Airmiles Programs

In article
,
-hh wrote:


My recommendation to Sharkbait would be to document the non-
availability in writing, along with the date that you inquired, and
then find out how to make something called an "Executive Complaint" at
the airline in question.


Does this specific term automatically exist in _all_ airlines? In
United Airlines in particular?

Does John Levine's FAQ describe it?

On Mar 9, 2:17*pm, AES wrote:
In article
,

*-hh wrote:

My recommendation to Sharkbait would be to document the non-
availability in writing, along with the date that you inquired, and
then find out how to make something called an "Executive Complaint" at
the airline in question.

Does this specific term automatically exist in _all_ airlines? *In *
United Airlines in particular?


Don't know. The main thing is that most Fortune 500 companies have
something that's a "higher than usual level" of complaint processing,
but because they keep the existence of it obscured, less than 1% of
their complaints go through it.

As such, my approach would be to **assume** that it exists, and on a
call in, ask for the instructions on how specifically to submit. If
the first tier hasn't heard of it, ask to speak to their
supervisor ... and so on, until you get to a level where you get the
special complaint procedure info, or you have someone who's willing to
say 'My Name is XXX and I represent YYY company and we have no such
complaint procedure".


-hh

-hh wrote:

An EC is essentially a complaint that invokes a higher level of
review; it has to be signed off by a typically more senior VP. As
such, they have a better chance of getting resolved in the customer's
favor. Might want to call customer service on your FF phone# and ask
them how to go about filing an EC (don't ask if it exists...instead,
assume that does).


It is a bit difficult in this case, because he is a US Air frequent
flier and he is trying to get seats on Singapore Air. Complaining to US
Air isn't going to get Singapore to give him seats.

-hh wrote:


He shouldn't have to. If a customer can't redeem an offered seat on
an offered route when the request is for any day in a ~6 month window
that's ~6 months in the future, then for practical purposes the
'rewards' being marketed by the FFM program is bull**** and possibly
blatant fraud.


Nobody promise him 2 seats on the same flight to his chosen destination
on his chosen carrier, which is not the carrier he actually flew.

Sharkbait wrote:

Mr. Travel wrote;


Why would you "bail out" of the programs
If you continue to fly the carriers for other reasons, it's not a big deal
to keep your ff number in the reservations.


I just retired. I have over a million FF miles. After I use these up I'll
be flying the best deals. No more allegiance to the airlines. Got to use
them fast because now they simply take them away if you don't use them.
They can all kiss my ass.
rg



I wasn't suggesting you continue allegiance to any carrier, but that is
a bit different from abandoning the program completely. On the carriers
I fly, any activity in or out of the account in an 18 month period keeps
the account alive. For example, you can gain 10 miles or so, in your
choice of several airline programs by simply signing up for a free
points.com account. A few hundred miles spent will get you a magazine
subscription AND keep your mileage account alive. Everyday purchases
can get your account active, without having "allegiance" to flying a
specific airline.

Mr. Travel wrote;

I wasn't suggesting you continue allegiance to any carrier, but that is a
bit different from abandoning the program completely. On the carriers I
fly, any activity in or out of the account in an 18 month period keeps the
account alive. For example, you can gain 10 miles or so, in your choice
of several airline programs by simply signing up for a free points.com
account. A few hundred miles spent will get you a magazine subscription
AND keep your mileage account alive. Everyday purchases can get your
account active, without having "allegiance" to flying a specific airline.

I suspect you are conveying American Advantages retention policies. How
does this differ from say 20 years ago. It seems that every year we get
subject to some new policy designed by the airlines to screw their very best
customers. Why should I be bothered about acquiring another 10 miles in my
account every 18 months. Isn't the fact they keep raising the mileage
requirements for travel enough? The value of retained miles over 18 months
will actually diminish over time. Isn't that good enough for the greedy
pigs?

How about refunding the consumer the same amount they would have charged for
those miles at the same time they were acquired?

rg

Sharkbait wrote:
b
I suspect you are conveying American Advantages retention policies.

No, I wasn't specific to AA. This kind of stuff is pretty common to U.S.
carriers. If you go to points.com, you can see that signing up can get
you free miles or points in a variety of programs, including US Airways.

How
does this differ from say 20 years ago.

Was the airline business the same 20 years ago?


It seems that every year we get
subject to some new policy designed by the airlines to screw their very best
customers. Why should I be bothered about acquiring another 10 miles in my
account every 18 months.


Isn't the fact they keep raising the mileage
requirements for travel enough?

I haven't seen this on AAdvantage in years. Is it true with your
carrier? 5 years ago, I spent 25000 miles for a ticket to the east
coast. Today, it is still 25000 miles.


The value of retained miles over 18 months
will actually diminish over time.

No, I doubt my miles will diminish in the next 18 months.
In fact, I am certain the miles I have today will purchase travel worth
a higher amount in 18 months, because I expect the mileage requirements
to remain the same, while airfares go up in the next 18 months.

