Northwest WorldPerks: Celebrating 20 years of miles or misery
Written: Oct 01 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Comprehensive partner program, extensive ways to collect points, miles don't expire
Cons: Financial health of NWA, inconsistant availablity, steep penalties and fees
The Bottom Line: ...
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| javajoop's Full Review: Northwest WorldPerks |
Oct 1, 2006 - Northwest is celebrating 20 years of its frequent flyer program.
Northwest Airlines crept into the frequent flyer program late in the game when American Airlines broke new ground with their AAdvantage program twenty-five years ago. The basis of any company to develop a scheme, what others say, a new currency - for each airline to acquire and retain loyal customers. These were times when airline deregulation was in full swing and we had budget carriers like Peoples's Express and Freddie Laker's AirTrain encroaching upon Big Boy territory. While it sounded great early in it's inception with it's simple formula of earning miles on just a handful of partners, it's grown, like its brethren carriers, to a byzantine-like method of collecting & redeeming your hard earn miles.
Why do we do it? Like Mt. Everest, because it's there.
How to enroll
The best way to enroll and earn at the same time is to log on to nwa.com. The membership is free and you'll earn at least a 1000 miles to your newly minted account. The best part is that your miles NEVER expires unlike most programs.
Once on-line, do download the WorldPerks Program Terms & Conditions. Luckily, it's written in layman terms and not "legalize". Important highlights are that open enrollment is available to those who have an US mailing address and countries without prohibited participation. Only one person with their legal name per only one WorldPerks account is allowable. Regrets to P Diddy, Fifty Cents or Eminem, pseudonyms don't apply.
Earning flight miles
The simple part when I started is just to fly Northwest and/or use their Northwest WorldPerks Airline Partner. These partners were a handful of airlines, hotels and car rental companies. Now it's grown with many new ways, places to earn. The following are a sampling in each qualified category as of October 2006:
SkyTeam Global Alliance Partners
Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, Continental, CSA Czech, Delta, KLM Royal Dutch, and Korean Air
Airline Partners
Air Europa, Air Tahiti Nui, Alaska Airlines, American Eagle, Big Sky Air, Cebu Pacific, China Southern, Copa Air, Garuda Indonesia, Gulfstream Intl Air, Hawaiian Air, Hortzon Air, Japan Airlines, Jet Airways, Kenya Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Malev Hungarian Airlines, and Midwest Airlines
Car Rental
Alamo, Dollar, National, Thrifty
Communications Services
Earthlink, PeoplePC, T-Mobile
Credit Cards
WorldPerks Visa
Cruises
Cruise Locaters
Dining Entertainment and Wine
Rewards Network Dining for Miles, Vinesse
Flowers
Calyx and Corolla, FTD.com, Teleflora's Flower Club
Hotel and Lodging
Major hotels name brands like Best Western, Marriott, Hilton are features. Please see nwa.com/worldperks/earn/partnercenter/hotels for details.
Mortgage and Real Estate Offers
HomeLoanCenter.com, LendingTree.com
Regional offers
Bensinger's Fine Cleaners of Memphis, TN, D.O.C. of Minneapolis, MN and Tesoro Gas retail outlets in select states
Shopping
SkyMall, WorldPerks Mall
The above list is subject to change so do check back on WorldPerks website. I suggest getting their frequent e-mails for keeping aware of your mileage accumulation and new/lost airline partners. It would be ashame to reserving for some services like car rental or hotels and they don't accept NWA points anymore. Believe me, it happens to me many times.
As you can see, there are many opportunities to earn miles whether your flying or not. The fastest way to earn a ticket, in my opinion, is taking a overseas flight using a WorldPerks Visa. There are instances that NWA offers bonus miles if you fly to certain regions or transit through designated hubs.
If you have accumulated enough miles within a calender year, you can garner Elite Status which we'll address later.
That is the easy and simple part of the plan. Now, comes the hard part...
Redeeming flight miles
As best as I can recall, I began earning a free domestic coach ticket as soon as hitting the 15k mile mark. Northwest would actually send you a paper ticket voucher to be filled by the agent at the airport and off you go. Simple. I'd collect these vouchers and even assigned them to my family and friends. Made for great gifts.
