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Roadlife

Frequent fliers, frequent headaches

Meant to build loyalty, the programs are inspiring bad vibes among some of the airlines' best customers.

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published November 23, 2005

The scope of airline frequent flier programs is mind-boggling.

Carriers worldwide claim 74-million members and are growing at 11 percent a year. Some 14-trillion unclaimed miles are out there. The programs generate big bucks. United Airlines once reported in bankruptcy court that Mileage Plus was the only profitable part of the carrier.

But there's a problem. Designed 24 years ago to build brand loyalty, the programs are inspiring bad vibes among some of the airlines' best customers.

Fliers increasingly gripe they can't get rewards they want, either a coach seat at the advertised price or an upgrade to first class.

Much of the trouble comes from the weak financial conditions of traditional airlines. Four carriers - US Airways, United, Delta and Northwest - have cut domestic flights, replaced big jets with smaller ones, or both, as they struggled through bankruptcy.

Experts like Tim Winship, publisher of the travel Web site FrequentFlier.com, suspect airlines are being stingier with the number of seats they make available for frequent flier awards.

"There's a disconnect between the demand for award seats and the supply," he says. "There are fewer seats and less willingness to give away seats. The result is people are more frustrated."

Airlines report how many free tickets they award. But the numbers don't tell consumers what they really need to know. How often do you succeed in getting a flight? Is it the one you want or do you need to settle for a different destination, different day or different time?

As carriers tighten up on regular domestic coach seat awards, Winship says, they drive customers to burn more miles on unrestricted tickets that let you fly on "blackout" dates. Those tickets typically cost 40,000 miles instead of the standard 25,000.

Real frequent fliers - road warriors who fly from 25,000 to more than 100,000 miles annually - face a different dilemma, trying to run up enough miles to earn upgrades from a cramped coach seat into first class.

But that's getting harder, too. Not only are full-service carriers cutting domestic flights, but many have replaced full-size jets with 50- or 70-seat regional jets that don't offer first-class cabins.

Elite fliers also face more competition in the front cabin. Most airlines cut the price of first-class seats in response to Delta, which introduced lower high-end ticket prices called SimpliFares last January. That brought more paying customers and fewer seats for upgrades.

Things aren't as bad as they seem, says Randy Petersen, publisher of InsideFlyer, a magazine devoted to the world of miles and awards.

Free tickets are harder to come by, he says, because planes are flying so full.

But frequent flier programs have become such cash cows that Petersen doubts airlines willdrive them into the ground by getting too stingy with awards. American Airlines' AAdvantage, the world's largest program with 45-million members, generates $1-billion a year, according to the magazine Advertising Age.

About 40 percent of miles earned come from companies that bought them to attract customers. Carriers aren't about to lose that revenue from companies that issue frequent flier credit cards and sell everything from mortgages to flowers, Petersen says.

"It's a little bit of a mess right now," he says, "but they don't want to kill the goose that's laying the golden egg."

-- Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or 813 226-3384.

[Last modified November 23, 2005, 12:44:47]