DMInsider

I wanted you all to be among the first to hear about some very good news for Preferred members of the US Airways Dividend Miles Program. Tomorrow morning, US Airways is announcing the reinstatement of Preferred bonus miles and the 500 mile segment minimums for all Preferred members. We’ll be awarding retroactive Preferred bonus miles for flight activity from August 6 through November 19, 2008. We’ll also be retroactively posting segment minimums for flight activity from May 1 through November 19, 2008.

The company will also be announcing that all Dividend Miles members will receive a minimum of 500 miles for each segment flown on US Airways Shuttle. US Airways Shuttle 500 minimum miles accruals will also be retroactively credited for qualifying flights taken between May 1, 2008 and Nov. 19.

We’ll officially announce our updates tomorrow but we want you to hear it first. So spread the word (and if you’re not a DM member yet, come join us!).

Find out more

Thanks for your continued support and for choosing US Airways.

Fern Fernandez,
Director, Marketing Programs, US Airways

bevoinva

So with this reinstatement are we going to see the program "enhanced" by upping the mileage required for certain awards the way UA has recently done?

jimmychang

While Randy made an great effort, I believe the decision has more to do with CO & UA not following suit and the slower bookings in the recession.

Nicksta

Wonder if the recent departure of some key persons had anything to do with the new announcement. Too bad for them I alread booked my next 9 flights on AA. Honestly, this would have changed my mind, because now I would have been able to requal. We'll see what Jan and Feb bring, for both me and US!

It is good news - just that it took so long that many people are going to be sore about it. With reason, too.

here2thereinAZ

They can do all that, plus add back their F and J seats, and I will still fly US only on DM miles. After they are gone, I am gone.

Way too many other options and entirely better run airlines out there.

Crazyhotelguy

This is one small step in the right direction..... Better than the giant leaps they have been making in the wrong direction.

This could be a ploy to get more people back on their planes to buy those $2 cokes and $7 beers. I truly do not see any additional F seats being added in the near future....

jucundus

I'm happy as can be for those of you who stuck it out, but this (long overdue) step just restores the status quo ante. That status quo was pretty bad -- bad enough to send me and lots of others running to other, better programs.

This all reminds me of a professor friend of mine who always got top student ratings by one simple method: His syllabus required five research papers, but he always "canceled" two of them out of "sympathy" for his poor, overworked students. He still got three papers out of them (much harder work than I ever did, even in grad school), and they practically ate out of his hand for the "leniency" he showed in canceling the other two.

It was a win-win situation for them: he got more work out of them, while they got a better education and were grateful for the "break."

It is NOT necessarily a win-win situation with US: they may retain more customers, but the status quo ante (plus a few delightful "enhancements") will (absent further back-tracking) still kill the airline in the long run, because demoralized personnel + inferior product = dissatisfied customers = fewer customers = liquidation.

Good luck.

flg8rmatt

http://www.azcentral.com/business/ar...rways1120.html

ZenDZero

I wanted you all to be among the first to hear about some very good news for Preferred members of the US Airways Dividend Miles Program. Tomorrow morning, US Airways is announcing the reinstatement of Preferred bonus miles and the 500 mile segment minimums for all Preferred members. We’ll be awarding retroactive Preferred bonus miles for flight activity from August 6 through November 19, 2008. We’ll also be retroactively posting segment minimums for flight activity from May 1 through November 19, 2008.

The company will also be announcing that all Dividend Miles members will receive a minimum of 500 miles for each segment flown on US Airways Shuttle. US Airways Shuttle 500 minimum miles accruals will also be retroactively credited for qualifying flights taken between May 1, 2008 and Nov. 19.

We’ll officially announce our updates tomorrow but we want you to hear it first. So spread the word (and if you’re not a DM member yet, come join us!). Find out more.

http://www.usairways.com/awa/content...its.aspx?c=eml

Thanks for your continued support and for choosing US Airways.

Fern Fernandez,
Director, Marketing Programs, US Airways

photojojo

It will help stop some of the bleeding... But a lot of damage has already been done.

uva185

Well this is good news and retroactively awarding segment minimums and preferred bonus miles is a very nice touch!! ^

ArizonaGuy

I forgot that preferred bonuses don't count towards status. I still need to take a flight soon. Maybe a PHX-LAS run now that it'll be 1000 R/T. I'm 54 miles away from maintaining silver.

photojojo

BINGO!

photojojo

Sort of makes you wonder where the phrase: "The beatings will continue until morale improves" came from.

ArizonaGuy

It sucks, I'd love to leave. And Delta has my interest. Problem is I like non-stops from PHX where UA doesn't cover and I like *A awards which rules out WN.

I'll take my 500 minimums and gladly connect once in a while through LAS (that's about the only domestic connection I will regularly put up with) for the extra grand. I'm a lowly SP and that 500 min alone can mean the difference between me retaining SP or not.