Are travelers giving up on loyalty programs?

[Ken555]

http://elliott.org/the-navigator/travelers-giving-loyalty-programs/

THE NAVIGATOR|By Christopher ElliottonJuly 27th, 2014


It’s finally happening.

After years of putting up with blackout dates, broken promises and bait-and-switch games, American travelers — particularly air travelers — are saying “Enough!”

They’re refusing to play the loyalty-program game, jettisoning blind brand allegiance in favor of a more pragmatic view of travel. Price and convenience are trumping mindless devotion to an airline, a car rental company or a hotel.

In a recent survey, a plurality of travelers (38 percent) said that finding the best deal topped their list, a tectonic shift from previous years, when collecting credits in a frequent-flier or frequent-stayer program was more important. Only 9 percent of travelers will book their trips based on loyalty to an airline or hotel chain, according to the poll conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of Capital One.

 

[chriskre]

38% of those travelling? Seems like 62% still are loyal.
How much was it in the past?
62% staying loyal seems like a lot of loyalty to me.
What else can they expect?

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

[chriskre]

Oh sorry missed the last part about only 9% loyalty.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

[Dori]

I find it is getting harder and harder to find flights using my Air Miles programme. Aeroplan is a little easier, but flights from Toronto carry ridiculous taxes. My favourite loyalty programme is Southwest. We drive to Buffalo to fly with them. Finding reward flights using Rapid Rewards is not like finding a needle in a haystack.

Dori

 

[winger]

...Finding reward flights using Rapid Rewards is not like finding a needle in a haystack.

Dori

That is an understatement. With Southwest Rapid Rewards, as long as there is a revenue seat, you can put the seat with reward points.

 

[newportbeach]

Loyalty- United Rewards

I booked today to go to Hawaii, and I wanted to use my United Rewards points.
First, I needed to consolidate my points with those of my wife, to get to the 45,000 points that were needed. Ok, they allow transfer of points, and I was directed to do so on the website. Zinger: a cost of $300 to transfer 15,000 points. Wow.

Second: the basic seat available was row 35 of 37(I am guessing it right next to the bath room. Zinger for $69 I could move up to emergency rows and for $72 I could get an emergency row window. Or for 90,000 rewards points I could get better seating, of course not first class.

I am not feeling very loyal now. Maybe I will get lucky and at the airport be able to move up my seats, but the airlines manage to fly full, using what the agent explained as canceling the prior flight if so many seats are empty and cramming everyone into the following flight. At first, I though he was kidding, but notice how Hawaii flights fly with no empty seats, and the flights are so over booked that free offers are usually being offered.

Speaking of what agents say. Last time I called for reward flights, I was told that all the designated reward seats were booked. I thought to myself, well what a great way to advertise no black out dates, just offer one reward seat per flight and absolutely never two together.

I once observed on Flyertalk someone offering for a fee to arrange your planned trip so as to maximize your reward usage. Does anyone, recall how to contact them. I am willing to sign up, because I don't have the inclination to
climb such a huge mountain that seems also like a moving target.

 

[slip]

I used some of my United miles last week. First time I used award miles for a
Hawaii trip. Madison, Wi to Chicago, Chicago to Honolulu then Honolulu to
Lihue for 5-6-15 to 5-20-15. Two free round trip flights for 117,000 miles. I have
Seen some flights cheaper, 90,000 miles for two round trip tickets but the dates
Weren't close to what I wanted. I was able to choose from a ton of seats. We
Chose the two end seats on the 777 so we're sitting by ourselves in row 28 out of 53.
I'm a happy camper. Plus I have enough miles for a couple of rt tickets to
Vegas.

 

[dougp26364]

The only loyalty program we really use has been UAL's FF program and that's only for the double miles we can get at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants. We use them to get to Hawaii EOY but, at 180,000 mile for two tickets, this ride could be coming to an end. When booking airfare we look to the combination of price, schedule and preference (not a big USAir fan for instance).

