Continental put the boot in....

[Roland Cooke]

As a very frequent traveller, the smackdown on miles earned and the Platinum bonus is particularly painful. To be fair(?) Continental have delayed longer than most of the other carriers in changing their policies.

Dear Roland Cooke,

Our OnePass® members are important to us, so we are making every effort to keep you informed of some changes to our checked baggage policy and the OnePass program.

Effective Oct. 7, 2008, customers will be charged $15 for their first checked bag when traveling on tickets purchased on or after Sept. 5, 2008, within the U.S., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.

Because you are an Elite member, you are exempt from paying the fee and will be allowed to check your first bag free of charge. Customers traveling with you are also exempt from the fee as long as they are traveling in the same reservation.

Effective for travel on or after Jan. 1, 2009, OnePass members will earn the actual miles flown rather than a minimum of 500 miles per flight for tickets purchased on or after Nov. 15, 2008. This affects base miles and Elite Qualifying Miles on flights operated by Continental* and most OnePass airline partners**.

Also effective for reward travel booked on or after Jan.1, 2009, reward travel mileage requirements will increase for customers traveling between North America and Tel Aviv (TLV) and between Hawaii and Tel Aviv.

Effective for travel on or after March 1, 2009, Elite Mileage Bonuses will decrease for Platinum members from 125% to 100% and for Silver members from 50% to 25% for tickets purchased on or after Nov. 15, 2008. Gold members will continue to earn 100% mileage bonuses.

Full details of all changes can be found at continental.com.

We appreciate your business and look forward to serving you soon.

[BradM]

Thanks, Roland.

Question... why don't they just go up on fares?

1. If everyone is 'feeling' the same pinch, then won't everyone go up?

2. Is it worth the extra fee upsetting your customers even more? I know... people who have to fly will still fly. But trust me... I only fly when I have to.

3. When you create all these games (per bag charge, checking in (or out) size, dimensions, on and on), people will find ways around it, or... to push the envelope as much as possible.

[Stijloor]

Originally Posted by BradM

Thanks, Roland.

Question... why don't they just go up on fares?

1. If everyone is 'feeling' the same pinch, then won't everyone go up?

2. Is it worth the extra fee upsetting your customers even more? I know... people who have to fly will still fly. But trust me... I only fly when I have to.

3. When you create all these games (per bag charge, checking in (or out) size, dimensions, on and on), people will find ways around it, or... to push the envelope as much as possible.

I agree. Actually it's a lot worse; paying a lot more for significant less customer value. Experiencing pain when you buy the ticket, only to get worse when you arrive at the airport and climb aboard...

Stijloor.

[tomvehoski]

The reason airlines won't just up the fare has to do with the nature of internet booking tools. Say airline A wants to up the price on a $400 ticket to $410. When a customer runs a search at expedia, orbitz or the other online sites the $400 price of airline B will be shown first and much more likely to be purchased. All the add-on fees won't show up and the average traveler is not educated enough to think about how much more they will pay for checked baggage, drinks, snacks, etc. The only way for the $10 base fare increase to stick is for all of the other airlines to follow which is difficult to accomplish. It would be against anti-trust law for the airlines to get together and say "hey, lets raise all prices $10". What you will see is one airline institute a price hike, then a day or so later others may follow. Many times the other airlines resist and the airline that raised fares relents to avoid losing bookings.

The airlines have a huge amount of historical data telling them everything they need about purchasing behavior. They know 95% (a guess for illustration) of their customers are loyal only to the price and will take two connections and a six hour layover to save $5. They know their elites are loyal and can take a large chunk of business elsewhere, hence the waiver of these fees for elite members.

In reality it is the customers fault for putting up with the abuse in the long run to save that $5 and cause the other airlines to implement similar policies.

[fletch]

it's kind of a joke! I love traveling but this added fee's thing

forget it

[howste]

Originally Posted by tomvehoski

The reason airlines won't just up the fare has to do with the nature of internet booking tools. Say airline A wants to up the price on a $400 ticket to $410. When a customer runs a search at expedia, orbitz or the other online sites the $400 price of airline B will be shown first and much more likely to be purchased. All the add-on fees won't show up and the average traveler is not educated enough to think about how much more they will pay for checked baggage, drinks, snacks, etc. The only way for the $10 base fare increase to stick is for all of the other airlines to follow which is difficult to accomplish. It would be against anti-trust law for the airlines to get together and say "hey, lets raise all prices $10". What you will see is one airline institute a price hike, then a day or so later others may follow. Many times the other airlines resist and the airline that raised fares relents to avoid losing bookings.

The airlines have a huge amount of historical data telling them everything they need about purchasing behavior. They know 95% (a guess for illustration) of their customers are loyal only to the price and will take two connections and a six hour layover to save $5. They know their elites are loyal and can take a large chunk of business elsewhere, hence the waiver of these fees for elite members.

In reality it is the customers fault for putting up with the abuse in the long run to save that $5 and cause the other airlines to implement similar policies.

That makes a lot of sense. Maybe airline pricing will change if Expedia and the other companies update their software to include baggage pricing and other fees.

I travel a lot, and Delta has never charged me for a bag. Normally I don't check bags, but this week I needed to bring a projector with me and it wouldn't fit in my luggage. Since I was checking a bag anyway, I checked two. It looks like I can check up to three bags still without any charges (as a very frequent flyer).