(Start of 1st session)

SMessier Hi Randy.

freeupgrade Hi randy

Randy Petersen I think it's that time, shall we begin with the topics that we want to chat about tonight and/or the first question?

freeupgrade Yes

SMessier Are you going first FU?

freeupgrade My question is: what changes do you see ahead re: AA elite levels?

freeupgrade Thanks .

Randy Petersen OK, I see the first question, let me type in an answer....

Randy Petersen AA elite levels. This is a tough one to answer because I honestly don't see any real advances from any of the programs for what lies ahead. I hope the answer isn't in the area of upgrade cutbacks like Delta. While I have heard a few rumors from the AA camp, I haven't heard anything substantiated from those who make the decisions. So....my guess, business as usual with no major changes in elite structure.

freeupgrade Ok - by the way - I am doing Segment 59 on Fri. - almost there. Thanks.

Cyrano I was disappointed that Delta is eliminating their system wide upgrades.

SMessier I have a question! :-) It seems the airlines are doing great, and many are cutting benefits, e.g. DL and SWU, making most cheap fares ineligible for upgrades, NW not giving miles for CyberSaver, etc... What do you make of these changes, and do you think the airlines are setting themselves for trouble if the economy slows down and passenger #'s go down. (I'm kind of answering the question myself there, but what the heck!).

Randy Petersen Good question about cutting benefits. Let's try and separate the CyberFare issue with NWA. It really isn't a change of benefits to the WP program. I think it's being driven by the revenue side of the airline business rather than WP. It's certainly a trend that I see continuing. Actually we¹ve become pretty spoiled (I'm in that camp) because most programs around the world don't offer miles for any discounted fares, let alone these new CyberFares. My guess is that Delta, United and the others are watching and glad that one of their brethren is taking the lead (heat) so they can judge whether to follow.

Randy Petersen I'd like to go back to the AA elite question a little bit. Here's additional comments on that subject from me......

Randy Petersen For the AA Elite, my guess is that AA will introduce a higher level based on miles (100k sounds right to me) because they are experiencing a drop-off at the higher level from those that realize that other than "revenue" their op offer is at 50,000 miles with AA. For guys like 59 segments, there's not much to aspire to.....

SMessier US Bank (which issues the NW Visa) just announced a 3% surcharge on foreign purchases - I know you've been vocal on this before. Any comments on this recent attempt?

freeupgrade Tell me about it - I really have a problem with the fact that I cannot fly 75 or 90 segments (like UA or CO) and qualify for EXP

Randy Petersen As for the rumor of AA leaving oneworld......no way. There's is every bit of truth that BA has worked on solutions to not leave oneworld but rather extend themselves to other global alliances. That is likely the scenario, but AA leaving oneworld? I really can't see that happening, where they going to go? Set up the AAWings alliance with future partner Northwest?

freeupgrade I agree re: One World - I highly doubt this will occur. They have made a huge marketing investment for one thing.

Randy Petersen SMessier - Honestly and unedited....I'm pissed. This is a very unfair and ludicrous move being used by banks that penalize everyone for what they consider higher fees in pursuing bad charge fees from international merchants. I say they are ripping us off. I just got my United Visa bill the other day and on a $32 purchase in France two weeks ago was charged a flat $10 additional fee I'm going to rip up those bank cards that are doing this and going to find a card to use internationally that doesn't try to make the easy money off me.

SMessier I couldn't agree more. I was enjoying putting all my miles into the NW program, but it looks like those days are over...

Randy Petersen freeupgrade- In all candid to AA, I've never considered EXP to be a legit elite level though they market it as such. I have told them several times that they are too low for the air warrior and let themselves exposed to the success of 1K at United and other top tier programs.....

freeupgrade I agree - again, you make a good point - once I hit 60 segments (which will be next week) where is the incentive for me to fly AA the rest of the year?

Randy Petersen There isn't one...is there?

freeupgrade No - there really is not.

FewMiles Apart from 100% plat bonus, no incentive, as it sounds like it is impossible to reach EXP.

freeupgrade Exactly FewMiles - that is what is wrong with EXP - one should be able to qualify based on segments

freeupgrade That - sorry for bad spelling.

freeupgrade What AA needs to realize is that not everyone does transcontinental and intl. flights??

FewMiles Were you the one who asked about that on the AA board? I replied that 100000 miles/500 points minimum per segment = 200 segments!!

