My rant of the day...frequent flyer rewards programs!

[2porscheguy]

Specifically Aeroplan!

We might be planning a vacation to Italy in the fall. I've got a ton of Aeroplan points so I thought I'd check that avenue out first for flights.

So here it is....two economy seats from Calgary YYC to Milan MIL return for October 2014 on Air Canada:

120,000 points plus.......$1398.62 in taxes, fees, and surcharges!!!.... are you effen kidding me?!?

Just to compare I checked out the price for regular economy seats on Air Canada:
$2748.42 for the same flights...so the "fees" come in at 50.89% of the cost...I am not too impressed!!!

Anybody else?

[oldE]

I've never bothered with the aeroplan cards, have just used the points on my RBC Visa.
They cover all the costs and fees.

Recently, my wife needed to fly to the west coast to be with a friend who was having a tumor removed. We went through the bank site and checked out the flight availability and cost, then just to be sure, went through the airline's website. The Visa site even saved us a few bucks.

Best
Les

[allaircooled]

I just used around 98,000 delta miles for 3 round trip tickets to Milwaukee. Cost me $30 or $10 a ticket.

[Rick Lee]

I just sold 103k miles on one airline to a broker for $1350, which more than covered the flight I bought for cash on another airline. And those 103k miles were far less than what was required to get a similar flight on that airline. I don't know how it works with Aeroplan miles, but there are a ton of brokers out there who will pay $.01 - .015 per mile and you'll have the money before they touch the miles.

[TimT]

I did an upgrade to first class on Air China, NYC>Beijing just using my miles...no extra or hidden fees....

A few more trips and I'll be able to ride in front again..

Not familiar with other airlines plans.

[shinrai]

I've been extremely disappointed with Aeroplan in the last year. When they introduced the $500 stipend for upgrades to business (each way!) late in the season last year that was it for me. I'm still shopping around for another program just haven't settled on anything just yet.

They all seem to be sneaky and the golden days of free travel and upgrades looks like they're done.

[aigel]

I don't even sign up for the frequent flyer miles any more. Southwest used to be decent, but now they are pretty stingy too. Life's too short to worry about this type of crap for me. I don't fly much for leisure and if I do, I just go pay for it.

G

[imcarthur]

Yes, Aeroplan is getting to be a questionable value. We are currently in Greece on a rewards trip & it cost $700+ each with fees & taxes. I couldn't get 1st class on this one because I booked too late. But I did get bulkhead in cattle class on a direct AC Rouge flight to Athens that pretty much sucked. Of course, that saved some points that are taking us to St Lucia next winter. The fees on that one were only $234 each.

Ian

[dave 911]

It seems like frequent flier miles are turning into 'frequent payer' miles -- Delta announced that they are going to use ticket prices as a basis for mileage now. WTF?

I don't bother with FF mileage anymore either, I just try to find the lowest ticket price that I can.

[fingpilot]

American actually called 2 weeks ago, and offered to 'extend' the expiration dates of 100k miles for a year for $145.

Otherwise they 'expired' in a week.

I told her she and my relationship with American just 'expired'.

[motion]

All of the FF programs are in a race to the bottom right now. Seats are full and profits are up, so the airlines are cutting the fat. United announced yesterday that they are copying Delta's FF program for 2015, which is revenue-based, rather than miles flown. I'm sure the others will follow.

That being said, I'm closing in on Delta Diamond in the next few days, and let me tell you, the value I get from being Elite Plus when flying Delta and SkyTeam is totally worth it. Its changed my flying from being something I dread to something I totally enjoy. I'm in First or Business Elite for most flights these days, and the thought of riding with the Kettle in the back of the plane is enough to have me break out into the sweats. I'll hopefully never go back...

I'm accumulating around 80K-100K in miles each month using Delta's program and a combination of shrewd spending. That means every 6 months or so, Mrs Motion and I have enough miles for First class round the world tickets. How can you beat that?

[dave 911]

Originally Posted by motion

. . . .I'm accumulating around 80K-100K in miles each month using Delta's program and a combination of shrewd spending. That means every 6 months or so, Mrs Motion and I have enough miles for First class round the world tickets. How can you beat that?

80k-100k each month ! Yikes, you deserve a few round trip tickets...but if i flew that much the last thing in the world i'd want to do would be to fly on a vacation !

[scottmandue]

Not international but we have never had a problem with JetBlue or Alaska. When we were doing the long distance relationship thing and we were flying from L.A. to Portland every two weeks we would get a free flight about once a year.