With hotels it's all about the combination of price, quality and are they pet friendly. We've stuck with Marriott brands mainly because we're comfortable with those three qualifications and can generally find a Town Park Suites or Residence Inn in our price range. As to Marriott's loyatly program, it has no hold on us. The benefits aren't strong enough to keep me from looking at competitiors options.

 

[DaveNV]

Sometimes the Loyalty program itself makes it hard to remain loyal to it. My willingness to try and stay loyal is being challenged at every turn...

My reward program of choice was Alaska. Living near Seattle, it made a lot of sense.

But since I signed up, my (former) bank dropped the Alaska Airlines debit card for my checking account. So, no more free miles that way, for using my debit card. (I've since switched banks, so not a biggie. That plan was the only reason I was still with them.) But I miss the monthly bump in FF miles I was earning.

I have the Alaska Airlines Visa card, because of earned FF miles, and the annual Companion Fare. At first, we used it for flying First Class to Hawaii every year. But they started to chip away at that perk, and now it's a Coach seat only. Not too bad, but I've discovered the price for the paid seat is substantially higher than what you'd pay if you were just buying a seat without the Companion ticket.

Then they started charging much more miles for a FF seat. What used to be 25K miles is now 40K or higher. And if you want a reasonable seat on a reasonable flight at a reasonable hour, the FF miles required are through the roof.

And the biggest offense lately is a restructuring of the flight schedules. For me to get to Hawaii from Seattle at a reasonable hour, I can't fly the nonstop that leaves Seattle directly to my island of choice. I have to route through another city. On my next trip, to make it to Maui around midday, I have to leave Seattle at the break of day, and fly through Sacramento. It adds several hours onto the flight time, making for a much longer travel day.

Don't get me wrong - I still prefer flying Alaska Airlines, but it's becoming harder and harder to try and make something out of their FF program. For me, it's harder than ever to acquire miles, and then when I have them, it's harder to use them.

So for as much as people are deserting their loyalty programs, sometimes it's the program that's deserted the member.

Dave

 

[cgeidl]

We have used American miles to Europe several times

We are very flexible with dates within a month and have booked American flights to Europe several times at 20,000 miles per one way. We book close to 330 days out in May and October which are low mileage times. Not easy and takes time but have been successful four times in the last 10 years.
Recently booked San Francisco to Iraklion Crete by British Air.
Fly SFO TO Heathrow and then have an 18 hour layover followed by the flight to Crete from Gatwick. We kind of like the 18 hour layover and have time to run into London or elsewhere and book a hotel for the night. Flight to Crete leaves around 9 Am and arrives around 1PM.
We also have USAIRWays miles and they are combining miles someway in the near future. We only got one way as we wanted to be able to establish plans with dates flying in but will fly out on a SPACE available basis on a military flight from Crete or on Space Available on USAIRWAYS.

 

[Passepartout]

For us, our small airport is only served by Delta, and it's only destination is to a Delta hub. We don't fly enough now, since retirement to amass a lot of miles, so when we get enough for a domestic flight, we simply use them. To hoard them in the hopes that we'll get enough for a Hawaii, or Europe trip on Delta is ludicrous. They devalue the miles about as fast as we collect them.

We still have enough Southwest rewards to take the Grands on a vacation soon, but that'll be about the end of those, too.

Our motto: When you have enough for an upgrade or domestic flight, use it.

Jim

 

[PamMo]

I've flown almost exclusively on American/One World for years, so I appreciate the upgrades, free checked bags, priority seating in coach, priority TSA screening, etc. When I price flights on other airlines and factor in additional fees, staying with American Airlines makes sense for me. The mileage game is another matter altogether. Getting good use out of miles takes a lot of planning, timing, and luck - and rules change all the time (sort of like timesharing). My loyalty has very little to do with earning devalued FF miles.