Cyrano What about Delta's new Skyteam affiliation? It doesn't look like huge benefits until you reach top (platinum) elite levels - then you can use the lounges and so forth.

freeupgrade Yes - I am guilty - I do think it should be less than 200 segments though. (haha)

Randy Petersen Cyrano......gee SkyTeam.....sort of a "global" Platinum Medallion here? Certainly Air France and AeroMexico couldn't have contributed much?

freeupgrade If anyone wants to know if the 767's to HNL will have footrests in F - I hope to find out tomorrow from someone who's spouse is Managing Director - Aircraft Engineering - he is in charge of all aircraft reconfiguration. At AA

FlyMore Make sure that you post it on the board that would be great to know

Cyrano I agree Randy. It seems like a lot of fluff at Delta for not much. I am also pissed about losing the system wide upgrade bonuses in 2001. I have gone to Europe twice in business elite and it was great!

freeupgrade I will FlyMore..

kendoll70 Hi Randy, any idea when BA will bring back the Concorde. What about Air France?

Randy Petersen Cyrano.....As for the SWU's., you may want to stop in for the special chat about that on Thursday night and also visit www.saveskymiles.com on Thursday when that new Web site launches. We're hoping to make a difference....

Late as Usual Randy do you have more information on that web site...I have not heard about it

Cyrano I should reach Platinum by year end, but they should be offering more perks to Gold and Silver medallions

Randy Petersen Concorde? I think that's the old airplane that is totally locked up in litigation right now. I'm not really an aircraft expert and have seen comments from those that are that predict it will never fly again commercially but that it will enjoy a great afterlife as a charter......

Hilton Head Do you think that anything will come out of the lawsuit that they filed against Continental?

BostonBoy Randy, I want your opinion on something when you get a chance...I'll post it on the boards and it is loosely related to the topic in the forum of your name, but not totally: I was on a recent UA flight and as you know, they did meal orders by status. Generally I never really know how they put non-status F paying customers, but this came up on this flight. My seatmate has no status, but was paying the full First Class fare. Yet the FA asked him LAST what he wanted, since he had no status. He was very upset. Should airlines give priority to cheap fare status or expensive fare no-status (the thread in "only" forum is based on cheap status vs. expensive status).

Randy Petersen Late As Usual - the www.saveskymiles.com Web site is a collected effort by many FlyerTalkers to provide Delta with evidence that the change to SWUs is detrimental to their business. It will feature special chats and more importantly an "ePetition" for Delta's benefit.

Cyrano Randy, that is a great idea!

Late as Usual It will be available on Thursday?

Cyrano I noticed that a flight I made to Stockholm last year had a business elite that was only half full! How can Delta be stingy with such a nice and appreciated perk?

Randy Petersen Hilton Head - yes, there will be a settlement since Continental "confessed" in public to be missing some metal. At least they had the guts to volunteer that, after all, how many other airlines do you know who would have set themselves up for litigation. CO will pay but only from their insured risk account.....

More Miles Do you know how much the settlement was for?

Cyrano Unfortunately, the end of SW's is consistent with Delta's restrictions on upgrades for cheap fares. I have objected that First Class should never fly less than full if Medallion level members are on board and that penalizing economy fares is a big turn off.

Randy Petersen BostonBoy - Food? Well, I've been the recipient and the loser of my choice of menus. I'm going to say that I don't fly an airline for the quality of its food nor do I skip a meal to wait for that on board experience. So, start at the front of the cabin and move backward to ask what we want. Yes I know that my aversion to "bulkhead" will mean I never get what I want, but I've learned to always know what "coach" is eating anyway.... Spoiled? Not me, besides maybe I'll be lucky enough that the flight will arrive so early that it will interrupt meal service....

BostonBoy Actually, Randy, I think it goes beyond food. It's cheap status vs. one-time high fare. Which is more important?

Randy Petersen Late As Usual - yes, www.saveskymiles.com will be live on Thursday...though more likely Wednesday night. Thanks for the interest.

Randy Petersen BostonBoy......sorry, I missed supper and was somewhere else with that question. I now understand. My vote is on status (cheap status being better than no status at all) though airlines are into this "Profiling" mode these days and my guess is that they vote for high fare because they don't know it's only a one-night (excuse me, one-flight) stand.....

More Miles Well put Randy!

Randy Petersen OK, now I've got something I'd like all your feedback on......get ready to answer me, here comes a question to you....

