed back was awesome. There were definitely a few confused customers on the plan wondering why the guy "working" out there was also waving at them and taking photos. Because I can.
Oh, and I got to drive the jet bridge. Those things handle like a pig and make for a very bumpy ride. Still, I managed to get the wheels back in the red box where they belong after driving around for a minute or so. I think I’ll put that in the "skills" section of my resume next time I apply for a job.
One other very cool thing they showed off was a special baggage cart. As one of a few stations located adjacent to a large military installation the airline is often used to help repatriate remains. The support this function they actually have a dedicated carrier which is specially equipped for the task. Just another little thing they do to make things better for all customers.
And then, sadly, it was time to get back on the plane and head home. I was in and out of Tampa in about 6 hours. Six glorious, wonderfully fun hours of playing with all the toys and getting to experience what operations are like for the airline. On a slow day. With no weather or mechanical issues. Sure, it was the intro-level version of the experience but that didn’t make it any less fun. And the icing on the cake was that my upgrade cleared just as they were about to close the door. A big comfy seat to sleep in on the way home, dreaming happy thoughts of aerophile fun.
Posted by Seth on October 31, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
About half way between San Francisco and Beijing I awoke from my nap and headed to the lav. Time for a quick break to stretch my legs. I had absolutely no expectations of anyone waiting for me when I got out. Apparently I should have.
A flight attendant approached me in the aisle, addressed me by name and asked what she could get me from "up front." Knowing that a bigger seat – my likely answer – probably wasn’t going to actually do much in terms of being successful as a request I was rather dumbfounded. Partly because I had just woken up, I like to think, and partly because I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to answer.
She then offered up that they had no extra amenity kits as the forward cabins were both full, but that I could ask for anything else I wanted, finishing the suggestion with the phrase, "You know the drill, don’t you?" Alas, I was somewhat embarrassed that I have no idea what the drill is or what I’m supposed to ask for or be able to get. Eventually she suggested that perhaps a glass of wine or a snack would be suitable.
And the snack was.
Seriously, compared to the mid-flight snack offered up in Economy is was like a bit of heaven.
And the mid-flight snack was probably better than the first meal. That first meal was a piece of sponge-like reconstituted chicken-esque product soaking in a tomato-based sauce. It was pretty bad.
The last of the three meals was the most edible of the bunch, but still not phenomenal. I chose the noodles over the turkey sandwich.
And then I was in Beijing. Woohoo!
As always, more to come…
Tags: Beijing, China, Dining, Dream2011, Flying, Mileage Run, Photos, review, San Francisco, Trip Report, United
Posted by Seth on October 31, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
When the check-in machine at the airport informs you that it is unable to rebook your connection that’s a bad thing. When the agent behind the counter has to back away from the computer and call in reinforcements to figure out the rebooking it is even worse. But, when they eventually work together to figure everything out it isn’t all bad.
With the snow in New York City not expected to begin until early afternoon I figured my 10:30am flight out of JFK was going to be just fine. And the connection on from Dulles to Seattle would be fine, too. After all, Dulles has plenty of spare capacity and nicely separated runways meaning that operations there rarely suffer. But they did. And so the issues in DC, combined with the rain in NYC, meant that my reasonably easy connection on the way to Seattle was not going to happen. Ruh roh.
The issue was made even more challenging by the fact that the United Airlines operations at JFK are so limited. There aren’t a whole lot of alternate options out there once you’re stuck. Fortunately they managed to scare up space on the JFK-SFO flight and then connect me onward from there. I’m pretty sure there was some sort of overbooking involved to make that space appear but the flights ended up going out with folks clearing the standby list so that was apparently not a huge issue. And, even though I didn’t get the new line on my flight map (IAD-SEA) I did actually get to Seattle the same day I intended to. And that was pretty critical for catching my onward flights to China. Even better, I did it from the comfort of United’s p.s. Business Class.
The seat was much more comfortable for sleeping than the A319 seat I was supposed to be on. And the food was, much to my delight, quite good.
The past few times I’ve done the p.s. flights it has been on the morning departures and the breakfast options aren’t much to get excited over, but the lunch I had was most impressive.
If I had to quibble at all it would be on the fact that they don’t have as many toppings on offer for the sundaes, but they have the ones I like and they have chocolate and vanilla ice cream rather than just one. Hardly worth getting worked up over.
Add in plenty of leg room and a blanket that I really should have kept for my onward flight to Beijing and I managed to both eat and sleep quite well for the five and a half hours I spent on the plane.
The onward connection to Seattle was on a CRJ-700, not my favorite aircraft by any stretch. But it was a smooth flight and the approach in to Seattle offered up phenomenal views of downtown as we flew up the Sound and then circled back to land to the South.
Only about 3 hours later than originally expected and many, many hours ahead of my originally scheduled flights, even if I hadn’t missed the connection. Not bad at all in the end.
Tags: Beijing, China, Dining, Dream2011, Flying, Mileage Run, New York City, Photos, review, San Francisco, Seattle, Trip Report, United
Posted by Seth on September 12, 2011 under Flying, frequent flyer, Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
Anyone ever tried to buy a round of drinks for an entire airplane? I did today and the logistics were surprisingly complicated. Maybe that’s because no one ever does this sort of thing. Or because it is ridiculous. But that mostly just describes me so I gave it a go.
American Express offers a $200 credit to platinum charge cardholders to offset the various fees airlines will hit you with these days. The catch is that it can only be used against one airline and once you choose the carrier you’re stuck with that choice for the whole year. Most of my flying is on airlines where I have status and I rarely check a bag, even when I don’t have status. Plus I get upgraded a fair amount so food and booze are often part of the deal. Nearly a year into the program’s existence I haven’t figured out a scenario where I could reasonably spend that $200.
