The New York Times covers the steady erosion of frequent-flier programs. People who fly tens of thousands of miles per year on one airline or another get less and less for their loyalty.
US travelers don't know how good they have it. I've flown about 280,000 miles on British Airways since June 2004, but I get practically nothing for my trouble — faster checkin and a lounge to use, but I've never managed to redeem my miles for upgrades, never managed to get a ticket on miles, not even when I book a year in advance. What's more, when BA loses my luggage, I get no help at all, and BA customer service on the phone is often rude enough to make me want to just cancel my trip.
With upgrades scarcer, there are still some benefits to elite-status programs, like getting first dibs on booking such choice seats as aisle seats toward the front of coach or exit row seats with extra legroom. But that, too, is fading.
Then last week, Northwest Airlines, in what it called a test program, started charging an extra fee, $15 for each leg of a flight, to reserve choice coach seats. Anyone can reserve them.
The reaction on Flyertalk.com was swift. You alienate your most loyal fliers "when you start taking away preferred seating," one Northwest Platinum Elite member wrote in a letter to a Northwest executive, adding that he would be taking his business elsewhere.
(via Consumerist)
