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.
Expired: 162,000 United Miles
"United Airlines recently depleted my account of all 162,000 miles I had accumulated over the past several years. I have been laid off my job which did require me to travel over a year ago. And they claimed that since I had no activity in my account for a period of 12 months that they could take my miles away.
"As a member of several other flight mile programs such as Alaska, NW Airlines, Delta, and SW Airlines to mention a few, I have never had them take away my miles. This is absolutely criminal, and I would like to know if anything can be done about retrieving the miles that I have earned?" [T. Sparky]
[FrequentFlier.com replies - United expires Mileage Plus members' miles if there's no account activity for 18 months. If that's the case with your miles, you have two options: 1) throw yourself on United's mercy and request that they restore your miles as a gesture of goodwill; or 2) pay $0.0125 per mile, plus a $25 processing fee, to have the miles reinstated. Obviously, you should try the first approach before even considering the second.]
Spirit's DOT Fine
"Here's a piece of news of interest to travelers that came from www.examiner.com.
"News that Spirit Airlines has been levied with a massive DOT fine for numerous code violations is hot news in the press, but it seemed to be little more than the typical blurb. As is usually the case, it's easy to write it off to eagerness by the press to report anything bad about an airline, but when looking further into the facts, one finds the problem more far-reaching than the blurb can effectively communicate.
"First, Spirit is a relatively tiny carrier compared to the likes of Delta and United, who were also subject to various DOT fines during the course of the year, but those amounts ($175,000 and $80,000, respectively) seem paltry when compared with the $375,000 ruling against Spirit, especially given the vast difference in their relative size.
"Let's take a short look at the laundry list:
"1. Bumping passengers without following DOT codes on the procedure, including solicitation of volunteers, providing those being denied boarding with written notices of their rights, as well as failure to respond, by multiple employees on the same occasion, to DOT investigators who requested the written notices (law requires that they be available upon request by any person), even after the DOT investigators had shown their credentials.
"2. Failure to file certain DOT reports concerning financial fitness accurately or on time, even after written warnings had been issued to the carrier.
"3. Failure to comply with DOT regulations regarding document retention for Consumer complaints. During a DOT inspection, it was found Spirit was entering a synopsis of the complaints, and then shredding the original documents, which the DOT found to be an impediment to investigating consumer complaints against the carrier.
[In the interest of brevity, we've skipped six additional items included on the reader's list.]
"While Spirit Airlines has made no statement of agreement or disagreement with the ruling, the airline indicated a response in the body of the docket, claiming the majority of the problems described occurred before Spring 2008, and that many of the issues had already been addressed and resolved internally. In the matter of failure to provide interim expense for one way passengers or those who had not been without their luggage more than 24 hours, the airline claimed it was merely mirroring the policies of other major carriers at that time.
"However, a brief look at the DOT Consumer Report for June 2009, the latest month for which both traffic figures and complaint figures are available, showed Spirit enplaned 439,000 passengers, of which 37 complained to the DOT. That may not seem like much, but the DOT uniformly presents the complaints per 100,000 passengers. While Spirit is not large enough to be required to appear on the DOT Consumer Report, the agency still compiles and publishes the number of complaints, and the numbers are dismal. For the carriers officially reporting on the survey, the one ranked last in the survey, Delta Air Lines, reported 1.61 complaints per 100,000 enplaned passengers in June. Number one ranked on the survey, Southwest Airlines, reported .19 complaints. Now keeping in mind the relatively small spread of complaint ratios between #1 ranked on the DOT Report and #19, it's almost shocking to find that in June 2009, nearly a year after Spirit claimed it had fixed the problem internally, the DOT logged an astronomical 8.42 complaints against the carrier.
"The DOT fine is payable in installments, and a further payment of $160,000 will be due if Spirit is a repeat offender of any of the violations within the next year." [B.C.]
Delta Downgraded
"Now that Delta has engulfed NWA, with whom I've flown 12 years and been most happy, mostly at Platinum elite levels, they are restricting or eliminating amenities/perks.
"1) No more domestic upgrades on international flights.
"2) NWA had cut out complimentary cocktails on, cleverly put, all flights "in and out of Narita". (United does serve free drinks, and is abot 20% cheaper when I compared on-line prices.) If you fly anywhere to Asia on NWA, you MUST go thru Narita.
"3) NWA had given Platinums upgrade on domestic flights 5 days before departure; now they are holding them open for 'revenue' until departure.
"I notice in your column, which I enjoy and trust immensely, you rarely mention Delta and esp. not NWA. Any reason for that, esp. that now it is the largest domestic legacy carrier?
"In short, with the new Delta, loyalty appears to me to be of diminishing or non-existent value.
"Thanks for the good reporting. Happy skies." [Gaetano G. - Davis, CA]
[FrequentFlier.com replies - Hopefully our coverage of Delta has been proportionate to what they've done lately that's newsworthy. While they are indeed the world's largest airline, they aren't always the most active in the frequent flyer space. As for Northwest, they are obviously a decreasing presence as their operations are increasingly incorporated into Delta's. By all means, if you see something we've missed, bring it to our attention. We always appreciate reader input.]
Airlines That Have Come and Gone
"For anyone who has ever flown, currently working for or has worked in the airline industry, you should watch this presentation. The song
"Con Te Partiro" is a perfect match for this presentation. Enjoy." [Richard B.]
Until next week...
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