WSJ Article on Mileage award availability

[DK23]

Read this on WSJ - interesting article - Dan, any comments?

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304885404579548042629259758?mg=reno64-wsj

[avremie]

Delta most improved???

[DK23]

Delta most improved???

It went from worst to 7th worst! 

[ilherman]

Huh, Jet Blue in top of the list? And why is Emirates not 1 of the top on the list?

[ilherman]

DL on top of AF. I'm confused. Very confused.

[Something Fishy]

http://boardingarea.com/viewfromthewing/2013/05/09/dont-be-fooled-by-the-flawed-award-seat-availability-study/

[Bostener]

"Air Berlin and Southwest Airlines had seats available on every query made in the survey, ranking them at the top for the third year in a row."



Anyone else had this experience?

Or how about this one " At the bottom of the rankings were US Airways and Avianca Taca of Latin America. US Airways, with seats available on only 35% of queries, has consistently found itself around the bottom of the rankings, "

[ilherman]

"Air Berlin and Southwest Airlines had seats available on every query made in the survey, ranking them at the top for the third year in a row."



Anyone else had this experience?

Or how about this one " At the bottom of the rankings were US Airways and Avianca Taca of Latin America. US Airways, with seats available on only 35% of queries, has consistently found itself around the bottom of the rankings, "

DL on top of AF. I'm confused. Very confused.

http://boardingarea.com/viewfromthewing/2013/05/09/dont-be-fooled-by-the-flawed-award-seat-availability-study/

[zh cohen]

I think people are missing the point of this study.

We all know that no matter how generous an award program is on paper, if they don't have any availability, their points are worth nothing. This study is only about availability, not about which is the best program.

I still would rely more on the experience of people on this forum because the methodology of the study can be questioned, but as far as keeping the airlines honest, this is a great thing.

[DK23]

I think people are missing the point of this study.

We all know that no matter how generous an award program is on paper, if they don't have any availability, their points are worth nothing. This study is only about availability, not about which is the best program.

I still would rely more on the experience of people on this forum because the methodology of the study can be questioned, but as far as keeping the airlines honest, this is a great thing.

Public exposure regarding award availability will hopefully show airlines that there is value to maintaing availability.

[SavingsBigtime]

Well I did learn one thing from the artical, when its time for renewal I am going to say there was no reward ticket available for when I needed so I would like to cancelle my card . Lets see what happenes ?

Has anybody used that to waive the annual fee ?( I know it's supposed to be in the other topic but just asking it here because of the article )

[DK23]

Well I did learn one thing from the artical, when its time for renewal I am going to say there was no reward ticket available for when I needed so I would like to cancelle my card . Lets see what happenes ?

Has anybody used that to waive the annual fee ?( I know it's supposed to be in the other topic but just asking it here because of the article )

Not a bad idea - I'd reference the article to a supervisor too 

[ariIs]

For all the flaws in the study, it does bring up a good point about avaiability.
Even if the traditional FF programs can get your better values per point, for people who are on a schedule (read: people who actually have a day job), scheduling is everything. If I can't use my FF miles for the flight I need on the dates I need, it's almost worthless to me.
I can't fly at the last minute, and I can't take my kids out of school just because there is award availability that day.
I'd rather pay a bit more, and get the right schdule.
Revenue based programs provide that flexibility, while traditional awards generally do not.

Of course, once you're into revenue-award land, you can justify just using cash back cards, since you can get 2% and better liquidity vs. 1.7% (southwest for example at 1.7cpp) and worse liquidity.