Executive Travel SkyGuide

ON BOARD WITH RANDY PETERSEN

READERS SUGGEST PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS
October 2004
by Randy Petersen

Question:
Why can't frequent flyer programs develop a computer reserve list system? When an award to a specific destination becomes available, the customer who agrees to the terms and is next on the list would be booked on that flight. This would reduce calls to their call center and raise customer satisfaction.

Answer:
I hear you, but let's remember that awards with many programs have been difficult to redeem lately because the flights have been full anyway. On the six United flights I have been on in the past two weeks, all were 100-percent full.

However, there is something in your comments that I've been harping on for some time. United and American recently announced that they were lowering 750-mile awards to only 15,000 miles, and I really don't think that's a great strategy at all. I firmly believe they should be putting time and effort into creating more value in the award redemption process they already have.

I think we'd all gain by an airline program stepping up to the plate by adopting a system similar to yours—essentially an award waitlist. With all the technology they must have at their disposal, I'd think this would be a natural. Will this come? Yes. Because you and I are not going to stop until they hear us.

Question:
My husband and I are members of Delta's frequent flyer program. Last fall we booked two award tickets to England. About four weeks before the trip, we learned my mother-in-law had a terminal illness with less than a month to live. I called Delta to cancel the tickets, and my options were to use them before the one-year issue date or redeposit the miles at a cost of $100 each. Why on earth such a large fee to redeposit our own miles?

Answer:
Most other frequent flyer programs do charge these same "outrageous" fees for re-deposits of miles. And I hope you don't mind—but I've got to agree that the fees are appropriate. I'm reasonably sure that in almost any industry, canceling a "special order" results in a "re-stocking" fee.

Let me explain. While you were holding that reservation, the Delta SkyMiles program had to tell other members who also may have been interested in that flight that there were no awards available. Or, in case the plane was fully booked in that class of service for the flight, Delta may have been unable to resell those seats to someone else for real money. When you cancelled the reservation, those seats became available again, but it was likely too close to the date of travel for the airline to again offer them up.

It's certainly not the labor involved, as most, if not all, of this is now electronic—it's more the loss of their ability to re-award the seats or to sell them.

Nearly 25 percent of awards are changed once booked. Not all are re-deposited; some are merely date changes and the like, but that's a lot of free seat inventory that may not be available when you, I and others want it.

You can contact Randy Petersen at randy@insideflyer.com.