Randy Petersen We're thinking of sponsoring the next "PIP" and grand opening of our House of Miles here in Colorado Springs. What would you say if we put on a "MilesFest" next early May which will consist of a wild weekend here in Colorado Springs to celebrate the 20th birthday of frequent flyer miles, a massive FlyerTalk get together and the grand opening of our House of Miles...

FlyByNight That would be great!

SMessier I would say, are you flying us in? Sounds good to me.

Cyrano Sounds like fun!

kendoll70 Great !!!

Mileschick I bet he's cashing in some of his miles to get us there

Cyrano What, exactly is the "House of Miles"?

YouGoGirl Do we all stay at your house?

FewMiles House of Miles is across the street from the House of Kilometers.

More Miles Are you going to show us the town?

Randy Petersen It will feature a million mile give-a-way, representatives from various programs to answer your questions, dinners and other cool things...including souvenir t-shirts and goodies. I think I could even talk most of the programs to lift capacity controls for award use on that weekend.....

STLFlyer Apart from the House of Miles, what's doing in COS?

Hilton Head That I would like to see!

show me the miles What other activities would you plan?

Randy Petersen The House of Miles is the affectionate name for our new office building. We've got a growing collection of memorabilia about the programs. Imagine a Hard Rock Cafe devoted to frequent flyer miles instead.....

Cyrano Colorado Springs is hard to reach by air, if I remember. Could you arrange bus service from Denver?

FlyMore Doesn¹t it snow there in May?

Late as Usual I've heard that you have to fly through Denver anyway to connect for a 15-minute flight

Randy Petersen Certainly...heck, half the flights that United cancels coming from Denver end up on busses...

bannoy Doesn¹t Colorado Springs have the USOC?

Late as Usual Ain't that the truth!

Cyrano CS has the air force academy, yes?

STLFlyer Randy: What are big carriers in COS>

STLFlyer ?

Randy Petersen COS has direct service from Chicago, Dallas, Houston, SLC, LA and STL.... Impressive huh?

Late as Usual I'm there!

Randy Petersen STLFlyer....United owns about 60-70% of the traffic......though I have an very unconfirmed rumor that it may all change next May 1.....

Cyrano Southwest??!!!

Hilton Head Probably not....

Randy Petersen OK, back to miles and points and the bigger issues of being a frequent flyer...Who's got the next question?

FlyByNight What's the deal with MilePoint are they going to launch?

Randy Petersen Probably Not? We'll see. I think if anything happens, it will be announced on December 1st.... but you know that SWA never comments or leaks anything....but speculation always continues...

Randy Petersen OK, here's the deal with MilePoint......

Randy Petersen Launch date is confirmed on October 30th. They will launch with over 200 merchants including the 38 merchants from the Flooz network, which are coming over. A new deal with Amazon starts things with 10% off anything on their site (remember, 2 cents for every mile you have). And there will be nothing lower than 10% and going to 100%.....

Cyrano How can you easily track affiliate programs with FF and hotel awards? I'm thinking of problems I have with Hertz getting credit on Marriott awards. About every six months I get Hertz to fax me all my rental receipts for the last six months and then I mail them to Marriott. Marriott figures out which ones haven't been credited and takes care of it. But there is no easy way to get confirmation- when I book and rent- that I am getting credit.

Randy Petersen Flooz Network partners on MilePoint include J. Crew....as for other airlines and partners. I predict that United and Membership Rewards as well as Diners Club will be among the next to sign on....

YouGoGirl You can also go to milepoint.com and register your email address

bannoy I am a little confused... Can you tell me the difference between the soon-to-be MilePoint program and the new AOL/AAdvantage deal is? I'm not quite sure...

Randy Petersen Cyrano - this problem is never ending since the car rental agencies are not always corporate owned and they use a different system than Marriott or others. This is a problem and I have challenged all programs several times to not put the fault on the frequent flyer. I'd say that the first one to guarantee that I'll get the credit or I'll get a settlement of 4 times the amount of points eligible will get my business. There's no guarantee that anyone listens. This isn't just about car rental partners but all other partners as well. I wish there was an ISO9000 standard to all this......solution? None on the horizon.......

Randy Petersen bannoy - good question and unique that they are often compared.....so here goes:

kendoll70 So, MilePoint miles can utilize "leftover" and "widow" miles (under 10K and such) for merchandise at 2 cents a mile? Would there be a minimum amount to transfer to MilePoint rounded off to say a thousand?

