Wednesday May 14 2008
Living in Denver I usually fly United on long flights in order to rack up miles, and also take advantage of mileage building promotions like credit cards and online shopping.
Well this sucks: Following US Airway’s lead , United will no longer give you a 500 mile minimum for flights less than 500 miles.
If you fly from Colorado Springs to Denver for a connection, or from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Chicago as I often do - you could always count on at least 500 miles. Not bad for those who fly from tertiary cities that require a short flight, but would be a long drive. Now you’ll only get credited the actual distance flown - a measly 70 miles from COS-DEN.
While I don’t care for the recent avalanche of airline rules and restrictions most haven’t affected me. I don’t check a second bag, I don’t buy food on short flights, but this new policy is a bummer for me. Here’s the discussion from flyertalk.com and the notice from UAL (and below)
Mileage Plus accrual policy for flights less than 500 miles
To ensure that Mileage Plus miles earned toward award travel on United and elite status are aligned with actual miles flown, we are revising our base accrual policy. Effective July 1, 2008, all travel on United, United Express, Ted, Star Alliance and partner airline* flights credited to the Mileage Plus Program will accrue actual miles, with no minimum. This change affects only those flights that are less than 500 miles. Flights greater than 500 miles have always accrued actual miles, and are not affected by this policy change.This new mileage structure applies to travel on or after July 1, 2008, regardless of when the flight was ticketed. (Flights of less than 500 miles flown on or before June 30, 2008, will fall under the previous accrual policy.)
July 12th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I agree the loss of the 500 mile minimum on United is disappointing. In a more perfect world we would have high speed rail hubs all over the country to make such short flights unnecessary. For journeys of 500 miles or less high speed rail would beat the pants off of air travel both in terms of convenience and carbon footprint.
Imagine if we could cut all of those short hop flights the savings in terms of natural resources would be astounding. Even from a land use perspective we would be much better off. Airports gobble up huge amounts of land and noise pollute much more land near airports.
Just think about the reduction of air traffic out of a place like O’Hare. Minneapolis, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cleveland, Detroit, Des Moines, Kansas City would all be within easy reach of Chicago by high speed rail. Now imagine that hub concept applied to other parts of the country. No imagine those high speed lines stopping at major international airports to connect with long-haul flights.
This is the kind of stuff I fantasize about when I am not daydreaming about winning the lottery.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:30 am
I agree 100%. While it might be more difficult here out west where cities are hundreds of miles apart, I see no reason why we couldn’t implement this on the coasts and the midwest.
I’ve though about this too - and I agree 100%. While it may not work here out west where cities are hundreds of miles apart, there’s no reason we could implement this on the coasts and the midwest.
I don’t know if this would be a wise idea given the recent history of the airline industry, but, if the airlines had some sort of financial stake in regional rail it would provide incentives for them to work WITH planners and give hope that rail reach airports and terminals. Otherwise I see airlines and airports fighting these every step of the way. (While continuing to overschedule flights while travellers suffer in our dilapidated terminals.)
In some locales it is possible to do piecemeal approach currently. This week my mom, who lives in Michigan, is riding Amtrak down to Chicago and flying out of O’Hare to Denver. (via the Blue Line El Train.) Fares from Grand Rapids are expensive right now - so she’s actually saving some money. Unfortunately she won’t save time, but she’s retired…