Loyalty Jungle

I generally stay away from loyalty programs. It simply feels like having more freedom of choice when you are not by default confined to just one brand.

But there is one exception - the frequent flyer program run by United Airlines, who are a member of the Star Alliance. The reason is I do fly a lot, and most of the connections from/to my home town are served by Star Alliance airlines: LOT, Turkish, Austrian and Lufthansa. That is - of course - when you do not count the European low cost behemoths: Ryanair and Wizz. Intra-Europe destinations are typically best served by the two. Yes I know people complain a lot, but this is a typical whining to get more clicks. Because - to be honest - the low cost airlines deliver just awesome value for money when you fly point-to-point. There are no transfers and the flights are typically very short so the tight legroom does not matter.

Things are different when there are no direct flights, which typically is the case for any intercontinental trip. There are transfers and the flights are longer, and especially for transfers, having included lounge access in the ticket is a nice extra. Out of the Star Alliance airlines' loyalty programs I have settled for the United Mileage Plus for two reasons. One is it offers the highest transparency. When you are waitlisted for an upgrade you know your position in the line and often it is very obvious why. Also speaking of available rewards, United is quite decent - as a frequent flyer it is not unusual to be upgraded to a wider/flatter seat.

Then they make all the visible appearance (which honestly is pretty annoying): "Thank you Mr X for being 1K". Dear United representative, not your fault, and yeah I know your app shows you all my data and tells you to greet me by name, but I'd rather pretend to be anonymous. But hey, anonymity is probably only available from the proper First Class up (the limousine service etc.) which is even not available on United. Or you better fly a private jet. 

Now with all those gestures and recognitions, the dark side of the loyalty programs is that they try to shave you off all the time. And this is so transparent too, so it all does not make sense - am I really an important customer or do you want to rob me whenever there is an opportunity?

The example is how the loyalty points are accumulated. The general rule is simple: 1 point (PQP) for every 1 USD spent on tickets. But then there is another rule: the number of flights taken (PQF). The latter should be easy to count. But it isn't. There is a lot of fine print, almost an entire jungle. 

See the attached picture. I booked a flight with Lufthansa (a recognized Star Alliance member) with two legs: KRK-FRA and FRA-MCO. The KRA-FRA flight was operated by a Lufthansa aircraft and the FRA-MCO by Discover, a Lufthansa daughter company. As this was a 5-day trip, I packed only a carry-on and booked a ticket without checked luggage. Looking at the points/flights statement I now see points credited for both legs, but the KRK-FRA flight did not count as a flight: PQF is zero.

The fine print (and you really need to dig deeply to find that) says that the Lufthansa carry-on-only ticket does not entitle me to have the flights counted as qualifying flights. It does not say so about Discover, so the FRA-MCO counted, even though it was the same ticket in the same booking class. There simply is no "exception" in the United Mileage Plus program rules for Discover Airlines, only for Lufthansa.

In other words what United are saying: you are not a loyal customer when you have no checked luggage. Who invented that crap? And is such "optimization" bringing the intended benefits? Dear Richard Nunn if you really think so, think twice!