Randy Petersen AOL AAdvantage is actually two things. It's a partner of the AAdvantage program, meaning that you now have additional ways to earn miles into your AAdvantage account and it's also a redemption partner meaning that it provides additional ways to "burn" your AAdvantage miles. While nothing is yet perfect...they are on the right track. But it's only with American. MilePoint on the other hand is partners with several airlines and hotels (Hilton) and the only thing they do is providing additional ways to use your miles with those programs. Nothing is free as with the AOL AAdvantage program, but they do have an impressive list of all the other airlines and if you have orphan miles like I do (what can I do with 8,412 TWA miles?) Then it's a nice change of pace to convert your miles into discounts while shopping online. Yes, they have critics about not being free for the miles, but it seems that Wall Street and other business models aren't a real business if someone can't make some money from it.....Also, I think it will

Randy Petersen kendoll70 - no limits which is the cool part. And it's not limited to under 10K. This would have been great when they still had expiring miles, but it depends on what you are buying.....let's say you get a 30% discount on something and that equals $30...that only takes 1,500 miles.....

Randy Petersen I think this session is officially over...... please hang around to chat among yourselves and you are welcome to return for the second chat that starts in exactly one hour...Thanks for your time, your interest and your support for FlyerTalk Live!

(Start of 2nd session)

Art234 Ahhh...one of my favorite subjects---

Art234 As I am in a hotel right now on another trip.

Art234 DL gets 10 segments out of me this week

FlyByNight What a GREAT last session...I think I'm all asked out

Mileschick Yeah it's getting late. I think I'll watch

Randy Petersen I hope they appreciate the segments...unless you are on an L fare?

Art234 Nope.. every segment is Y or H.

YouGoGirl Randy's on. Are we going to be moderated?

Art234 At least this trip.

Randy Petersen Then you are a big spender with them. Which hotel gets your business these days?

More Miles Hey Randy welcome back - great last session

Art234 Well right now I am at a Courtyard by Marriott. Tomorrow Hampton Inn (Courtyard Mobile sold out).

Art234 I am liking the Hilton Family more and more Randy

Randy Petersen YouGoGirl....no moderator, I thought we'd just go with "open mike" and see how that goes. A moderator is useful when we've got hundreds of people on, tonight looks easy...

Art234 By the way Randy it's a pleasure to finally chat with you...

Hilton Head Well have to come up with some tough questions for you

Randy Petersen I am a big fan of the Hilton program since their acquisition of the Promus Hotels.....lots of places to earn miles AND points....

Art234 Has anyone heard the rumor of a code share and equity deal between DL and TW?

Randy Petersen Thanks Art234.....similar here. but I must ask....where does your "handle" come from....the "234"

Art234 Well actually the 234 is my license plate number, and I have used it as an online "handle" for years.

Randy Petersen That's a new one for me. Until now I've not heard anything connecting those two since the hot talks with AirTran and TW. With recent financial forecasts from TW not looking real positive.....maybe their price is right.

Art234 Yeah I think DL gets some assets for a good price--they will supposedly code share on European flights and TW will join Sky Team

Randy Petersen But Delta doesn't need TW because they must prepare themselves for what happens if by luck the UA/US deal goes through.

Art234 Do you think US/UA is a likelihood?

Art234 By the way, I am the fervent supporter of increased service from ISP...

Randy Petersen TW did announce that they would "alliance" themselves before year¹s end. The usual talk is that they couldn't buy themselves into an alliance but they did pass the credit check and got into the American Express Membership Rewards program......

Art234 They have been with Membership Rewards for years. I have used Membership Rewards (formerly Membership Miles) for upgrades on TW

Randy Petersen Ahhhhh ISP, now I know the rest of the story. I am against the UA/US deal. Mostly on the merits of other actions by the airline industry. As you have heard, they are all as smart as their dumbest competitor and I'm not for less airlines.

Art234 And as I had said in another chat, which I think was the night your invitation only chat had 130 users, if you are ever in the ISP area, dinner's on me (as long as I am in town).

Hilton Head Randy - How do you think United is doing in terms of rebounding after the summer fiasco?

Art234 And you probably read my posts about the arrogant treatment I received from AA's executive offices a month or so ago.

Randy Petersen Art234...amazing, the single night that I try to do this myself, 130 people show up...here it is just a few weeks later and there's less than a dozen of us.....How can I ever plan these things? Bad timing I guess though the group really roasted me....

