Why You Probably Should Break Up with Your Loyalty Program if You Fly Fewer than 50,000 Miles...
When it comes to finding loopholes and subterfuges in loyalty programs, I am as relentless as a truffle dog. The flim-flammery is there—I know it—somewhere beneath all that prose that’s as engaging (and sometimes as hard to see through) as the small print on a credit-card agreement.
So when, on Sept. 21, United Continental Holdings, the official name of the now merged Continental and United airlines, introduced the 2012 Mileage Plus Program, I was straining at the leash to sniff out the booby traps.
I went over every word of the new program trying to find a loophole—some clue that would lead me to a “do this and you get that” nugget. I looked at elite requirements (no change); elite upgrade windows (no change); bonus miles (mid-tier elites take a 25-50% haircut, but there’s no remedy I can find); and class-of-service bonus (good, albeit limited, news: more miles at every fare level).
Well, even top truffle dogs come home some days without treasure.
The 2012 Mileage Plus Program is what it is: It works for mid-to-top tier elites and it doesn’t for low-tier ones. So if you are in the former, keep doing what you’re doing—and see the Aug. 2011 “High & Inside,” which tells you how to maximize your loyalty when you’re going steady with one program.
If you’re in the latter category, I’m about to tell you some-thing seemingly heretical, given how I make my living: Your loyalty is your enemy. You’re in a bad relationship and you’re being taken advantage of. You only have eyes for your loyalty program, and it only has eyes for mid- and top-tier elites. Of course, your attention is flattering, but you’re not going to the prom with United-Continental or any other airline for that matter.
My advice to low-tier elites—meaning those of you who fly fewer than 50,000 miles annually on any single airline—is to think twice before committing to one airline loyalty program. The United-Continental program, like most others today, is designed to reward the very frequent flyer and exploit the infrequent flyer by inducing them to pay more to fly the carrier to earn elite qualifying miles, fly indirect routes to do the same, and take part in that hallowed end-of-year ritual—the mileage run. Bottom-tier elites have also seen free elite perks dry up as airlines decided that they could make money by selling them.
The answer for bottom-tier elites is to fly free—free from the delusion of elite status value, that is: Choose flights based on the lowest price, best schedule, upgrade award availability and/or best seat. If anything, you might carry an airline’s credit card to get some (elite) perks, as it is with Delta’s Reserve Credit Card, for example. It gives you free bags, priority boarding, free Sky Club access, and a free domestic First Class companion ticket. Granted, the fee is $450 annually, but that’s usually less costly than trying to earn at least 25,000 miles each year to sit, ignored, on the bottom rung of the Delta elite ladder, which doesn’t guarantee you much more than the person who gets a credit card. (American offers a similar card; the Executive AAdvantage card for $450, Continental has the Presidential Plus card for $395.)
Otherwise, suit up: You have to go for mid-to-top tier status.
Rest assured, however, that the airlines will start decreasing mid-tier status perks as well—as that’s already begun.