Nov 30 A-List promotion question

[Wheelsup]

I have flown 25 segments last year and will complete 25 this year soon. Now you give A list for four segments. I feel ripped off. I bet a lot of A listers feel the sameway. It makes the perk less valuable in my eyes. And you don’t offer this perk to me. This does not promote loyalty to SWA.

[elijahbrantley]

@Wheelsup I’ve been saying this for years about status match-type incentives. For example, whith hotel status, more top-tier elites dilutes my upgrade chances; same for elites with other airlines. 

Witht that said, I have learned that there is nothing I can do about it. Companies have lots of different marketing tools, and this is one of them...incentivize new folks with temporary elite benefits. At least in this case, there is a very temporary term to the offer unless flyers meet the requirements to extend. Year before last, a certain hotel chain offered a status match for almost two whole years, longer than I — who had been top-tier for five years — could even qualify for based on paid stays (“the hard way”). 

If this is one way SW needs to market itself to drive new business to avoid adding new fees and devaluing the SW experience in other ways, I’m cool with it. The only negative impact to current A Listers is the potential to get a higher boarding position, but with the end of the year rolling around, lots of new folks have qualified and will qualify the normal way, so the A Lost boarding section will be fuller regardless.  

I’ve been feeling all my coworkers about the promo!

If you would like to share your feedback with SW directly, I recommend reaching out to customer relations. 

[dfwskier]

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@Wheelsup wrote:

I have flown 25 segments last year and will complete 25 this year soon. Now you give A list for four segments. I feel ripped off. I bet a lot of A listers feel the sameway. It makes the perk less valuable in my eyes. And you don’t offer this perk to me. This does not promote loyalty to SWA.

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Companies, do this type of thing all the time. Earleir this year Best Western hotels offered to match my elite status at any other hotel chain. Did I sign up? Yup. Am I now more likely to stay at a Best Western property - probably. I won't automatically stay at the other chain where I am already platinum status.

Why do they do it? To get more business. If someone who is not platinum status with Best Western

gets it for one year, is that person more likely to give Best Western more business? If someone who is not A List get's it for a year, is that person more likely to give Southwest more business? The businesses obviously believe that the answer to the question is "yes." It's all about revenue and profit, and companies do what they need to do to maximize both.

That being said, you still have FLy By, A list automatic check in, and the ability to stand by at no cost.

So in reality, the promotion hasn't cost you a thing, but it may bring Southwest more revenue and profit..

[DancingDavidE]

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@Wheelsup wrote:

I have flown 25 segments last year and will complete 25 this year soon. Now you give A list for four segments. I feel ripped off. I bet a lot of A listers feel the sameway. It makes the perk less valuable in my eyes. And you don’t offer this perk to me. This does not promote loyalty to SWA.

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You don't need the offer, you already have it from last year, and are already on target for this year?

It's a good strategy to entice people that they for some reason believe are frequent flyers or will become frequent flyers.

Although unpublished, I have a guess that A-list positions are assigned in some combation of A-list "seniority", date of purchase, and other factors so that you may still be positioned ahead of these folks.

The number of people getting (and using) the promotion is going to be very small compared to the existing body of A-listers...this doesn't bother me, and it will only make the airline stronger by adding more regular passengers.