Isn't that good enough for the greedy
pigs?

How about refunding the consumer the same amount they would have charged for
those miles at the same time they were acquired?

Why? I have had very little trouble redeeming mileage for what I want.
I have had little trouble getting the upgrades I want.

"Sean" wrote in message
...
Sharkbait wrote:

I have been a member of airmiles programs for almost three decades. I've
started bailing out of the programs because they all suck terribly. I
dumped Skymiles two years ago, after finally getting two first class
tickets
to Thailand. My problem is that I still have a ton of miles left on
American Advantage and US Air. I'm trying to cash in my US Air miles for
a partner award on Singapore Air (first class) and told there aren't two
seats
available 11 months out for my planned itinerary (LAX-HAN return). This
is pretty typical, so US Air will be the next program I dump.

Anyone have any secrets about getting two first class awards on Singapore
Air using Dividend miles? Would calling every week or so possibly yield
a
couple first class tickets before the end of the year?

I believe the issue is with Singapore Airlines releasing multiple award
seats at once, rather than your frequent flyer program.

I have the same issue here with my own UK based scheme when booking First
class flights with Singapre. Apparently the only way is to book one first
class seat and wait for another one to become available and then snap it
up. (and to be willing to pay cancellation fees if a new seat does not
become available)


I have also heard of this one-seat-at-a-time issue in1st and maybe BC on SQ.

Another restriction on SQ seems to be on the new 380. A friend who has heaps
of miles saved on SQ tried to get an upgrade to 1st on the new 380 and was
told they do not do redemption upgrades on that plane in 1st.

I have never had a problem with SQ redemptions in economy and have several
times redeemed for same day and next day flights. I switched to SQ from Thai
because of ease of redemption and have had great service. Most of my points
on other schemes expired due to needing to book too far ahead.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Mar 10, 1:49*am, Binyamin Dissen
wrote:
On Sun, 9 Mar 2008 00:37:11 -0800 (PST) Harry
wrote:

:I have airpoints dollars with Air New Zealand. Instead of getting
:hundreds of thousands of points, you get smaller amounts of points.
:The points are redeemable for 1 point = $1 so you can buy any seat on
:any flight for sale. You just have to have enough points. So if a
:business class return trip from Auckland to LAX is $10,000. All you
:need is 10,000 airpoints dollars and you can purchase the seat. None
:of this "limited seat availability for airmile redemptions. If you
:have the points, you get the seat.

The down side (for real FF'ers) is that all the dollars are equal.

100K miles is worth more than 2 sets of 50K miles. Did you ever wonder why the
airlines do not allow combined accounts? Because of that.

--
Binyamin Dissen http://www.dissensoftware.com

Should you use the mailblocks package and expect a response from me,
you should preauthorize the dissensoftware.com domain.

I very rarely bother responding to challenge/response systems,
especially those from irresponsible companies.

All the dollars are equal. But they still have a tier system. Jade,
Silver, Gold and Gold Elite. You have to earn a certain amount of
airpoints dollars in a 12 month period. So if you want to use the
points to upgrade a paid economy/business fare then you will be
allocated the requested upgrade based on your tier status. Much better
than systems from the US. Qantas are also very good. Work on a points
system as well but I have never had problems booking reward flights on
any class, even if it is only a couple of months out from flight date.

Cyrus Afzali wrote;

My wife and I have done a lot of flying in the past year and between
that and miles generated through affiliate programs, have almost
100,000 miles accumulated in two different programs. Yet when we've
tried to use them on several occasions, the "entry-level" reward tier
was never available. IOW, we end up doing "SkyChoice" on Delta and the
equivalent on CO most of the time, burning twice as many miles; and
this is with booking efforts starting at least 2 months out.

Of the two programs I currently belong to and the one I dropped, Delta was
the worst IMO. I dumped Delta after finally getting my first class tickets
to Malaysia through their Skymiles program, and I never regret it. I was
constantly chasing after them to award miles gained with their partners,
etc. I don't miss them a bit.

As soon as I get my two first or business class tickets on Singapore
Airlines through the US Airways program, I'm dumping them. BTW, U.S. Air is
considered one of the worst airlines in my country - the U.S. I avoid them
like the plague. American has also fallen in recent years. The American
carriers are dumping their fuel hungry larger jets and replacing them with
smaller ones that force the traveler into multiple stops and changes for a
transcontinental flight. Naturally, you get to pay extra for service.
Screw them.

I then have the problem of gaining my two first class tickets on Cathay
Pacific through the American Advantage program. When I get these, I will
dump the American program. After that, I will consider the consolidators or
stick to local travel within my country. I'm pretty much spent on "chasing
miles". I live in the beautiful southwest part of the country and there is
plenty to do and see in my 36 mpg Toyota. Amen.

rg