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.
British Airways Award Availability
"I've been reading the comments for a while now and wanted to comment on good award experiences that I've had - I have redeemed miles with British Airways twice and both times have been quite easy without a years notice but with some research, flexibility and partner airlines. I live in Philadelphia, PA with access to PHL, JFK and EWR. My business travel is to/from LHR so my FF accounts are BA and US Airways. I do not have elite status but do have each airline's credit card.
"In April 2007 I decided to go to Australia/New Zealand for a month during Nov/Dec, returning just before Christmas. When I called the BA rep to inquire about using miles, I asked if my trip to Australia at that point level went only to Sydney and she said you can go to Perth... so Perth is where I began my trip. The most direct route that I knew of would be Philly to either LAX or SFO and then Qantas to Sydney/Perth. But I also knew that I could have other options leaving out of JFK or EWR and looked at partner routes to Australia. I ended up redeeming a business class ticket from NYC to Perth on Cathay (their new business class product was fantastic) with a Hong Kong/Perth connection and a return from Sydney via Toyko on JAL. BA allows you to book one-way tickets on partner airlines so this made the trip much easier to put together albeit more expensive -- 160k miles. I continued to inquire every few weeks for a Qantas ticket and other partner airlines as that would avoid the overnight in Toyko but the agent told me that AA/Qantas rarely released business class tickets.
"Just this month, I booked a cruise in June from Copenhagen. With the new BA online booking tool, I was able to find a business class upgrade for 30k miles for a PHL/LHR/CPH ticket so I get to spend a few days pre-cruise in London with Starwood points." [Sue - Philadelphia, PA]
'American and United Frequent Flyer Programs -- Pretty Much Useless'
"I agree with the travelers who are having trouble getting award seats on United and American. I have had no luck whatsoever. The last time I used an award on American, I had to book a 'standard.' The route was from BOS to SFO, a route that my husband and I have been flying for years. They not only did not offer me a non-stop (5 hours in St. Louis anyone?) but on 3 of the 4 legs my 'business/first' seat was basically what used to be economy. The seat in front of me, when reclined, was still in my lap, and I was offered a pre-wrapped inedible sandwich for my meal. I would rather have brought my own. Also, just try to get an upgrade using miles! Similar problems with United.
"We now have hundreds of thousands of miles on these airlines that are basically useless. I guess we will be flying Virgin America from now on. But it still pains me to have the miles sitting around. If AA and UA want to compete for 'loyal' customers, and want us to use their credit cards (which make them money), they need to make it worth it for passengers to stay loyal. And, by the way, American's new one way awards are equally useless, as they still do not have any available seats.
"They won't listen to us, but they need to at least offer something. After my 'first' class trip to SFO (Joke), I really do not ever want to get on an AA flight again." [Barbara M.]
Blackout Dates Versus Availability Restrictions
"Kathleen S. (in the 5/20 Rants and Raves section) may not understand the difference between availability restrictions and blackout dates for award travel.
"Blackout dates are just that: days on which, system-wide, award travel is not allowed, even if there are many seats available on a given flight. Availability restrictions are imposed on a flight-by-flight basis, where the routes most likely to generate full loads of paying passengers have the fewest number of available award seats, and routes with historically low demand have the most.
"The effect may or may not be the same. For years, Southwest used a blackout date system, where on a handful of peak travel dates, award travel was not allowed (most often around holidays), but beyond that, no capacity controls were imposed; if you had a free flight voucher, you could use it for any available seat on any flight, even if you were a walkup passenger at the last minute. A few years ago, it switched to offering no blackout dates, but controlling capacity, mostly on historically full and profitable flights.
"The legacy (aka 'dinosaur') carriers more often take the capacity control system to the maximum: they simply don't make award travel available to popular destinations, period. Technically it's not a blackout date, because on almost any day, you can fly to Podunk from almost anywhere in their system. It's not particularly customer-friendly, but this may help her understand what 'no blackout dates' means." [Kevin M.]
New Travel I.D. Policy
"Whoops -- I think someone from FrequentFlier Crier got out of bed from the wrong side: You chastised the person who wondered why FrequentFlier didn't include info on the new TSA I.D. policy as 'off topic for this publication,' but as a frequent flyer, I believe that particular kind of information is EXTREMELY relevant (although I wish the writer had read the TSA announcement more closely and reported it more accurately)." [Brian C.]
[FrequentFlier.com replies - The new TSA policy is certainly relevant. It's simply outside our area of expertise and normal coverage. If our response in last week's newsletter seemed cranky, then maybe someone indeed got up on the wrong side of the bed.]
Is That a Pistol In Your Flight Bag?
"This may be a bit of a stretch, and if so, my apologies.
"But, where is in any measure of sanity that today's wake-up press says in nearly one breath that the Texas legislature has given the O.K. to concealed guns on campus and an American Airlines pilot failed a breathalyzer test before take-off.
"Given 'Dallas' as the home base, could it be he might also have had a pistol in his flight bag?
"Good grief, Charlie Brown..." [Ed N.]
Until next week...
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