In the airline industry, the passenger name record(PNR), is a single record in a computer reservation system that contains a single reservation for one or more passengers. The problem is that PNRs have no memory. They represent one trip. They…
Yesterday, Chris Elliott posted an article on his blog which asked the question…Do Frequent Flier Programs Make You Dishonest. We thought we would respond where we felt he did not, and talk about the issue of frequent flier programs in general, which we don’t quite cover as much.
WestJet has launched a new frequent flier program, called the Frequent Guest program. Now, the way that they are organizing this program is unique. It seems to be a program for the average flier, rather than the frequent flier. We recently bemoaned the fact that airlines have effectively devalued their miles by allowing people to accumulate them on every credit card purchase. We know this is a good deal for them, and for many consumers, but it devalues the definition of the term frequent flier. These companies keep devaluing their miles and limiting the number of award seats.
We’re sad to say that we haven’t flown on Delta much lately. For years, Delta was almost all we flew. We have a bunch of Skymiles, enough for a flight. But, then, other airlnes came to town, with new options, and we didn’t spend as much time with Delta. And our Skymiles were set to expire before we could enjoy our 50,000+ miles.
The idea of a customer loyalty program is a good one. We want to be rewarded for our patronage of any given company, be it an airline, or be it the local supermarket. But there is a serious problem with these programs for their patrons. People forget one word. FREQUENT.
We’re not a hoarder of frequent flier miles. We have them, of course. But, we’ve never been aggressive about it. The credit-card programs only seem to devalue the miles or points in these systems. JetBlue, however, has made several improvements…
We thought we’d clear our backlog of interesting news out before the weekend. Enjoy! JetBlue set a world performance record with one of its Embraer 190s as the regional jet was returned to JetBlue’s home base at JFK from its…
On the lighter side of travel…teacher Dave Barclay flew from Toronto, Canada to Cardiff, in Wales to attend a wedding, only to discover that the wedding was scheduled for next July. Barclay, who spent $1015 on his flight, commented that…
There’s a lot to catch up on… Qantas is expanding its flight schedule to the United States, effective March 2008, bringing total flights to 46 flights per week. The increased schedule includes daily service between Los Angeles and Brisbane effective…
United announced today that it will amend its mileage policies for its frequent flyer program. Miles that are in accounts that are inactive for eighteen months will expire. United does this in the hope that their “most loyal customers will…
There has been a lot of talk about Frequent Flyer programs of late…especially considering the issues in redeeming, since more and more people are accumulating mileage through credit cards, and the airlines are offering fewer seats and raising the amount…
CNN reports that the pilot on an Air Canada Jazz flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg on Saturday returned from the airplane lavatory to discover he was locked out of the cockpit. With 30 minutes to go, the pilot went to…
Insideflyer.com has a fascinating article on the early days of frequent flyer programs here. The days of frequent flyers getting special discounted fares seem gone. The majority of frequent flyer programs are based on awarding mileage or points based on…
