I have been a long fan of Southwest. I understand the need for changes in the Rapid Rewards program. But the failure to design the program in a way that respects priore committments you have made, and a deceptive marketing campaign that seems to attempt to obscure what will happen to those committments is very disappointing.
I am referring to the plight of the leisure traveller who has been slowly accruing credits in the Rapid Rewards Program in the hope of earning a free ticket. Many of these customers steer their business to you in the hope of a free ticket every year or two.
Consider the customer who has accumulated 12 credits, and needs to get their 16th credit by December 31. They were looking forward to the free ticket they were to receive after two more round trips. But now, they all of a sudden need more than two more round trips. If they pay $100 each way, they now need 4 round trips. But even worse, it is not just that they need to fly more. As Dec 31 approaches, they will start losing their accumulated credits. All 12 credits they accumulated will slowly disappear.
This scenario applies to a lot of customers. But the worst part of this is that pronouncements you made on your web site and in emails that "your credits are safe" is outright deceptive to these customers. Because of a marketing campaign aimed at convincing this type of customer that they do not need to worry about their accumulated credits, when it is clearly the case that they need to worry, you will have many customers who will feel tricked and deceived when they realize what is happening. Unfortunately, the belief that they were decieved will be justified.
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