Alaska Airlines has been much in the news lately, with its acquisition of Virgin America and the announcement that it will be severing ties with longtime marketing partner Delta.
Eclipsed by those high-profile stories was this week’s announcement of enhancements to its Mileage Plan loyalty program, and, more importantly, a forward-looking statement regarding the program’s future form.
But first, the changes.
Lower award prices for shorter flights. Award prices for flights less than 700 miles are reduced from 7,500 to 5,000 miles. And flights less than 2,101 miles are reduced from 12,500 to between 5,000 and 10,000 miles. More miles when flying on select airline partners, plus mileage credit on more coach fares. Elite upgrades for Mileage Plan members flying on award tickets.
Those are positive changes, to a solid program. The bigger news, however, is what’s not changing.
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The key question in the minds of both travelers and industry-watchers has been if, or more likely when, Alaska would succumb to Wall Street pressure and follow American, Delta, and United in converting its loyalty program to a spend-based scheme. That move would likely increase revenue from Alaska’s most profitable customers, but would strip the program of value for average travelers.
Alaska has addressed the question in the past, assuring customers that there were no plans to switch from the current mileage-based earning scheme. But such pronouncements only apply to the short term; they hardly rule out such a change in the medium or longer term. And, as frequent flyers know all too well, airlines’ plans do change.
But the latest Alaska news release included the following:
Again, that’s no guarantee that Mileage Plan will remain mileage-based forever. But it’s a clear signal that the company has explored the alternatives and made a strategic decision to maintain a program that works for the many, not just for the few.
For the great majority of travelers, that’s great news.
Reader Reality Check
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After 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.
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In 2014, at the behest of Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), the DOT’s Office of Inspector General began an audit of U.S. frequent flyer programs, and the DOT’s monitoring thereof, with a particular focus on unfair and deceptive practices (summary, with a link to the full .pdf report, here). The audit results were published this month, with the following headline: “Improvements needed in DOT’s process for identifying unfair or deceptive practices in airline frequent flyer programs.”
Beginning on June 1, Spirit will become the third airline to pull out of the Cuba market altogether, joining Frontier and Silver Airways. Two other airlines, American and JetBlue, have cut capacity on their Cuba flights, either by reducing frequency or downgrading to smaller planes.
In a first for a U.S. airline loyalty program, Alaska Airlines is offering members of its Mileage Plan program the option to redeem miles to pay for TSA PreCheck service.
Alaska Airlines is justly lauded for its Mileage Plan loyalty program, which among other features boasts 17 airline partners, allowing program members to earn and redeem miles for flights throughout the world.
Until yesterday, American Airlines customers dismayed at the airline’s August 1 pivot to a spend-based mileage program had a fallback option: Earn miles for their American flights in Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan program, which still awards miles the old-fashioned way, according to the distance flown.
Ever since Delta began ramping up operations in Seattle, Alaska Airlines’ hometown and main flight hub, the relationship between the two airlines has been disintegrating. And there was plenty to disintegrate. The carriers were long-time partners in each other’s frequent-flyer programs, and they code-shared on a host of flights. They were, in the industry vernacular, preferred marketing partners.
Wi-Fi access isn’t free on Alaska Airlines flights. But at least for the next year, the airline’s passengers can use inflight Wi-Fi to send and receive unlimited texts for free.
By traditional measures, Alaska Airlines is a carrier of decidedly modest size, even after its acquisition of Virgin America. Its own flight network is small, compared to those of American, Delta, and United. And it’s not a member of one of the three global airline alliances.
When American Airlines merged with US Airways, American’s disgruntled unions were unanimous in their support for what amounted to a hostile takeover of the much-larger American by Doug Parker and his mid-sized US Airways.
I recently dubbed Alaska Airlines’ loyalty program, Mileage Plan, the “Best Mileage Program for Average Travelers.” It’s a hard-won honor, awarded for two principal reasons. First, Alaska has chosen to retain Mileage Plan’s distance-based earning scheme, even as most other airlines have adopted less generous spend-based earning. And second, Alaska has cobbled together a roster of earning and redemption partners that rivals those of the world’s largest airlines.