 

[Elan]

For us, our small airport is only served by Delta, and it's only destination is to a Delta hub. We don't fly enough now, since retirement to amass a lot of miles, so when we get enough for a domestic flight, we simply use them. To hoard them in the hopes that we'll get enough for a Hawaii, or Europe trip on Delta is ludicrous. They devalue the miles about as fast as we collect them.

We still have enough Southwest rewards to take the Grands on a vacation soon, but that'll be about the end of those, too.

Our motto: When you have enough for an upgrade or domestic flight, use it.

Jim

That's how I look at it also. I just burned 50K UAL miles to fly 5 of us one way to LAX. I figured it wasn't any great value for the miles, but I also figured I should use them while they still had any value. United used to offer some decent regional deals, like 10K miles RT to SFO. Haven't seen those in a while.

 

[Ken555]

Clearly if you don't fly often, then loyalty programs haven't been very valuable and are becoming even less so over time. I'm flying to the east coast for a conference and a client meeting soon. I'm flying three different airlines. And, it ended up being less expensive for me to add a stop in Miami (to visit family and friends) for a couple of days rather than simply flying back to LA from another city.

I did decide to finally burn my Virgin America account on a one-way on this trip, since I have enough to do so and am not actively collecting those points.

While I have my preference on which airline to fly, cost and fight duration to final destination dictates most of the decision. I'm flying Delta on this upcoming trip since they had the best times...only to discover a week after purchase that they changed the equipment and the time, making it now about par with Virgin, which I would have flown given the new times. Also, I thought Delta still offered affordable Economy Plus (or whatever they call it) seats, but it turns out they only show the price after ticket purchase and on my flight cross country they want a whopping $89 for a 4.5 hr flight. Things like this just me even less loyal to the airlines. But, at least they are finally making a profit.

 

[DeniseM]

We don't fly for business, but we put every cent we spend on credit cards that earn miles, and that can really add up. You just have to be disciplined to pay it off every month, so there is no interest.

 

[mav]

I know this is supposed to be about airlines,
but I can't help but say I am REALLY LOVING my status on various hotel brands, ESPECIALLY traveling overseas to Europe and the Middle East . Not giving up on them at all, unless something big changes.

 

[x3 skier]

IMHO, Mr Elliott is a buffoon. His writing has been so off the mark and sensationalized in the past, I disregard anything he says.

In this case, if 39% don't pay attention to loyalty programs and 9% do, what are the other 52% doing? Since the airlines are making money again even with these changes, any reversal in loyalty program terms and conditions that he thinks might happen is dreaming.

Myself, since I have lifetime status on Delta and AA, I book them or their partners. For hotels, having status with the Hilton and Starwood families via their branded credit cards gets me perks worth the loyalty. OTOH, if I didn't have status, loyalty programs would be irrelevant to me because since I retired, I don't travel enough to get enough points/miles to amount to anything. I just keep spending down my miles/points which have gone from 2000000+ to around 1000000+ in DL & AA & Hilton.

YMMV

Cheers

 

[mdurette]

We don't fly for business, but we put every cent we spend on credit cards that earn miles, and that can really add up. You just have to be disciplined to pay it off every month, so there is no interest.

I'm with you here....no business travel for me. But, our family of 3 hops on a plane 3-5 times per year for vacations. (and two of them are peak school vacation weeks!) I haven't paid for a seat for any of us in about 5 years due to my working of the Southwest RR Credit Card. Charging anything I can think of and shopping through their online portal gains me enough points every year for a Companion Pass. Once I top off the account to earn the companion pass.....I move over to my Marriot card.

But as you mention, the key is to pay it off EVERY month. Don't ever let it roll, the cost of interest negates the benefits of the free flights.

 

[Dori]

Grrr. I just received notice that my Choice Privileges MasterCard will no longer be associated with Choice , effective at the end of September. I loved this card, as I have the option of transferring points to Southwest.

Being Canadian, I cannot apply for a SW cc., so this was a perfect work-around. I guess I'll wind up cancelling this card, and will have to rely on our yearly flights and points from E-Rewards surveys to keep my Rapid Rewards alive.

Dori