Airlines to Cheapskate Road Warriors: Pay Up to Keep Your Elite Status

[marmar]

(Bloomberg Businessweek) The loyalty of airline passengers will no longer be measured in miles, as industry watchers have long anticipated. In the future, earning the stature and privileges of a high-end frequent flier will be tallied in a more conventional currency: cold, hard cash. Two of the world’s largest airlines have already moved to impose yearly spending requirements for their traveling elites.

United Airlines (UAL) began notifying members of its MileagePlus program today that the base level of elite, called Premier Silver, would require spending at least $2,500 “premier qualifying dollars” with the company next year, while top-level status, known as 1K, will come with a $10,000 spending minimum. The current system is based on mileage accrual, and travelers will still need to meet those benchmarks—from 25,000 to 100,000 each year—to attain elite status. There’s one loophole, but it also involves spending money: United will waive the spending requirement for program members who spend at least $25,000 next year on a company-branded card issued by JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

United’s new rules largely mirror those that Delta Air Lines (DAL) announced in January for its 2014 program. Delta’s highest status level, Diamond, will require a $12,500 expenditure plus 125,000 miles.

The changes for both United and Delta, which will take effect on Jan. 1, 2015, mark a long-awaited shift in the way the industry measures customer loyalty. The new systems focus on passengers’ financial value to an airline instead of merely calculating who flew the most. The distance-only tallies had become easy to game due to the wide variety of fares on each flight and mileage junkies’ longstanding habit of racking up elite status with flights cobbled together at cheap fares. That practice has been facilitated by online chat boards where fliers trade the best mileage-boosting deals they find. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-19/airlines-to-cheapskate-road-warriors-pay-up-to-keep-your-elite-status#r=rss

[Sherman A1]

1. Well, I will be okay

haven't gotten on a plane since 2001. So I don't see any direct affect to myself.

For those that fly, time to look around and see if there are any other deals to be had.