Art234 My boss travels UA and says that they have actually been excellent of late.

Art234 Well I am trying to make one of the skymiles chats, but I am usually on a DL aircraft on Thursday nights

Randy Petersen My experience is probably just the opposite. I had a nice missing credit incident with AA and a canceled flight on UA last week because they wanted to rotate a different aircraft into maintenance and thought it was OK to move a flight 2 1/2 hours later on a Friday night for their convenience.....

rssrsvp Hi Randy, joined you late, is there any update on DL program?

Art234 Well I got blown off by an AA "executive" who told me my activity is relatively insignificant to them..and I am a Platinum (not for long though)

Randy Petersen Nothing as of late. We formally launch the www.saveskymiles.com Web site on Thursday with the next chat session. I have a call into Delta to open chats with the information we are going to collect and find out the status of their manpower to run the decisions of the program. Hope to have latest update on Thursday night.

Art234 As far as UA, I am supposed to meet my boss in passing tomorrow here in CLE

Hilton Head I got a notice from Hilton that my Optima card was being upgraded to a Platinum level. I called the service center and the woman there knew nothing - do you have any more information?

Randy Petersen Hilton Head. I had not heard that any program can move your credit card "color" without application. I'd say that is strange.

Art234 As far as hotels, I think I am leaning more to Hilton group--not only for the double dip, but they treat Golds with much more respect.

Art234 I got a free room upgrade at a Doubletree in Irvine two weeks ago, and free breakfast every day of my stay.

Art234 Randy do you ever get to NY/LI?

markbach Randy: I have over 55,000 Greenpoints in my account (bought a Dell). I wanted to redeem for AA miles (to use on US), but they no longer offer them. I fly US and UA, and use Starwood. Any way to convert the DL or AS miles they will give me to one of those at no loss (or a minimal loss)?

Hilton Head I thought so too. I will be platinum in 3 weeks, and I can make it happen sooner if I call.

Randy Petersen The only problem with Hilton is consistency. They still have a lingering problem with consistency from franchise units and corporate units, but there's less a chasm these days. My guess is that the main office has done some very strong-arm tactics to get all their properties to understand it's easy to lose customers...

Art234 True Randy, they are doing better. I got turned off to Marriott because of their rolling year program for Platinum qualification--as soon as I accrued nights I lost them if I had a busy year last year. So I went to Hilton, where I hold a Gold at the moment. I might actually make Diamond by year end.

Art234 Randy do you know which hotels give upgrades if you pay with the American Express Platinum Card?

Randy Petersen markbach....you can still redeem for AS miles and then redeem from those on an AA award ticket. Remember that once in an account there's no audit trail and you have full advantage of all their partners, and you do remember that AAA is a major AS partner?

markbach AA (American) or AAA (Triple A - the auto club)

Randy Petersen ART234 - I do get to NYC on a regular basis though I'm usually on the late night flight there (1 a.m. arrival) meeting in the morning and early afternoon and then out again that same afternoon.....

Randy Petersen American is a redemption partner (and accrual) of the Alaska program.

markbach Thanks, Randy, I usually fly US, but I may have to try AA

Art234 Well if you ever make LI and stay you have a dinner invitation

FlyMore I'm thinking of taking my family to Hawaii next summer. Is it still hard to get free seats? Any tips for me?

Randy Petersen Art234...only their high-end hotels such as the Preferred Hotel Group and usually only if booked through the Platinum desk. I have an AmEx Platinum Card and don't think I've ever got that benefit from it...because I book my own travel and always with the major chains, rarely with the high end hotels......

Art234 Thanks....

Art234 I was just wondering.

Randy Petersen FlyMore - Hawaii in the summer is doable, but you have to be careful. Depends on if you are trying to go with AW or on their partners such as CO or NWA. Next summer's planning can't start too soon, in fact, if I were going in May, I'd be booking now as the only reason not to book would be a lack on miles in the appropriate account.

FlyMore Thanks!

Mileschick Is there truth to the rumor that Diners is expanding into Canada?

Randy Petersen BTW FlyMore, which airline would you consider using miles for that Hawaii trip? If AW, did you know you could convert to CO or NWA flights to the same? Just curious....

FlyMore I was hoping to use United from Chicago

FlyMore I know...don't ask, I just like their logo

rssrsvp Randy, what is your opinion regarding E mileage statements, as opposed to paper in the ones mail? I applied for the Amex - DL Double Miles program and they are asking for original statements. Do E statements count?