[MRM]

Motion isn't flying anywhere near 100,000 miles a month. He accumulates frequent flier miles with his credit card spending, hotel stays, car rental, and buying things that give miles for the purchase, in addition to actually flying. And since he's an elite he gets several FF miles for every actual mile flown. If you have a Delta co-branded AMEX card you get more than a mile per dollar spent on Delta flights or products and anywhere between one and ten cents a dollar for buying other stuff, depending on the specials they're running. And if you have a Delta Reserve AMEX or a Delta Platinum AMEX (as opposed to the regular AMEX Platinum card) you get extra bonuses that go toward earning you elite status on the airline.

I don't travel much any more, but the last few years I travelled a lot and I can tell you there is a vast difference between being a regular kettle (an unsophisticated traveler as in Ma and Pa Kettle of old time TV fame) and being an Elite traveler. It's like night and day - special phone lines, jumping the security line and bypassing the regular metal detectors, free access to Economy Comfort and exit rows, preferential seating, no baggage fees, free same day flight changes, and the opportunity for upgrades on a space-available basis.

Delta really doesn't care about the casual traveler. They make about 75% of their revenue from about 10% of their fliers, and they make almost all their profit from that group. They're called High Value Customers. Everyone else is just overhead.

Aeroplan has different problems. The biggest one is that it's the worst program in the western world. Aeroplan Voted Worst Frequent Flyer Program In Online Survey

Aeroplan is notorious for having a high fuel surcharge on Air Canada and Lufthansa redemptions. But, within the Star Alliance you have access to United Airlines, US Airways, and Turkish Airlines that have no extra fuel surcharge.

So just spend your Aeroplan miles on US Air or United Airlines and you'll be better off.

[motion]

Originally Posted by MRM

Motion isn't flying anywhere near 100,000 miles a month. He accumulates frequent flier miles with his credit card spending, hotel stays, car rental, and buying things that give miles for the purchase, in addition to actually flying. And since he's an elite he gets several FF miles for every actual mile flown. If you have a Delta co-branded AMEX card you get more than a mile per dollar spent on Delta flights or products and anywhere between one and ten cents a dollar for buying other stuff, depending on the specials they're running. And if you have a Delta Reserve AMEX or a Delta Platinum AMEX (as opposed to the regular AMEX Platinum card) you get extra bonuses that go toward earning you elite status on the airline.

I don't travel much any more, but the last few years I travelled a lot and I can tell you there is a vast difference between being a regular kettle (an unsophisticated traveler as in Ma and Pa Kettle of old time TV fame) and being an Elite traveler. It's like night and day - special phone lines, jumping the security line and bypassing the regular metal detectors, free access to Economy Comfort and exit rows, preferential seating, no baggage fees, free same day flight changes, and the opportunity for upgrades on a space-available basis.

Dude, please. We don't want the great unwashed masses to know about this stuff. I like my comp upgrades too much

[skinnerd]

I have an air mile plan thru Alaska Air and it has saved me bundles when flying back and forth from Oregon to Thailand.

It's a super long haul (20-24 hrs ea way depending on how many connections you have), so it's nice to fly Business Class so I stretch out and even sleep.

Normal Bus Class tickets can be anywhere from $4000-6000 round trip.
That's a bunch.
I can buy as many air miles as I want, and it's something like $800 per 30,000 miles.
So normally I can get a round trip Bus Class ticket for something like $2500 if I have zero miles banked up.
Currently I have about 150,000 miles, so with fees, a round trip ticket is just a couple hundred dollars.

There's a catch though....always a catch.
The airlines I fly like Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, ANA, etc have limited seats available for Bus Class.
So you've got to be really flexible and able to plan many months out in advance.
Sometimes I'm buying these tickets 7-9 months out just to get my seats.
Luckily I am able to do that.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by motion

Dude, please. We don't want the great unwashed masses to know about this stuff. I like my comp upgrades too much

I did a tour at BUPERS in Millington, Tn.

The BOQ was free to geo bachelors and my family wanted nothing to do with Millington (she is an engineer) so I commuted by air at least three times a month on Northwest Airlines for 19 months.

The round trip in 2000/2001, bought months in advance, was $130.00 bucks, which was a lot of money but my wife worked in DC in those days so the ride home was comp'ed.

Miles, numbers of sections flown in a period of time (huge in those days), Northwest credit card: By month six I was Beryllium Class, they paid me to fly. I think my name is still on a jet.

There is a difference, a huge Kettle of difference. The perks were worthy.