Northwest, United Trade Shots in Frequent-Flier Battle
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Northwest Airlines Corp. on Wednesday offered its passengers double frequent flier miles, countering a United Airlines promotion aimed at snatching Northwest customers during that airline's strike.
UAL Corp.'s United offered double frequent-flier miles for flights beginning Aug. 22 - two days after Northwest's mechanics went on strike.
But it didn't publicize the offer on its Web site, instead offering it only to recipients of an e-mail that appeared to be targeted at its frequent fliers in Northwest's core territory in the upper Midwest, said Randy Petersen, editor of Inside Flier magazine.
Petersen said United leaped at a rare chance to grab Northwest customers. The two are the nation's two main carriers to the lucrative Asia market, and Northwest executives have repeatedly called United their biggest competitor.
United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski acknowledged the promotion is aimed at Northwest, though she declined to say where the e-mails were sent. United is also honoring Northwest paper tickets as long as the itineraries match.
Northwest was in its 12th day of flying through a mechanics strike on Wednesday, with no talks scheduled. United is bankrupt. And both are under intense pressure from high fuel prices and discount carriers.
Northwest said it's offering the double miles because ''it is critical that we fully compete for every customer on price, product, schedule and frequent flyer program offers,'' said a written statement from Tim Griffin, Northwest's vice president of marketing and distribution.
Both promotions allow the miles to count for so-called ''elite'' status and the accompanying first-class upgrades and early boarding. Those passengers tend to be lucrative business travelers who often pay higher fares.
But while United's offer appears aimed at a narrow group of travelers in the Midwest, Northwest's offer was good nationwide. The United offer ends Sept. 30, while Northwest's ends Oct. 9.
In 1988, Delta Air Lines Inc. started a frequent-flier war by offering triple miles. Petersen said most observers then thought that no one else would match Delta's offer _ but they did, and the whole episode was expensive for the industry, he said.
He doesn't think that will happen this time.
''This one's a little too rich in today's environment,'' he said.
Tim Winship, publisher of frequentflier.com, said United's offer shows ''a certain level of desperation on United's part that we don't often see in these situations,'' he said. But, he added, ''If ever there were a set of circumstances under which another airline would do this, then I suppose this would be the time.''
Petersen said Alaska Airlines ran promotions aimed at United all over the West Coast as soon as United filed for Chapter 11 in December 2002.
''They honestly went very, very aggressively against United right at the start of the bankruptcy,'' he said.
Also on Wednesday, Northwest said it was evacuating its New Orleans staff. The carrier said it sent a plane from Memphis to New Orleans with relief supplies including water, hand towels, and batteries. It planned to use the 125-seat plane to fly out its New Orleans staff and passengers ''who local authorities have designated are at risk if they remain in New Orleans,'' it said.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
