Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
27.07.2023 - 18:34 / smartertravel.com / Tim Winship
With Delta and United’s transition to spend-based loyalty programs last year, and American’s upcoming later this year, there’s no longer room for debate as to the industry standard. Travelers should now expect to be rewarded according to their spend, not according to the number of miles they fly.
For the great majority of flyers, the new schemes are a negative. Miles are harder (more expensive) to earn. And in many cases, award prices have been raised as well. For infrequent leisure travelers, mileage programs are teetering on the brink of irrelevance.
Most mileage programs, that is. There remains one significant holdout in the rush to adopt revenue-based loyalty models: Alaska Airlines.
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When Alaska signaled its intention to retain its traditional mileage-based system a year ago, the promise was generally interpreted as a highly provisional one. It was less a long-term commitment, more a short-term acknowledgement of practical reality.
In a presentation at last week’s J.P. Morgan Aviation, Transportation and Industrials Conference in New York (webcast here), Alaska’s CEO and CFO once again addressed the issue. In response to a question regarding the future status of Alaska’s Mileage Plan program, CFO Brad Pedersen had this to say:
At this point, we like where we’re at. We’re essentially sticking with the traditional model. It gives us the opportunity to look at how we perform versus how others perform. We wouldn’t say that we would never go to that certainly, but we like where we’re at…
Alaska’s top managers went on to compare their carrier’s mileage-based program to Southwest’s no-bag-fee policy, calling it a point of differentiation from other carriers. As a result, they claimed, “its value has gone up.”
Once again, the airline stopped well short of promising that Mileage Plan will remain in its current state forever. But at least for the foreseeable future, average travelers looking to get worthwhile value from an airline program will find that Alaska’s program is at the top of a very short list.
Reader Reality Check
Do you get more or less value from the new spend-based loyalty programs?
More from SmarterTravel: The 10 Worst U.S. Cities for Traffic Spring Travel Forecast: More Flyers, Less Comfort Airline Nuisance Fees – Should They Be Outlawed?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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Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
It’s been awhile since Hyatt’s last systemwide bonus promotion. That will be remedied beginning next month, with a new offer that, at least for high-frequency travelers, will have been well worth the wait.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Likely in response to JetBlue’s systemwide double-points promotion, in effect through February 29, Virgin America is also offering double points, but only on select routes.
With the high probability of Virgin America’s being folded into Alaska Airlines within the next two years, Virgin loyalists are in the market for an alternative. And JetBlue wants to be that alternative.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Enter the Clos Du Bois “Spring in Sonoma” sweepstakes by April 26, 2016, for a chance to win one of the two grand prizes: trips for two to Sonoma, including air, three nights’ hotel, and $700 spending money.
In February, when Starbucks announced it was converting its frequent-drinker program to a revenue-based scheme, there was a collective groan from the caffeinated crowd. As with similar conversions by the major airlines, Starbucks’ new earning rules would mean fewer rewards for most customers.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Could Spirit, the airline everybody loves to hate, become a bit less hateful? If the company’s new CEO has his way, it will do just that.