2003 Onepass Changes

[dbaker]

Certainly very good news to hear again!

[dbaker]

It has been officially announced and ITYT was pretty much dead-on with the early announcement.

Continental Airlines | 2003 Onepass Changes

[Nugget]

Personally, I think all the changes are realistic and reasonable. The small fee on short-notice reward bookings makes perfect sense to me and frankly the prospect of paying a $50 fee on what would normally be a thousand-dollar fare seems like a reasonable thing.

[dbaker]

It would be neat if you could pay the surcharge with some small mileage amount, but that's not a big deal.

You make a good point; the 25,000mi award booked 30 days in advance is not an identical service as the 25,000mi award booked 4 days in advance and it's contrary to the airline fare model to have allowed it for so many years.

[NWgoldelite]

I clicked on the One Pass changes link, and it doesnt seem to be there. Are you sure this is for real?

According to flyertalk, there more changes than you have listed. Normally upgradable fares to BF (K/H) can be upgraded with miles (depending on space). But on flyertalk, there reporting that your going to have to pay a $200 fee in addition to miles.

[dbaker]

Did we leave the door to the time machine unlocked again?

[Nugget]

CO made a brief, goodnews announcement on Monday and then followed up Tuesday with some quite major revisions to the OnePass program. (This is speculated to be in order to bring OnePass more in line with the Delta SkyTeam structure as the two program become more interconnected).

The changes are brutal for low-far business travellers, effectively doubling the travel requirements to earn elite status. I suspect that the changes will kill both my and dbaker's platinum status (among thousands of others).

[NWgoldelite]

I wrote a complaint letter to Northwest yesterday just to be sure they dont stoop to Continental and Delta's level. Here's what they wrote back:

Thank you for your E-mail.

Please be advised that WorldPerks members flying on Continental will
earn Elite qualifying credit consistent with the WorldPerks program
rules.

For questions regarding the rules of the WorldPerks program and their
partners, please refer to your membership guide or nwa.com.

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with us. We will
continue to make every effort to serve our customers well. Thank you
for your business as a WorldPerks member. The people of Northwest
appreciate your patronage.

We appreciate the opportunity to review this matter with you.

THIS IS GREAT NEWS FOR WORLDPERKS MEMBERS! I'm surprised Gordon would make such a stupid decision, especially if Northwest wasnt going to follow.

[NWgoldelite]

Then again, the letter never says they're not going to follow. Maybe I spoke to soon?

[steveg]

Originally Posted by Nugget

The changes are brutal for low-far business travellers, effectively doubling the travel requirements to earn elite status. I suspect that the changes will kill both my and dbaker's platinum status (among thousands of others).

I fly continental weekly on short flights in my service region. I am a segment flier not a miles acruer. Look at my 2003 numbers

Current Elite Status: Platinum
2003 Elite Mileage: 55,808
2003 Elite Segments: 83

As you can see I fly a lot but on short flights, booked mostly on T class fares. If this was 2004 with the “no segment + 50% Elite Miles” rule in effect I probably wouldn’t clear gold this year after flying at least one flight on continental every week!

Please drop Mr. Bethune a snail mail (According onepass he no longer accepts emails from customers ...)

Continental Airlines
ATTN: Gordon Bethune
P.O. Box 4607
Houston, TX 77002

take the time to send him a letter and fire me your paypal account and I'll buy your stamp

Steveg1967(a)hotmail.com