Sitting a lunch with a friend in Anchorage I decided that today would be the day. I was going to commit my $200 in "fees" credit to Alaska Airlines and get my money’s worth. It is my first flight ever on Alaska and probably my last for the year so committing to spending the $200 on my own is too tall a task. But with a little help it shouldn’t be much of an issue. After all, it is a flight to Honolulu and folks should mostly be pretty happy about that, right? A free drink should make it even better.
After stowing my bag in the overhead bin I made my way back to the galley to explain my plan to the flight attendants.
Me: Hi there! I’ve got a strange situation here. I want to buy drinks. A lot of them.
FA: Huh?
Me: I want to buy the first round for the whole plane. That’s probably 40-50 drinks, right?
FA: Huh?
OK, so the quotes aren’t entirely verbatim, but the confusion expressed by the FAs was pretty close. We spent the next 10 minutes chatting about my scheme and trying to figure out the best way to handle the logistics. One option was for her to run the card 30+ times and have me hand the receipts to the lucky drinkers. We threw that one out pretty quickly as way too much work. Eventually we agreed that they’d just do a normal beverage service but rather than charge everyone they would just tally the total drinks consumed and I’d pay the bill at the end of the service.
Because the offer was only revealed after the drink was ordered the initial damage was actually rather limited. We didn’t quite get to the $200 threshold on the first pass. This, of course, raised another issue of trying to figure out how to spend the rest of the credit on board. I made a sign, figuring I’d walk through the cabin offering up the drinks that way.
Ultimately, however, that seemed less friendly. So I just started asking folks if they wanted a drink. I’m wearing a Hawaiian shirt that is similar in color to that of the flight attendants so A few people confused me for that; I even had one ask how to fill out the agricultural declaration form. But once I explained that I’m just a guy buying drinks for anyone who wanted one I did manage to get a few takers. Pretty soon my sales efforts were rewarded and the $200 credit (and a few dollars more) was over. I was willing to keep going (a bit) but the third beverage service is about to start and that means free mai tais for everyone!
I had entirely too much fun on this flight. I don’t know why but flights to Hawaii make me want to have more fun than most. Also, a special thanks to the crew from Alaska Airlines who were willing to help me out on this ridiculous bit of entertainment.
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Tags: Alaska, Alaska Air, Alaska Airlines, American Express, Anchorage, elite status, fees, Hawaii, Honolulu, Mileage Run, PacificLines, Trip Report, upgrade
Posted by Seth on August 12, 2011 under frequent flyer, Mileage Run, points |
The rumor mill is running strong these past 24 hours with Lucky pointing out a possible new scheme for elite status on United Airlines. Yes, it is a rumor, but the framework is pretty well defined so let’s take it for a spin and see just how crazy it is.
The basic qualification requirements would shift from a simple metric – how often/far you fly – to a rather more complicated one. It would still include miles/segments flown (EQMs) but on top of that there would be a count of flights taken on United metal. Most recently Air Canada announced that they would require a certain number of segments as part of their qualifying requirement and several other programs have similar requirements. This is not a particularly controversial change to the program and the number of segments required is pretty low.
And there would be a spend metric.
Yes, after years of wondering when a program would finally start to consider spend as part of their elite qualification it seems that United is going to be first to give it a try. And I actually think it is a smart idea. The spend thresholds are not trivial: 8 cents/mile is the number being rumored. Personally I probably would not qualify at the top level given that number as I do not think I spend $8,000 in airfare on United in any given year. But I’m also not so sure I’m the customer that the airline should be rewarding.
By every rational metric spend should have always been included in calculating the value of a customer to a carrier. Many airlines have done little things here and there to approximate such value (e.g. more points for higher fares) but until recently no one has gone 100% in that direction. And United is not proposing a 100% shift in that direction either, but spend will play a significant role in the qualification process.
When talking about spend rates to requalify for status or to earn points there are a lot of thresholds tossed around. Three or four years ago it would not be uncommon to find deals in the 2.5cpm range without too much trouble. These days those same deals are in the 3.5-4.5cpm range. And there are certainly some people (self included) out there flying on them and accruing a ton of award miles and elite status, too. And the airlines treat those customers the same as the business traveler who is buying full fare tickets and who is actually profitable. That is hardly a rational way for a business to behave.
Just looking at the average numbers, the cost to fly a seat on United last quarter was $0.1423. That’s averaged across all the available seats, not just the occupied ones. If you include the 84.1% load factor (n.b. all numbers from the Q2 2011 10-Q filing) then the cost of operating a filled seat was about $0.1692. It costs nearly 17 cents per mile to operate the seat on average and they’re willing to consider you a loyal customer if you’re paying just under half of that over the course of a year. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the plan is completely irrational because the threshold is still too low.
When JetBlue announced their revamp to the TrueBlue program 18 months ago spend was almost entirely what the focus was on. Virgin America‘s Elevate has a similar structure. The new Rapid Rewards program from Southwest is similarly focused on spend, though still with some variation in the minutiae. Of these, only Southwest currently has an "elite" program and they permit qualifying via spend. So does the Hilton HHonors hotel program. It isn’t like this sort of policy is ground-breaking.
What is revolutionary about it is that the company might just finally be willing to step up and cast off the hangers on. The leeches. The folks who are not profitable to their operations. In other words, Me.
I know that I’m not a profitable customer to United. I realize benefits far in excess of the value I bring to the company. And if this policy becomes real then I’ll be looking at the numbers and deciding if I can meet them or if I’ll be finding another program from which to leech. Certainly the folks at United will not be sorry to see me and my STLKNG fare habit that gets upgrades 80%+ of the time disappear. And anyone who has a similar purchase pattern and believes the company will miss their departure is delusional.
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