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I fly weekly. After every flight and almost every phone call I get an email requesting I take a survey. Knowing how metrics driven most big companies are (I'm a

I fly weekly. After every flight and almost every phone call I get an email requesting I take a survey. Knowing how metrics driven most big companies are (I'm a consultant) I have to assume that for all the complaining nobody is filling out these surveys. When I fill them out things happen. Every time I give a negative review I find myself higher in the upgrade list or upgraded outright. It's actually a "hack" another frequent traveler taught me. Give negative reviews, get more upgrades. Forgive typos I typed this on an iPhone

maxxxxx 9y ago
Interesting. My naive self thought that these surveys are anonymous.
- dredmorbius 9y ago
  Bad assumption on any survey. Especially electronic.
maehwasu 9y ago
That's such horrible incentive-setting on their part--and now I really want to try it...
- passivepinetree 9y ago
  Well, maybe. Even if your general experience was positive, if you give honest negative feedback about certain aspects of their service then that could be useful information to the airline.
ubernostrum 9y ago
If you fly "weekly", then as long as it's a round trip of at least one segment each direction, you're going to hit 100+ segments/year. And as long as you spend enough on tickets to hit threshold, that's in at least the platinum tier of all three major US airlines, and knocking on the door of their top tier. You shouldn't be surprised that you're getting upgraded.
- ryanmarsh 9y ago
  sigh I know what airline status is thanks. I also know where I normally sit in the list of upgrades given the route and number of empty seats. When I respond negatively to surveys I get upgraded almost immediately, others have noticed this trend as well.
  - ubernostrum 9y ago
    I never noticed it in years of getting surveys, as an AA EXP and Delta PM. Always depended on the same old known factors: elite load on the route, time of booking/time of request (depending on airline), etc. Only thing I ever could tie to surveys/feedback was AA comping me 5k RDM after one particularly horrid flight.
    - ryanmarsh 9y ago
      United. Also, AA hates their customers so no surprise. You should try it with Delta a little birdie told me they take those numbers very seriously.
      - ubernostrum 9y ago
        I got merged into AA from the old US Airways program (was US Chairman's Preferred, became AA EXP). Ditched them after about a year and a half of suffering, and did a three-month match to Delta Platinum. Most of the flying was due to working remote for a company in the bay area; now I work for a different company and actually live out here, and don't have to play the frequent-flyer game anymore. For less than what I used to spend on economy tickets with upgrade hopes, I just buy business/first class on the occasions when I want it. Anecdotally I have noticed slightly better treatment from that, and I know the gate agents and flight crew have status listed on the manifest and so can guess who's up front because they bought the ticket and who's up there because of an upgrade. Which I guess says something about the priorities of the airline and the usual behavior of the status-holder.

maxxxxx 9y ago

Interesting. My naive self thought that these surveys are anonymous.

dredmorbius 9y ago
Bad assumption on any survey. Especially electronic.

maehwasu 9y ago

That's such horrible incentive-setting on their part--and now I really want to try it...

passivepinetree 9y ago
Well, maybe. Even if your general experience was positive, if you give honest negative feedback about certain aspects of their service then that could be useful information to the airline.

ubernostrum 9y ago

If you fly "weekly", then as long as it's a round trip of at least one segment each direction, you're going to hit 100+ segments/year. And as long as you spend enough on tickets to hit threshold, that's in at least the platinum tier of all three major US airlines, and knocking on the door of their top tier. You shouldn't be surprised that you're getting upgraded.

ryanmarsh 9y ago
sigh I know what airline status is thanks. I also know where I normally sit in the list of upgrades given the route and number of empty seats. When I respond negatively to surveys I get upgraded almost immediately, others have noticed this trend as well.
- ubernostrum 9y ago
  I never noticed it in years of getting surveys, as an AA EXP and Delta PM. Always depended on the same old known factors: elite load on the route, time of booking/time of request (depending on airline), etc. Only thing I ever could tie to surveys/feedback was AA comping me 5k RDM after one particularly horrid flight.
  - ryanmarsh 9y ago
    United. Also, AA hates their customers so no surprise. You should try it with Delta a little birdie told me they take those numbers very seriously.
    - ubernostrum 9y ago
      I got merged into AA from the old US Airways program (was US Chairman's Preferred, became AA EXP). Ditched them after about a year and a half of suffering, and did a three-month match to Delta Platinum. Most of the flying was due to working remote for a company in the bay area; now I work for a different company and actually live out here, and don't have to play the frequent-flyer game anymore. For less than what I used to spend on economy tickets with upgrade hopes, I just buy business/first class on the occasions when I want it. Anecdotally I have noticed slightly better treatment from that, and I know the gate agents and flight crew have status listed on the manifest and so can guess who's up front because they bought the ticket and who's up there because of an upgrade. Which I guess says something about the priorities of the airline and the usual behavior of the status-holder.