Archive for September, 2009

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Southwest Airlines Joins the Fee Game

Southwest Airlines announced where you can choose to pay extra for early boarding (aka, getting a better seat). So, in their words you can “choose” to pay $10 extra for a one way flight just to have a better seat.

Ironically, Southwest has spent an enormous amount of marketing dollars taking on the legacy carriers claiming no extra fees for baggage. Well, call it a different fee; one for extra baggage or in this case better seats where basically we end up having Southwest playing the same game as other carriers they have been successfully competing against.

Yes, Southwest says it is a choice to pay the extra fee for a better seat but the last time I flew Southwest in a center seat I made a vow never to be late for a boarding pass and be penalized with a C pass also known as “Center Seat”.

What’s troubling about their new policy is the pure and simple fact that Southwest management has always demonstrated their ability to make money their own way based on decisions independent of the competition.

Apparently, Southwest has taken a whiff of the revenue being generated by the competing legacy carriers and now Southwest wants in. The traveling public (business and leisure) continue to be insulted with excessively punitive fees for baggage, drinks, food and now early boarding.

Here’s a message to the airlines – keep it simple and just increase the fare with all fees built into the airfare.

Survey: Would you pay $10 extra for early boarding?

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Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Continental Airlines: Changes to their frequent-flier program

As discussed in previous newsletters, Continental Airlines will be joining 24 other carriers next month with the Star Alliance. Meanwhile, the good news for frequent flier members will be the ability to earn miles and reward travel on all partner airlines.

Of course, this type of alliance will result in changes to the current Continental OnePass program. The changes will be staggered and take place with the switch to the Star Alliance Oct. 27th and others effective Dec. 15th and Jan. 1st . For easy reference, we have listed a few of the changes:

Summary of Continental’s New OnePass Policies:

Effective on Oct. 27, 2009

  • Saturday-night stay no longer required for OnePass reward travel.
  • 100 percent Elite Qualification Miles and Elite Qualification Points can be earned on discounted fares regardless of where the ticket is purchased or issued.
  • BusinessFirst $100 upgrade co-pay no longer required of members using miles to upgrade from B fare class.
  • Elite bonuses will be based on the minimum mileage earned instead of the actual flight miles flown.
    Effective on Dec. 15, 2009

  • New reward travel fees will apply for redeposit’s, reservation changes and flight bookings within 21 days of departure for rewards redeemed on or after Dec. 15, 2009. There will be no fee for Platinum Elite members. The Gold Elite fee will be $25, the Silver Elite fee will be $50 and for         all other members the fee will be $75. These fees will apply per customer instead of per reservation. OnePass travel reward changes outside of 21 days of travel will remain free if there is no change to the origin and destination.

    • Effective on Jan. 1, 2010

  • All members worldwide will earn 125 percent base miles on F, C, J and D fare classes.
  • All members worldwide will earn 1.5 Elite Qualification Points when they purchase and fly in fare classes F, C, J, D, Z, Y and B on flights operated by Continental.

    • Source: Continental Airlines website

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