Happy New Year, everybody! Indeed, today is a happy day, both for me personally and for Southwest Airlines, as we are officially unveiling our All-New Rapid Rewards program. I know many of you have been anxiously waiting for us to announce the details of the new program, and believe me, we have been just as anxious to share our plans with you. This is, after all, the single biggest new product launch in our Company’s history, and I am so proud to be a part of it. While the new program will not officially launch until March 1, 2011, we are announcing the details today to give our Members plenty of time to become familiar with the changes.
Believe it or not, we actually began work on enhancing our Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program several years ago. While I know that seems like an awfully long time, it is hard to comprehend the magnitude and scope that goes into revamping an entire loyalty program. If you think about it, our Rapid Rewards program impacts almost every single aspect of our operation and our Company, from our Frontline Employees, to our Customer Support and Services Representatives, to our Customer Relations and Rapid Rewards Employees, to our Technology folks and our Reservations system, to our policies and procedures--not to mention all of the research that goes into hearing what our Members want to see in a new program.
And that is exactly what the All-New Rapid Rewards program is all about--meeting your needs and the needs of today’s traveler. We began by asking you, our Customers, and even those who don’t currently fly on Southwest, what is important to them in a loyalty program. We conducted months of Customer surveys, focus groups, and research to find out what travelers like about our current program, what they don’t like, and what they’d like to see changed. Best of all – we listened!
You told us that you don’t like blackout dates, seat restrictions, expiring credits, and limited options for earning and redeeming your credits, and that you did want additional ways to redeem, including travel to international destinations. Well, do I have some good news for you! In the All-New Rapid Rewards program, Members can redeem their points for every seat, every day, on every flight, with absolutely no blackout dates or seat restrictions. Simply put, if we are selling the seat, you can redeem points for it. And points don’t expire as long as you have some earning activity in a 24-month time period. Members will earn points for every dollar spent, so the amount of points you earn is based on the fare and fare product purchased. The same is true for redeeming points.
Another new feature of the enhanced program that we are really excited about is that Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Credit Cardmembers will not only be able to redeem their points for Southwest flights, but they will also be able to redeem their points for international flights to more than 800 worldwide destinations, for hotel stays, gift cards, and much more.
The new program is designed to give you, our Customers, more control and flexibility over how and when you earn and redeem your points. When you buy certain fare products, you earn more points. And you can get the most out of your points by planning ahead so you can redeem them for the lowest fare possible. When you can plan ahead, you spend fewer points, and when a flight goes on sale, the number of points needed to redeem for that flight goes on sale, too. In the new program, you have the flexibility to spend your points as you wish. After all, this is a program designed for you, and these are your points!
The new program also features enhancements for our A-List Members and includes a new level of status with the A-List Preferred level. A-List Members will now enjoy new benefits, including a 25 percent earning bonus on flights. Additionally, the new A-List Preferred level includes all of the benefits of A-List, plus a 100 percent earning bonus on flights in addition to a few other benefits. And we’re excited to carry our popular Companion Pass program into the All-New Rapid Rewards.
Of course, Current Rapid Rewards Members will retain their existing Awards and credits, and our A-List and Companion Pass Members will retain their status level in the new program. All Members will be enrolled in the new program, and there is no need for them to re-enroll.
There are far too many details of our new program for me to mention here, and we’ve developed a whole host of resources and information for you to learn about the All-New Rapid Rewards. I encourage you to watch the brief videos that accompany this post right here on our blog, as they help explain the crucial elements of the new program. Additionally, we created a special web site, www.newrapidrewards.com, where you can learn even more. Plus, existing Rapid Rewards Members should be on the lookout for information that we will send directly to them.
I know our Rapid Rewards program is beloved and has been around for 24 years, and for the most part, we haven’t really changed it that much. But the time for an upgrade has come, and we truly believe that we have taken an award-winning program and made it even better. I hope you will agree, and I wish you all the very best throughout the New Year!
Comments
This new program is an absolute disaster. I find that I am likely to save money under the new program - so I am probably in the target demographic - but it makes it impossible to predict when you'll be eligible for a free flight, so it does away with the best thing about the old program: simplicity. If they needed to make more money, they could have changed the number of flights necessary for a free trip - and if they were worried about long-haul vs. short-haul flights, I suppose they could offer double rewards for anything over a certain distance - but this new system is not more fair, it is just more complicated and less user-friendly. I am actually willing to pay more for cheerfulness and ease of use. I hate the new system with a passion.
I AM NOT MAD, but I have some important comments.
I am an avid elite traveler on SWA and AA. While I remain personally optomistic about the new program, SWA has gone from the most simple, to the most complex of frequent flier programs in the industry. Complex calculations are involved in both earnind and redeeming. While I don't mind this, I will say I fear the casual SWA traveler will be lost.
THE BIG DOWNER?
Under the old 1.0 RR, redeeming for last minute or within a few days of travel was easy. If ample empty seats were unsold, SWA was great to make the seats available with just a "standard award."...a good thing for both customer and SWA!
