01-18-2011
02:53 AM
2 Loves
How is this even an answer? It's a regurgitation of the previous blog post---Oh, we had to make changes, we talked to customers (clearly you didn't talk to the hundreds posting on this blog), look at the website, see it works, do the math.
We're not confused. We've done the math. It doesn't work out well for us. With the couple posting about their Ontario flight (old credits earning 1200 when it was a longer flight)... you answer was that the new system is better because if they had flown on the new system they'd be earning much more toward a free flight. WHAT? If you hadn't changed the system on them, they'd also still be earning just as much toward that free flight! The grandfathering is too simplistic (all credits worth 1200 points) to mesh at all with the complex new system. The Ontario couple, and everyone else who was loyal to you and had earned credits, are being left out in the cold. What a cruel loyalty program, to not only hurt its customers but to tell them its better for them.
This whole scenario could easily be avoided if Southwest were actually rewarding frequent fliers--a system of miles or frequency. Rewarding dollars spent isn't even a frequent flier program anymore. It's a percentage cash back program, and the percentage is terrible. If I just wanted cash back to spend toward tickets I'd use ebates with another airline (and still get rewarded for my loyalty through miles). As for the new program being more straightforward... REALLY?!, or why would we need a 'points simulator' at all?
I have grown up on your airline. I have flown with you since I was 3 weeks old. My mother worked for you, I worked for you, I sent you birthday cards showing you how I was getting older on your planes. You had my loyalty with or without Rapid Rewards. Now I just feel like I'm perpetually having wool pulled over my eyes--your response to the feedback you received is actually embarrassing to me as a student of marketing, and you bury the real issues people have with the program beneath kitsch and feel-good stories. You don't even spend any advertising dollars on the new Rapid Rewards because you know it won't help your campaign. Focus on those fees, Brian Lusk, it's all you have left.
As for what I have left after flying with you since before I could speak? I have a bad taste in my mouth, and I have a harder decision to make when flying.
I also have a blog, and lots of followers. 🙂
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