Word: traveled
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...displacing paying passengers. Julius Maldutis, an airline expert with the Salomon Brothers investment firm, estimates that honoring all those free tickets could cost the airlines $1.24 billion in lost revenue. With some carriers already losing money, the added burden could be devastating. Admits Mark Lacek, director of business-travel marketing at Northwest Airlines: "It's suicide marketing. Insanity...
...jumped from about 3,500 a day before triple mileage was offered to 7,000 a day now. At the same time, triple mileage has sharply increased the rate at which passengers rack up miles -- and free trips. Says H.G. ("Red") MacKenzie, vice president of the American Society of Travel Agents: "Triple mileage is stupid. The airlines have given away the candy store." Agrees Dan Brock, senior vice president for marketing at Piedmont: "There's no question that the move was excessive...
...Travelers are willing to follow circuitous paths simply to drop more free miles into their kitty. Reports Ardi Perry, a travel agent at Aquarius Travel Service in West Palm Beach, Fla.: "We have people who will change in Atlanta and accept a layover when they used to fuss. It's just to build up mileage." Passengers go out of their way to stay on the same carrier whenever possible. That is the main benefit that frequent-flyer clubs offer to the airlines. Says John Pincavage, an airline analyst at the Paine Webber investment firm: "The | frequent-flyer plan...
...keep their choice flights open to more paying passengers, many carriers encourage frequent flyers to use their travel bonuses during off-peak periods. An unrestricted Eastern or Continental round-trip ticket to Hawaii normally costs 50,000 miles. During off-peak seasons in the fall and late spring, the same trip can be had for 30,000 miles. At American, travelers can fly economy class to Europe for 90,000 miles. But off-peak the same trip costs 60,000 miles...
...rewrite the basic rules governing the plans. When a few carriers tried last year to increase the number of miles needed to qualify for free trips, many consumers were outraged. Attorneys general in several states concluded that the airlines' action was illegal, and the carriers backed off. But travelers remain wary. Tom Nolan, a Palo Alto, Calif., attorney who has banked 150,000 miles on United, is contemplating a trip to Malaysia, Singapore and China later this year. It is earlier than he would like to travel, but, he says, "I'm very concerned that they're going to eliminate...