Since these seats will now be available based on the available fare.....we all know these seats will be priced higher since it is less than 7 days prior to departure.....no "get away" fares, and thus no lower-point-redemption inventory. With only premium fare seats available, they will be a premium price in points to acquire. The result? Waste. We will not be able to obtain likely empty seats at a good rate, and this, will be a lose/lose for both SWA and Customer!
This is the one part of the new program I feel is terribly wasteful. And I think it merits a modifation to the 2.0 plan.
Amazing post, do you have contact details ? I need a writer for my blog.
As a frequent flyer, (weekly commuter for 5+ years), I feel these program changes are a very distinct change of direction as to the types of customers SW is looking for. It is a dissapointment as the SW brand equity is diminished and as a frequent flyer I will look elsewhere when in the past SW was an automatic selection for me. Already today I booked AA instead of SW as they were cheaper by over half on a KC to Phx flight.
Thank you Southwest....and goodbye. I wish you all the best. But since you are just as expensive or even more expensive than the legacies, why should I continue to fly you when you just devalued my travel but something like 75%? I travel for business and never check a bag....stop throwing that "perk" up to me. I travel short hops on the west coast, it will take me years to get a free flight with your new scheme.
I hear Virgin is nice.
Smart management would only have to look at the percentage of negitivity in these 150 blogs to reconsider this "improvement". I agree that the old system was far from "broke" the new system is not a "fix".
I've gone from denial to anger to depression and finally now to acceptance. I knew that SWA would need to change the Rapid Rewards program in some way once it went international, otherwise I could make 8 roundtrips from Dallas to Austin and then get a free flight to London or Paris! The new program will make it more difficult for me to get a free flight (in some cases much more difficult) and initially seems fairly complicated--perhaps easier to understand as a 10% credit dollarwise against a future flight, if you stay in the same tier. But with no black-out dates and no seats held back, plus no baggage fees, etc, I think that Rapid Rewards will still have advantages over other airline programs in most cases. And I would still rather fly Southwest.
As has already been pointed out by several commenters, the ones who lose out here are the short haul business travelers.
I make 60+ trips a year back forth between Oakland and LA and I've been rewarded handsomely by Southwest for my loyalty. That's all about to change. The new system will halve my rewards. (On top of that, the number of daily flights has been cut dramatically. Perhaps that's what's allowed SW to keep fares high for the last couple months.)
All in all, the new business model no longer caters to customers like me. (And based on the number of familiar faces I see on my flights, I'm far from alone.)
For the last few years I have been telling everyone that SW is the last airline that treats you right. No fee for changing a ticket. Banking your funds for a year. No bag fees. Fun employees who really seem to like their job and appreciate your business.
Then you take away the ability for me to give the funds from an unused ticket in my name to another family member or friend. "The government made us do it."
Now you make it more expensive for us to earn a free ticket "because we asked you to change the Rapid Rewards program."
What will be next? Bag fees? A fee for changing your travel plans? No refunds or banking of funds?
Those of us in the sandwich generation [many of us are now retired and on a lesser income] who are helping take care of aging parents have been loyal to SW especially for the flexibility with our bookings. We have also been loyal because whether we flew from OH to TX or OH to Chicago we earned the same credit. A trip was a trip and we could earn a free trip without having to be a road warrior or spending a fortune. Now all that changes.
The people being hurt with the new RR program are those of us who routinely fly on Wanna Get Away fares. It will cost us at least twice as much money to get the same free trip.
I remember --- rear facing seats; your 30th birthday for which I wrote a song; using www.iflyswa.com and a phone number to match [that's how I call you all the time]; Set LUV Free campaign; 10 minute turns and getting there early so I could be first in line. You did a good thing regarding 'getting in line'. Thank you.
Unfortunately, SW is becoming more like the other airlines bit by bit. If there is no difference, we might as well forget loyalty and just shop the price and take the non-stop airline rather than the connection with SW.
If the bottom line is that you cannot afford to let us have the free ticket as often, then just say so and we can accept that you have to tighten your expenses just as we do. But do not insult our intelligence by telling this that it will be better for us. We do not believe you and we will leave.
I'm not happy about this. I just used the point simulator and this new program hurts short route flyers.....have you guys & girls at Southwest forgotten who made you so successful over the years? It was the short hop business and leisure traveler, not the long haul cross country flyer that prefers "full service" carriers. Now, you're going to take away the one program that was a big benefit to us...that was really easy and now you've made it difficult and unattractive.
Who were the people you were talking to in your focus groups? Who conducted these market studies? Probably some consulting firm that was out to make millions of dollars off of changing and migrating the existing program. Who benefits from this change? Business & IT Consultants who will charge hundreds of dollars per hour to "help" you migrate your existing program over.....provide change management ideas.....and then tell you to hire a Marketing Agency to help you get the new message out and manage your Brand. It's too bad you didn't realize that the decision to make this change is HURTING your brand! Please tell me why I should fly you over Jet Blue, Allegiant, or US Air? You've turned off this flyer......I'm an A-List member for 2 yrs running and have flown over 80 times in the past 24 months......good bye.