One of the questions I've been asked frequently the past few weeks is whether or not the airlines will have double elite qualifying miles promotions next years. It's something I hadn't thought about a whole lot, since I like to take it one mile year at a time. That being said, I'll go out on…
Continue reading: Some predictions for next year….
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
"I think it goes without saying we’ll see a round of double elite qualifying miles around March or so."
+1. Though I wonder if the promotion will apply to flights booked before registering. I'll cry if they won't!
+1 for the elite ranks swelling. My household has gone from just ME (as a DL Plat) to myself (DL Diamond), my partner (DL Gold) & my mom (DL Silver)...
I can understand why people think there will be more elites, due to anecdotal evidence but I'm really not so sure about this. For every person who's gaining elite status they never would've had without the DEQM promotions, I'm sure there's at least one person whose flying has been severely curtailed. This could mean anything from not flying for business, non flying internationally or even people being more price conscious and going outside of their preferred programs.
I feel that sometimes those of us who actively follow this stuff end up believing in the fallacy that we're the norm and that everyone is signing up for DEQM promotions and sticking to an airline.
It is worthwhile to remember that we dedicated frequent flyers and Flyertalk members are quite in the minority compared to the vast majority of flyers. Many people did not even know about the Double EQM offers. With the poor state of the economy likely to continue, travel will remain reduced, and the airlines will need to continue to keep their elite customers and attract as much business as possible.
why would they wait till march? the economy is bad and they know it, Feb is usually the lowest time travel month of the year, and with a possible recovery on the horizon, the last thing the airline want to do is ground more planes, and a DEQM would be a good way to keep the load capacity up during the few months before summer.
You've mentioned mostly UA. Do you think DL will have its DEQM bonus in the first half of 2010, like it did in 2009, or wait until later in the year.
More importanly, when do you think DEQM announcement will be made? I've been holding off on making some reservations for March-May anticipating a DEQM so I can plan accordingly. I'm only booking the necessary travel right now, hoping that I can dovetail a few MRs in and around the other upcoming travel requirements.
Great point: While the hard number of elites remains equal, the proportion of elites to seats has risen, which makes battlefield upgrades a nightmare.
I'd think that maybe they'd consider new--or old--tactics instead of DEQMs though. In the 1990's they had a "fly 50% of Elite Qualification in the First Quarter and get status" promo... So if you flew 25k EQMs on UA by March 31, you got Premier Exec. That might be interesting...