This came in the mail today:

Everything they list is something I don’t want to do. I’d rather just accumulate the miles. But I can’t, unless I choose one of the annoyances above, or book a flight in the next three months.

So my customer journey with American is now derailed.

There should be better ways for customers and companies to have journeys together.

Hmm… Does United have one?

Here’s a picture of my customer journey with United Airlines, as of today:

I’m also a lifetime member of the United Club, thanks to my wife’s wise decision in 1990 to get us both in on that short-lived deal.

Premier Platinum privileges include up to three checked bags, default seating in Economy Plus (more legroom than in the rest of Economy), Premium lines at the ticket counter and Security, and boarding in Group One. There are more privileged castes, but this one is a serious tie-breaker against other airlines. Also, in all our decades of flying with United, we have no bad stories to tell, and plenty of good ones.

But now we’re mostly based in Bloomington, Indiana, so Indianapolis (IND) is our main airport. (And it’s terrific. We recommend it highly.) It is also not a hub for any of the airlines. The airline with the most flights connecting to IND is American, and we’ve used them. I joined their frequent flier program, got their app, and started racking up miles with them too.

So here is one idea, for every airline: having respect for one’s established status with other airlines means something. Because that status (or those stati) are credentials: They say something about me as a potential passenger. It would be nice also if what I carry, as an independent customer, is a set of verifiable preferences—such as that I always prefer a window seat, never tow a rolling bag on board (I only have a backpack), and am willing to change seats so a family can sit together. Little things that might matter.

I bring all this up because fixing “loyalty” programs shouldn’t be left up only to the sellers of the world. They’ll all do their fixes differently, and they’ll remain deaf to good input that can only come from independent customers with helpful tools of their own.

Developing those solutions to the loyalty problem is one of our callings at ProjectVRM. I also know some that are in the works. Stay tuned. 🙂