The new rules of travel rewards programs travel rewards programs have measured loyalty in miles. Fly 1,000 miles, earn 1,000 miles. Earn 25,000 miles and redeem them for a free domestic coach ticket. Miles were never really the point, of course. They were just a convenient proxy for the price consumers paid for their tickets. But by the time airlines had robust computer systems in place capable of tracking customer spending, mileage based schemes were the industry standard, and for the most part they remained so for decades. Maglie Los Angeles Clippers airline scheme to be thoroughly revenue based.
Program members earned five points for every $1 spent on airfare; and when redeemed for tickets at market prices, points had a set value of around $0.02 apiece. JetBlue converted its TrueBlue program to a revenue based scheme in late 2009. Nike Air Mag And, completing the loyalty trifecta, Southwest redesigned its simple flight based program, Rapid Rewards, to reward members according to their spend in 2010. Canada Goose Ontario Among the full service carriers, it wasn’t until 2015 that Delta made the switch to spend based earning. nike air max 2015 hombre United quickly followed suit, leaving only American among the Big Three legacy carriers to carry on with a mileage scheme predicated on flight distance rather than revenue. New York Knicks With the conversion of American’s AAdvantage program to a spend based scheme in the second half of 2016, the travel rewards landscape will be fundamentally transformed. carriers except for Alaska Airlines will then reward customers’ loyalty in direct proportion to the dollar amount of their spend on airfare. It’s a change for all members of the affected programs. And for the great majority of program members, who travel infrequently, it’s a change for the worse. Nike Air Max 2016 Heren grijs The new game and how to play it What made mileage based programs so popular, and among the most successful marketing tools ever devised, was the possibility of squeezing outsized value from them. Michigan State Spartans Jerseys A 25,000 mile coach class award could be booked for a ticket normally costing $150, or for a ticket worth $1,500. Bailey Button Ugg Triplet With the cheaper ticket, a consumer would be getting 0.6 cents in value for every redeemed mile; for the more expensive ticket, the return on investment would be a full 6 cents per mile.
Savvy travelers knew to save their miles for the pricier flights. With the transition to spend based schemes, the value of miles tends to be set, forestalling the possibility of maximizing their beyond narrowly circumscribed limits. Air Jordan 4 (IV) In Southwest’s Rapid Rewards program, for instance, members earn 6 points per $1 spent on Wanna Get Away fares (Southwest’s most popular fare type); and points are worth around 1.4 cheap jerseys cents each when redeemed for Wanna Get Away tickets. Delta’s SkyMiles program is more of a hybrid, with miles awarded according to members’ spend on revenue tickets, but award tickets priced dynamically according to supply and demand. Kopen Nike Air Max 2017 Goedkoop Although Delta declines to clarify its pricing logic, it appears that the airline aims to solidify the value of its miles at around a penny apiece. NIKE AIR HUARACHE With significant returns limited to elite members, who earn higher multiples than base members, and to higher priced tickets typically only purchased by business travelers, the infrequent leisure flier traveling on a discounted coach ticket will be hard pressed to earn meaningful rewards. asics scarpe tennis bambino So how can average travelers make the best of programs that are increasingly geared to reward only the airlines’ highest fliers? Is it time for air travelers to set aside mileage earning and just shop for the cheapest tickets? Frequent fliers and infrequent fliers In fact, for many travelers, the current crop of award schemes are at best a distraction and at worse a false promise. Air Jordan 13 Retro
sac à dos fjallraven kanken pas cher With the lackluster earning rates and high priced awards, it will be years before average travelers accumulate enough miles to book an award trip. And if they single mindedly fly with their primary airline in order to maximize their mileage earning, they will likely have overpaid by hundreds of dollars by foregoing better deals from competing carriers. What is true for free flights is even truer for elite status and its associated perks. With the new minimum spend requirements to earn elite status ($3,000 for entry level status in United’s MileagePlus program, for instance), earning elite perks on the cheap is no longer an option. To play, you’ll have to pay. Under the new loyalty regime, average travelers are best served by focusing on price, schedule and in flight amenities, and letting the frequent flier chips fall where they may. In the long run, they’ll be ahead of the game financially and they’ll get where they’re going faster and more conveniently. Andre Tippett Big spenders and not so big spenders There is, of course, the alternative route to earning travel rewards: amassing frequent flier points through credit card spending. new balance 373 bleu marine homme With sign up bonuses as high as 100,000 miles or more, and periodic category bonuses (3 miles per $1 spent on groceries or gas, say), credit cards have become the preferred earning vehicle for many rewards focused consumers. NIke Air Foamposite Asics Gel Lyte 5 But a critical assessment of the real value of credit card miles shows that many people get better value with cards that deliver a reliable 2% cash rebate (examples: the Fidelity Visa card and the Citi Double Cash card). asics gel quantum 180 donna As airline miles continue to decline in value, no hassle cash rewards look ever more appealing. For those who do opt for travel rewards, many will be best served by using a credit card that earns convertible points, rather than a card linked to a single airline or hotel program. sac a dos fjallraven kanken france en ligne The Starwood Preferred Guest card has been a standout in this category for years, awarding points that may be transferred to 27 airline programs, including those of Aeroplan, Alaska, American, British Airways, Delta, Hawaiian and United. But the pending merger of Marriott and Starwood puts the future of the Starwood linked card in doubt. What about those eye popping sign up bonuses? There’s certainly an argument to be made for opportunistically snagging an outsized slug of miles (assuming it’s in the context of responsible credit management, of course). But that shouldn’t be confused with an ongoing loyalty strategy, which is a marathon, not a sprint. In any case, the days of credit card churning serially acquiring and cancelling cards, in order to earn generous sign up bonuses multiple times are winding down, as card issuers increasingly limit re applications. new balance 373 bleu orange What about those old miles? You’re sitting on a cache of miles earned when acquiring them was easy and cashing them in was at least potentially a high value proposition. nike goedkoop online What now? As has been the case since the dawn of travel loyalty programs, http://www.cheapjerseys11.com/ the value of those miles is continually under pressure and ever decreasing. Canada Goose Shelburne Parka Maglie Atlanta Hawks And there’s no reason to expect that decline to level off or reverse course in the foreseeable future. Since your miles are more valuable today than they will be next month or next year, the smart move is to redeem them sooner rather than later.
