My Grandma used to say, "We become what we sneer at." In many ways it would appear that this has happened to this wonderful carrier. A few years back, I recall one of Southwest's on-hold messages making fun of airlines who forced their customers to count points in order to earn an award ticket. And now look where we are.
Like many loyal Rapid Rewards members, I thought the old system was beautiful in its simplicity. I used to make day/weekend trips between OMA-MDW and could earn a reward ticket with just eight trips and by spending between $600 and $800.
Now that it seems $49 fares are a thing of the past—I do understand about the cost of fuel—I'll have to make nearly FOUR TIMES the number of MDW trips in order to earn an award.
Sadly, I think these changes are just a sign of the time, but I sure do miss the old Southwest of just a few months ago. I feel it does no good to huff and snort about taking my modest business to another carrier, as one change in my travel plans would wipe away pretty much the entire price of the ticket, thanks to the stringent policies of the legacy carriers, and thebags-fly-free remains an attractive selling point. (Southwest has made fun of both of these in recent TV commercials, could this be an omen?) I will just be making fewer trips.
Southwest, as a loyal customer for more than 15 years, I plead with you to reverse this new policy. Can't you give 1/4 or even 1/8 of a credit to things like car rentals and hotel stays?
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Good Grief, People...
This has degenearted into Bad Theatre. Brian, I think you're doing an estimable job of keeping a cool head in the face of the particularly persistent people who don't seem to have anything better to do than to continue to attack. (I'm tempted to say theyÃ
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