Randy Petersen Mileschick - they've been there with the en route connection but the word is that they are formally launching an separate program up there which I assume will be a replication of the U.S. program since their relationships cross border are identical. I just hope they don't make the same mistake that BA did with a Canadian program that doesn't lean on the cross border traffic and airline relationships. The real reason is that you only have one domestic major airline up there any more......

Randy Petersen FlyMore....then that's not with your AW miles. I guess your choice of logo threw me off....

FlyMore Sorry - I'm originally from Phoenix

Randy Petersen Funny you would say that about the AW logo. I often tease them that it's the only major corporate logo in America that looks like it won a 6th grade coloring contest......please don't repeat that to the public.....

Art234 By the way, which rental car company do most of you prefer? I have been using Budget exclusively, but am trying Hertz now to see how they¹re No 1 Gold program works

FlyMore Ok I'm switching

Art234 By the way Randy, in your opinion, is Delta aware that their best customers are mad about the SWU issue?

Randy Petersen rssrsvp - eStatements. Too new to have a legit opinion. The early ones I'm seeing now are like beta software. As you might guess, airlines are struggling with trying to be "centric" to their business. I have often offered up to airlines to let me have "MyStatement" which is a combination of all partnerships, etc. Similar to what we find from maxmiles.com or milesdirect.com

Art234 I have MaxMiles through OAG and think it's great except it doesn't update often enough.

FlyAA Hi everyone

Randy Petersen Art234...I personally don't think they are aware enough. There's been too much hand waving and not enough real concentrated effort to get Delta's attention. I think once SaveSkyMiles.com gets going that they will have no choice but to notice that it's not a single group on spoiled Skymiles members but an entire class of their best customers....

Art234 Hey there Fly

Art234 Here here Randy--

Randy Petersen Art234...you might try milesdirect.com, they have some very cool features and they offer WAP phone balances, etc.

FlyAA Anyone else work for an airline?

Art234 Do you think it's better than MaxMiles Randy?

Art234 Not me Fly, although I fly almost as much as an employee would

Art234 What do you do for AA?

rssrsvp Randy, what is the best phone program for miles offered currently?

FlyAA I work in Marketing

Randy Petersen Car rental companies......For many years I was green through and through with National and loved the Emerald Aisle. Then they changes their program to expiring points (the original program) and I moved to Avis, finding Hertz to expensive much of the time. I worked my way up through Avis to President's Club and now Chairman's Club and have to say, I am not a free agent and not interested in looking at any other car rental customer. They have been terrific.

Art234 Hmm..Avis

rssrsvp They try harder!

Randy Petersen Art234, I don't know about being better since it's really based on what you are looking for in a consolidated statement. I like the idea that each has their own hot buttons and you're able to notice different things from each.....

Art234 I will give it a try

Randy Petersen Best phone deals? I don¹t think there are any outstanding ones right now. I know that AT&T is leaving various hotel programs and look for a new war to start later this Fall as AT&T launch a real effort with CO. To date they haven't done much to earn the business of CO members thinking that people will have no choice....Amazing that the "default" candidate wins here. I don¹t think we'll see many great offers until that first airline introduces open partnerships and you find several phone companies within one single program, like car rental, hotel and even credit card partners with each program.....

Late as Usual I've noticed the changes that you've made to the Program Review area on WebFlyer. Very neat idea to show the side by side comparison. You all need to check it out if you have not seen it. What other changes do you have in store for your Web site?

Randy Petersen Late As Usual - thanks for noticing we're kind of soft launching that and the Advisory Board gave us big thumbs up for the change. In the near future we will introduce something called "Head2Head" which will allow you to call up two different programs and it compares the best and worst of each program. It doesn't resemble Reviews since it won¹t cover the basics of each program. Rather it will focus and the key differentiates of each program allowing you to see the real differences.... In a focus group this got an amazing rating for improvements. But....what would you all like to see us do?

More Miles No suggestions here

Randy Petersen Then I take that as we're doing an OK job right now with WebFlyer and FlyerTalk?

rssrsvp More than pleased, anything that you do now is icing on the cake.

Art234 I am very impressed with your operation here

show me the miles Are you happy with the FlyerTalk board? Has it turned out to be what you expected?

