Nearly everyone will agree that devaluation to loyalty programs (or just about anything else) sucks. And this week, sadly, there’s a lot of suckage to talk about. Air Canada downgraded their upgrade program, adding co-pays for many customers and making the certs harder to use in many scenarios. Delta has downgraded their award chart, jacking up prices on many business class routes. And the US Department of Justice has downgraded the chances of American and US Air getting a merger consummated thanks to a lawsuit seeking to block the deal. Finally, Delta is already cutting a route from their new Asia hub in Seattle, even before they fully ramp up service there. All in all, that’s a pretty sad collection of news.
But there is some good news, too. Registration has opened for Starwood’s fall promo, though they’ve also added more hotels to the exclusion list. And, for a brief period of time, American accidentally made a targeted promo for elite status rather untargeted. Both Stephan and I signed up for the deal but it seems unlikely either of us will try to actually hit the numbers. Listen to this week’s show to hear why.
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