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Airlines continue gutting frequent flier programs
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/frequent-flyer-miles-american-airlines-changes-200607453.htmlAmerican Airlines (AAL) irked customers recently when it announced major changes to its frequent flyer program that would make reward miles less valuable.
Among the controversial changes, one-way domestic flights that once cost 25,000 miles are now broken up into three tiers (20,000 miles, 30,000 miles and a third level American hasn't quantified yet) for some loyalty members, depending on the time of year and destination demand. For example, a one-way domestic Thanksgiving flight might have cost 25,000 miles before and will now likely cost well over 30,000 miles. On the flipside, an off-peak flight could become slightly more affordable.
“What’s crazy about American is they didn’t give anybody any warning,” says George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com. “People are pretty outraged....
But American isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last airline to devalue frequent flyer miles. In November, Delta (DAL) announced that in 2015 it would start awarding miles based on the price of a passenger’s ticket, rather than the distance of their flight. With the change, Delta followed in the footsteps of Virgin America, British Airways and Southwest Air.
Among the controversial changes, one-way domestic flights that once cost 25,000 miles are now broken up into three tiers (20,000 miles, 30,000 miles and a third level American hasn't quantified yet) for some loyalty members, depending on the time of year and destination demand. For example, a one-way domestic Thanksgiving flight might have cost 25,000 miles before and will now likely cost well over 30,000 miles. On the flipside, an off-peak flight could become slightly more affordable.
“What’s crazy about American is they didn’t give anybody any warning,” says George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com. “People are pretty outraged....
But American isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last airline to devalue frequent flyer miles. In November, Delta (DAL) announced that in 2015 it would start awarding miles based on the price of a passenger’s ticket, rather than the distance of their flight. With the change, Delta followed in the footsteps of Virgin America, British Airways and Southwest Air.