Randy Petersen We've actually got a project board of about 20 feature items right now and we believe some of them are "killer apps" for the industry. We finally launch our private free email service on or around Nov 1 where you can become [email protected].......

Art234 Excellent

Hilton Head Way cool! Can we pre register names?

FlyMore rssrsvp- you drive a hard bargain

Randy Petersen Show me the miles. Good question. It's been more of some things and less of others. I think the thought around here was that we would never really "own" the board, that it would be a product of the masses of visitors. It's been an overwhelming success for activity with over a quarter million posts and arguably the most intelligent chat board on the Internet for quality travel information. But it comes with some growing pains. As you know,,,,most everything will eventually reflect society in general once it becomes of mass......it is massive...

show me the miles Randy it must be real time consuming

Randy Petersen Show me the miles - it is very much that....but it's real time for anyone who visits, not just me and my organization but the programs, other media and certainly other research.

FlyByNight I know that I enjoy lurking around and don't post. One of these days I'll get around to adding my flight sense

Randy Petersen Honesty, lurkers are as much a part of FT as those who post. We estimate that for every post there are 28 lurkers....that's real traffic.....

Randy Petersen Can I ask a question for research tonight?

Art234 Go right ahead

More Miles Sure

Hilton Head Ask away

show me the miles Ready at the key board

Randy Petersen We're thinking of introducing WebFlyerOne, our own version of an online frequent flyer elite level. Given strict parameters, what types of things might you be interested from us to reward and honor you for your contributions to WebFlyer or FlyerTalk?

Randy Petersen Sorry...upgrades are out of the question...

FlyMore Get SWU's back from DL

Art234 Upgrades or mileage on the airline of our choice?

Art234 I would love simulator time at UA

Art234 As I am a pilot also

Randy Petersen Something more original....

FlyAA Hey Randy..why not have some way to get those elite flyers a direct line to the management of the airlines they fly. A way for those flyers to communicate with the companies they give so much business to...

Art234 Simulator time Randy,

Art234 I'd love that

Late as Usual Spend a day with you at your office

rssrsvp I vote for upgrades.

FlyMore Free mileage consultations from Randy

FlyAA Maybe online chats with marketing/management reps from airlines, hotels, rental companies

rssrsvp That's cool.

Randy Petersen Do you really think that I could pull the upgrades trick?

Hilton Head If anyone can, it would be you

rssrsvp Randy, I like FlyAA's idea, but as part of your planned chat sessions.

Randy Petersen We already have schedules for reps from various programs to come on board...look for something at next month¹s chat.....who would you like to see up here first....

rssrsvp DL!

Art234 DL, AA

Hilton Head Someone from Hilton?

FlyAA AA..of course

Randy Petersen Let me see what I can do......

show me the miles Any trivia for us tonight?

Art234 I love reading the boards and chatting with my fellow road warriors

show me the miles Any thought of doing this during the day?

Randy Petersen OK, to close this one out, I am awarding 250 ClickMiles (from ClickRewards) to any of you who can answer this trivia question.....I'll hold the winners to those who can answer in the next two minutes...get ready, here comes the question......

Art234 OK

rssrsvp Randy, what is your opinion of 2 class service such as DL's BE vs. 3 class traditional service?

show me the miles Drum roll..........

Randy Petersen OK, for 250 ClickMiles (real frequent flyer miles) - Name the new program partner with American AAdvantage that is also a leading Internet service company AND name the new business online where you can trade in your miles with various programs for discounts when shopping online....remember, I must have both correct answers.......GO.

Art234 AOLAdvantage

More Miles AOL/MilePoint

rssrsvp AOLAdvantage

Randy Petersen And the second part of the answer Art234?

More Miles MILEPOINT

Randy Petersen Correct to More Miles....hurry, you all still have a chance to earn 250 miles.....

Art234 MILEPOINT

Randy Petersen Yes......

YouGoGirl AOL AAdvantage and MilePoint

Randy Petersen Come on rssrsvp...you're missing part two answer.

rssrsvp MILEPOINT

FlyByNight Same answer for me

Randy Petersen YGG has won the miles

Randy Petersen Ahhh, I'm too easy on you all. Thanks for your time tonight, your support of FlyerTalk Live! And may all your travels be upgraded......

Mileschick It pays to be on both chats!

rssrsvp Thanks, Randy!

Art234 It was a pleasure to talk to you Randy--hope to see you again soon!!

Randy Petersen Now log off and get some sleep, you've all got busy days tomorrow....