Now, with the advent of e-ticketing, it's recommended and very prudent to have internet access and log your account on nwa.com. In this manner, one can monitor how many miles are needed to get where you want to, if available. That's where the misery starts. If you are travelling alone, it may be easy and, if you are flexible, a snap. If your flying with a companion, I've experience fair to excellent results depending of season of departure. Beyond three passengers or more, encounter a little grief or, my main point of contact, start calling WorldPerks HQ for assistance. Be prepared for a long wait.
There are two options to choose upon redeeming your award.
PerkSaver Award
This award allows the minimum miles for attaining a ticket, whether domestic or international and are subject to availability and restrictions. The example would be during holiday and peak travel seasons during the year. A domestic coach ticket can now be earn at 25,000 miles.
PerkPass Award
This award allows for waiving the above restrictions like Saturday-night stay-over. The redemption miles, however, is double the normal miles of PerkSaver. Hence, 50,000 miles is required.
NWA website introduced it's new Award Calender feature whereby you can find a range of dates available for travel. It can also configure either choice of dates, departure time and carrier. The display shows the month's calender where each award whether PerkSaver, PerkPass or neither is color-coded. You pick your choice of flights and your miles are deducted from you account. If you made a mistake, you just call WorldPerks HQ to adjust accordingly. There's no charge if you call within 24 hours, otherwise a change fee will apply.
Most of my successes, however, are flights into and out of Southeast Asia. Frankly, I benefit from the lack of demand in the Singapore/Jakarta market where I can easily redeem one or several tickets. Because of NWA partnership with Garuda, Japan Airlines and Malaysian, I currently have several options to choose from.
Elite Status
Elite Status allows you greater attention and abilities within not only Northwest flights but their SkyTeam partners for a seamless level of privileges. It is worth noting that you must maintain accrual levels with in the calender years and each upgrade level is only recognized within March 1 through February 28, 2007. Then, the cycle begins all over again.
(Maintain 25k miles or 30 flight segments earns Elite Status. 50k miles or 50 flight segments earns Gold Elite Status. 75k miles or 100 flight segments earns Platinum Elite Status.)
Privileges include unlimited confirmed upgrades from full-fare tickets - from discount tickets, confirmible based on days prior to departure and level of status. Others are exclusive phone reservation, increased access to award seating, access to select seating like prime forward/bulk head seating, priority check-in, pre-boarding facility and commensurate benefits base on increased attainment of status levels. All this means that rank truly does has its privileges.
Final thoughts
Northwest WorldPerks can't be beat in terms their strong ties with SkyTeam and its route network. It does provide more ways than ever to earn miles especially when not flying and they don't expire. I didn't even touch the subject of buying or gifting miles amongst family and friends which seems to be very popular. However, all these miles is for naught if you can use it all.
First problem is the financial health of Northwest itself due to their Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They've trimmed unprofitable routes and reduced fleet sizes and equipment so that you'll either be catching more flight segments in your itinerary. For example, NWA had a direct flight from JFK to NRT until last year. They now have their flight originating from MSP adding a segment from NYC. They've played hardball during contract negotiations with their mechanics, air crew and pilots so it doesn't make for a happy company.
Second is their confounding methods of redemption. Yes, it may be easy on the website, however, what if you made a mistake or need to redeposit miles back into the account? NWA allows you only ninety days from date of departure to reclaim miles and for a fee beyond 24 hours. Once you hit the 91st day, you forfeit the miles.
Lastly, if you do hold any FF award ticket and, if an event like the recent scare in Great Britain were to happen, paid passengers hold sway than award holders. Remember, there is no travel insurance against events like these due to the force majeur clause. Be prepared for any contingency.
However, with that being said, my personal experience has been favorable because of where I travel. Your experiences, based on other EP's on this site, vary widely. As I mentioned before, the new currency in the travel world is the frequent flyer program. I may not be lucky in the future though but I've gotten most of my free travel on NWA.
Northwest Airlines
www.nwa.com
WorldPerks Reservations 1-800-44PERKS
WorldPerks Customer Service Center
601 Oak Street
Chisholm, MN 55719-1996
© javajoop 2006
Recommended:
Yes
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javajoop
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 23
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Cacoethes scribendi - "Bad habit of writing"
caveat venditor/emptor - "Let the seller/buyer beware"
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