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"I spoke with Delta to book an award itinerary the other day and the agent advised me about an upcoming, yet unannounced change. Effective December 1st, the Sky Choice seats will no longer be available on every flight as they have been in the past. They will become capacity controlled much like the Sky Saver seats. I've never had much trouble booking award tickets but also would never pay double the miles or more for Sky Choice. Not sure if you have heard this anywhere else to validate it." [Brian B.]
[FrequentFlier.com replies - We've requested comment from Delta and will report back when we receive a response, positive or negative.]
"I need to set up a credit card in my wife's name. She of course uses our family cards, but I want her to start building her own credit history. My dilemma is which card to select. I don't want her new card to overlap with benefits and airline credits we a;ready have with Chase and Delta Sky Miles. Delta miles already can be used for award travel on Continental. And Chase services several airlines. Is there another American Express or hotel or other card out there that would give me airline award travel on multiple airlines or have no blackout dates or some other set of additional benefits?" [Watson]
[FrequentFlier.com replies - Possibly the most flexible card available, in terms of allowing the transfer of points to multiple airline programs, is the Starwood Preferred Guest card, issued by American Express. For other recommendations, try posting a query on the FrequentFlier Forum.]
"I am a member of US Airways mileage account. And now since I haven't flown in 18 months they want to let my miles expire. I called and they won't let you exchange the miles, such as points.com. And I can't purchase an upgrade unless the ticket is $600.00.
"What does a person do about this? Anything? I also tried to give them away to someone else and they said it would cost me $25.00 and $30.00 for every 1,000 miles I have 15,000.00 miles.
"Where and who can I complain too?" [Kerry]
[FrequentFlier.com replies - Unfortunately, everything you've mentioned is in accordance with the rules of US Airways' program. And their rules aren't much different from other airlines'.
Rather than complain, which won't change a thing, I'd suggest focusing on keeping your miles alive, so you can eventually earn a free ticket -- which, after all, is the best revenge.
Bear in mind that you can keep your miles from expiring by doing anything that changes your account balance, either earning or redeeming miles. So, for example, you could earn 1,000 miles by subscribing to USA Today. Or you could donate 1,000 miles to one of the charities supported by the US Airways program. Either would extend the life of your existing miles for another 18 months.]
"Concerning the topic of "attaching copies of important documents in your email" on Sept 26 and Oct 3:
"I started doing this about 6 years ago, so this isn't new to me.
"What I did is:
"- I scanned all of my important documetnt as PDF: Passport, Drivers License Card, Social Security Card Card, Medical Insurance Card, Vehicle Insurance Card. I scanned to PDF because it is one of the most portable standards in the world if you need to print it.
"- I create a text file that lists all of my credit card contact phone numbers, frequent flyer account numbers, and important family and work contact information.
"- I archive the PDF into an encrypted ZIP file using WinZip to protect my important documents. This protects you in case someone hacks your email account.
"- I upload this file as an attachment to my web-based email account (i.e. HotMail). Remember it is silly to upload it to an email account that doesn't have web-based access, especially if you lose your laptop." [Steve M.]
Until next week...
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