Feedback from the Frontlines of Travel
We welcome reader feedback on issues related to travel generally and frequent flyer programs in particular. Please use this link to submit comments.
Re Barbara M.'s 'American Miles: Pretty Much Useless' in Last Week's Crier
"Barbara, since reading your article on the trouble you had trying to convert your mileage to 1st class and not getting what you thought was first class, I hear you. I also had the same trouble. I used to be a loyal traveler of American and had Visa and MasterCard to accrue mileage, one for upgrades and one for Hilton HHonors points. I now have them just for the Hilton HHonors and never pay for a room, and use whatever airline I want, usually Southwest since they go to so many places.
"The service that American used to give you is gone. I also like the fact that I can talk to a human and that I don't have to pay for it. The airline industry needs to revamp their whole system, and remember what customer service is." [VD]
"Not everyone has such poor experiences with American as Barbara!
"I've have very good luck finding the 25,000 mile economy tickets, and when I can't the discounted First/Business tickets are always available for the same amount of miles as a regular economy award.
"In addition, the customer service has been nothing short of phenomenal. The agents are always eager to help. There was one time my flight had been delayed in the morning by several hours and I called to confirm the delay. Later, the flight was cancelled. Within 30 seconds of receiving the text message notification, the same agent I spoke to in the morning called me to tell me that she had noticed it was cancelled and had already protected a seat for me on several different flight options!
"Perhaps the best part of American has been the upgrades. I have been flying between Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles every week for the past 18 months. I have never purchased a first class ticket, but I've only flown in economy class on two or three flights.
"Maybe this has to do with the fact that I'm Executive Platinum, and I've already flown well over 150,000 miles this year, but at 24 years old, American Airlines has won a customer for life!" [Jeff S.]
"I am a frequent flier on American Airlines, Executive Platinum to be precise, and I fly more than 100,000 miles per year with American. I'll admit that sometimes when I wish to use my miles for free tickets (always for friends, I'd never 'waste' flying time not earning miles!), I have to work with the online system a bit to find a route or dates that work, and generally I can find the tickets I want. But, in reality, it is a free ticket; what do people expect, that the airline will send a courier to their houses with a paper ticket just because they wish to fly somewhere?
"Ninety percent of my flying is between JFK/NYC and CDG/Paris and I never fly coach even though I always buy the least expensive coach ticket I can find on AA.com. 25,000 miles or a VIP Upgrade (as they are called by AAdvantage and given to Executive Platinum members) is what it costs me to upgrade with the necessary fees and/or taxes but it is worth it, and it is still considerably cheaper than buying Business Class tickets.
"I've read the FrequentFlier Crier for several years now and people have made complaints about mileage award problems on other airlines that I've never experienced on American until today's complaint entitled 'American Miles: Pretty Much Useless' which I think I answered (see above; they are free tickets!). However, in this economy one can understand the airlines restricting free seats. For goodness sake, they need revenue. And who in her/his right mind pays full price for a ticket today -- domestically or internationally unless it is the day of departure? Buy a cheap ticket and upgrade it. Domestically, you do not even need to use miles; American offers 500-mile upgrade vouchers that you can purchase if your account is empty and internationally the cost of miles plus fees is still less than the Business Class fare and less than the SkyTeam upgrade requirement of expensive coach fare-code cost plus miles and taxes.
"At the end of the day, if you are not a true frequent flier, especially if your miles are earned on credit card purchases, you do not have brand loyalty so why do you expect the airlines to have that loyalty to you? Don't be fooled by JetBlue and Virgin America, new airlines that need to build customer loyalty and do so by wooing the once- or twice-a-year traveler.
"Fly well!" [A.L.]
"I am puzzled by the continued complaints regarding the lack of availability of frequent flyer seats, such as the one about American this week.
"Something around 10% of travelers are on award tickets so somebody is getting to use their miles.
"In my own circumstance we've just decided to celebrate my mother's 75th birthday in Honolulu. Using my AAdvantage miles I'm sending my three kids from the east coast, my sister's family of five and my brother and his girlfriend. We didn't get the perfect dates, we're all going two days earlier.
"Yes, I'm elite (which is why I had 350,000 miles to use for these tickets), so maybe the lesson is to concentrate on becoming elite. But clearly there are some seats out there for frequent flyers." [Mike S.]
Until next week...
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