A new kind of program

[dalbert]

I was replying to another post when it dawned on me that their must be other people out there who fly many different airlines within a given year and are not able to make elite status with any of them, but, fly 25,000- 50,000 miles combined on many different airlines. In my case, my company does not have a stable airline because, I live in the New York area and we have many choices and my company takes advantage of those choices to find the best prices.
There should be a program maybe administered by a private entity that has contracts with all the airlines or a at least the most popular ones that gives some sort of elite status to people like myself who are not able to gain elite status with one airline. I am not saying that these people should receive all the benefits because, that simple would not be fare to the people who exclusively use one airline to get from point A to point B and who have truly earned the extra that come with the loyalty. I am saying that that the people like myself should receive some extras like, one or two upgrades a month or being able to board the aircraft early.
Please share your comments on this idea, I realize that it would probably never come to be, but, I am curious as to what other would think.

[Ariel]

You would need something like GLOBAL PASS (former LATIN PASS)
There you can add mailes/points from different programs like TACA, AEROPOSTAL, SUMMA (Avianca/Aces), KLM, US Airways, and reddem points from HHilon, Marriot, etc.

I am affiliated to that program, and I add to them all the miles I get from other companies I use to travel, but only once or twice a year.
Looks like the best thing to do since I'll never get an elite status en TAC, by example

[NWgoldelite]

I really don't think that something like that would work because the purpose of an elite program is to stick with one airline. If you can fly on any airline and earn miles then their is no point of an elite program.

[Ariel]

I agree, but some small airlines allow you to send your miles to aprogram like LATIN PASS (now GLOBAL PASS). You can get Elite status ther, and get some priviledges, like to use VIP lounges, priority check in, etc.
Certainly the mileages programs were invented to get loyal passangers, but some small airlines would have too little to offer, since they actually know that only a few people is using their services in a regular basis

[dbaker]

Although this may not help you if you're looking for benefits from several domestic carriers, there are large scale alliances between airlines that would allow you to do what you're describing for combining benefits between domestic and international carriers:

Oneworld Alliance (http://www.oneworldalliance.com/)
Star Alliance (http://www.star-alliance.com/)
Sky Team (http://www.skyteam.com/EN/index.jsp)

(ITYT has forums for each of these)

It is hard to imagine a program (private or otherwise) that would successfully be able to reward a lack of loyalty to a particular brand. The closet thing that I can think of new is an American Express card with Membership Rewards which allows you to obtain one point per dollar spent and then you can transfer those 1:1 to most airline programs.

Out of curiosity, what airlines do you end up flying for the most part?

[dalbert]

My company tends to mostly fly me on US Airways, Continental and Delta. Usually, it is US Airways and Continental for most domestic flights and Delta for most international flights.

[NWgoldelite]

Well how often do you fly? i'm sure if you keep accounts with all 3 of them you are bound to get elite on one of them.

[dalbert]

I usually fly every two or three weeks on US Airways or Continental to Washington, DC. Regan National Airport. This only provides me with 500 miles per segment and I do not fly enough segments to qualify for the elite membership based on segments either. I fly with Delta once every three months or so internationally to Paris, Amtersterdam or Bombay India. This provides me with a chunck of miles but I do not fly enough routes in any given year to reach the required number of miles needed to make elite status.