Brian,
I have watched the videos and studied it in great detail throughout most of the day. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it's a worse deal.
Broken down into it's simplist form: I get 6 points for every dollar spent, but it takes 10 times that to buy a ticket at equivilant prices. Translation: All things being equal, I now how to fly 10 roundtrip flights to earn a free flight. Before it was 8.
I agree with the post a few above where he said if it was about losing money, SWA should have just required 10 flights for a reward and/or $1,500 spent on your Visa to get a credit. Why make it so complicated? It rewards you for spending more money with SWA, not being a loyal customer. Who wants to be rewarded for spending the most? Maybe some, but personally I preferred being rewarded for not ever shopping the competition.
Now here's a question for you Brian, that I'm hoping hasn't been changed:
Are the points transferrable or can they only be spent by the people who earned them?
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A polished cow pie is still a cow pie.
The main selling feature of the old program was that it was EASY to understand and use! Now we'll never know when we have a free flight (nor know how much it will cost us) because the points change by the minute depending on market conditions and how many seats have been sold! And Lord forbid that last Wanna Get Away seat is sold before you can hit the "confirm" button. Now your points are worth half as much and you're paying an outrageously more expensive price for the Anytime. You compare it to the other airlines and say how much better it is, but at least I have a much better idea how much that ticket is going to cost me before I log on with the other guys.
And those of you saying it's great because there's no blackout dates, just wait until you're trying to get a ticket on a flight where there's nothing left but a $600 Business Select and that Freedom Award that used to cost you two Standard Awards is going to look like flea market prices.
You guys were a model for customer loyalty in my college business classes because you were in touch with the common man. You were "fun!" I REALLY appreciate that you "got it" when you held the line on bags fly free, but now with the newest changes to the RR program and unused travel funds not being transferrable anymore, I'm starting to wonder if you really did "get it."
I know in business, Loyalty is extremely difficult to put a price tag on in terms of value. But SWA hasn't been profitable almost every year of it's existance from it's smart money managing alone. You offered a stripped down product for cheaper and the people came. You didn't try to nickel and dime us nor rob us blind for short-term profit, and the people have loved you for it. Now with the changes in RR and travel funds, we're seeing something we don't like.
If you start losing market share for no explanation in the next couple of years, make sure to consider that you might have underestimated the value of your "Loyal Customers" which can't be bought back nearly as easy or cheaply as they were sold for.
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