United ditching blackout dates
| • | Frequent fliers get e-perks |
By Gary Stoller
USA Today
Blackout dates, an occasional source of anguish for frequent travelers, are getting the heave-ho at a half-dozen U.S. airlines.
United Airlines will join the club Monday when it eliminates blackout dates for free domestic flights earned by frequent-flier club members.
For the airlines, the move costs little but is potentially big in public relations value with their best customers.
United, which has the second-largest frequent-flier club program and is a major carrier in the Hawai'i market, will become the sixth of a dozen major airlines to dump the restrictions.
Northwest, American, Delta, Aloha and Hawaiian have also done away with the blackout dates, which traditionally bar free travel on certain days during peak holiday seasons.
Hawaiian Airlines eliminated blackout dates from its Hawaiian Miles frequent-flier program in 1999 "to enhance the value of the program for our members,," spokesman Keoni Wagner said.
From the beginning of Aloha Airlines' AlohaPass Program in 1983, passengers never had their frequent-flier miles expire, spokesman Stu Glauberman said. "We were a leader from the start," he said.
Glauberman wasn't sure when Aloha canceled blackout dates. But "our frequent-flier members don't have to worry about blackout dates or having miles expire," he said.
Aloha passengers using AlohaPass did face blackout dates at one time when they flew on United, Aloha's marketing partner — but no more, Glauberman said.
Elimination of blackout dates is another sign that some extra seats will be available free from some carriers, according to airline and travel experts.
But that doesn't mean getting a free ticket during a popular travel time will be easy. In fact, it will still be very difficult.
At Northwest Airlines, which in late January became the first carrier to get rid of its blackout dates, a limited number of free seats will be available during peak periods, spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said, but "there will always be routes that are very busy and hard to get a free ticket for."
Anne Leonard, an editor of the frequent-flier publication InsideFlyer, said it appears that more free seats — particularly to foreign destinations — are being allocated this year. She predicts airlines that eliminated blackout dates won't restore them because the carriers "are trying to make their programs more user-friendly and less rule-ridden."
United said it will have no blackout days in 2003 also.
"It's an extra benefit to the customer, and it gives them more opportunities to redeem awards," spokesman Joe Hopkins said.
Elimination of blackout dates keeps pace with credit-card companies that offer airline miles without restrictions, InsideFlyer's Leonard said.
At Northwest, the move is "a long-term change" that customers wanted, Ebenhoch said. "We felt there was a need for simplification," he said, noting that 9 percent of the airline's revenue passenger miles last year were generated by passengers using frequent-flier awards.
Blackout dates were instituted years ago, the Northwest spokesman said, before airlines developed sophisticated ticket-inventory management systems.
"We felt blackout dates were a restriction whose time had passed," Ebenhoch said. "Today's customers' travel patterns have changed. Customers are traveling for shorter periods of time and are booking free trips sometimes just weeks before departure."
According to data gathered by InsideFlyer, American's AAdvantage program, with 45 million members, is the largest frequent-flier program, followed by United's Mileage Plus program, with 40 million. Delta's SkyMiles is third, with 29 million members, and Northwest's WorldPerks is fourth, with 22 million.
Smaller frequent-flier programs have the most blackout dates this year. America West's FlightFund has 22 blackout dates, one more than AirTran's A-Plus Rewards, according to a USA Today survey of 12 carriers' frequent-flier programs. Other airlines with blackout dates are Southwest, 14; Continental, 13; Alaska, 11; and US Airways, nine.
America West points out that seven of its blackout days apply only to flights to or from Las Vegas, and the airline has the lowest mileage requirement — 20,000 miles — for a free ticket. Some competitors increased the amount of mileage for a free ticket to 25,000 miles while eliminating restricted dates, said America West spokeswoman Janice Monahan.
AirTran spokesman Tad Hutcheson said blackout dates are necessary because the carrier expects to sell out all its seats on those days. AirTran has been "looking at" the trend to eliminate blackout dates, but "we haven't done anything yet."
On international flights, United and some other carriers have blackout dates for their own free flights and free flights provided to a partner airline's passengers. The restrictions on international flights can be extensive and vary according to destination.
United, for example, blacked out free travel this year to Central America, South America or Mexico on the weekends of Jan. 4-13 and on Dec. 20-23. Northbound flights from Caracas, Venezuela, are blacked out March 16-24 and on Fridays and Saturdays July 5-Sept. 7. On southbound flights from Caracas, the blackout periods are March 29-April 7 and on Saturdays and Sundays Aug. 24-Sept. 22.
Three major competitors — American, Northwest and Delta — have no blackout dates for their free international flights.
Several airlines allow frequent fliers to book flights on blackout days if they agree to forfeit a higher number of frequent-flier miles. At America West, for example, a flier who surrenders 40,000 miles — instead of the usual 20,000 — can book a free coach seat on a date that is blacked out.
