Points Predicament

On March 13, the Seattle Times ran an article about the current state of frequent flyer miles. Apparently, with all of the struggles the airlines are going through, they are increasing their travel blackout dates, increasing the amount of points required to get a free ticket, and decreasing the shelf life of the points. As I read this article, I was thinking to myself, ‘this is great news! This will make our Journey program even better!”

But no, I was unpleasantly surprised to read that the trend in credit card based airline mileage programs is shifting. Last year, the number of consumers who signed up for airline sponsored cards “plummeted by almost 40%”.

It will be my job to determine if our members and our potential members feel that points for travel on every purchase is still a good deal. It seems like a no-brainer to me. I mean, our Journey credit card has great rates (as low as 9.4% APR) and a low annual fee (only $35). We are constantly working on making this a better product – we extended the life of the points to five years, we are working on better member service at the redemption point, we have all sorts of ways to get additional points now. Yes, it seems like a no-brainer to me. That is where you get into trouble!

If you are a member and you are reading this blog, can you take a minute to tell me, if you use our Journey program, what is good about it? And if you don’t use our Journey program, how come? It would make my job a lot easier if I could find out these things before the trends “start to plummet”. Thank you.