Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points - Consumerist Comments

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

oddballout — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 06:48:15 EDT

@MrFalcon...Ding. You are most correct. So full of restrictions, it's a wonder you're even allowed ONTO the plane at all.

@Tallanvor...Caveat Emptor. I'm all for getting somewhere for the cheapest price. Really, I am....However, remember that non-refundable means non-refundable. And a hefty amount of those tickets sold on those discount travel sites are just that.

Scenario: say airport XYZ goes tits up with adverse weather destroying my chosen carrier's ontime performance for the rest of the day. I purchased a non-refundable ticket from Ticketdump.com. I'm shafted. Le screwed. Unless they can find another flight leaving later either from my origination or my connection point that I can get onto the standby list for...there's nothing else they can do but MAYBE graciously allow me to postpone my trip to another day with little to no penalties.

Weather accounts for a vast majority of delays and hiccoughs in the transportation system (read: 2/14/07, for instance) and I don't know about you, but I can't point my finger to the sky and shout "hey, stop that!" any more than an airline can and they've got more cash than I do.

If I had chosen to purchase my ticket via the carrier with less restriction or shelled out the dough for a fully refundable ticket, my world of options just exploded off the map. I could get my refund and purchase on another carrier to get a confirmed seat. I could just as easily rent a car or take a bus. Or blow it all on a wild night of booze. The choice would be ALL mine. Therein lies the difference. So you do get what you pay for, especially in this industry.

Just my fat two cents.

oddballout

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

bchains — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 09:54:50 EST

The nice thing about Southwest rapid rewards flight vouchers is that they are transferable and you can sell em on ebay (though they are cracking down) or craigslist. Cash em in for $325 each and fly a civilized carrier like JetBlue.

bchains

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

SmoovyG — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 21:00:00 EST

If you use American Express points towards airline tickets, the JetBlue deal is by far the best. My wife and I were able to get two round trip, cross country tickets for the same amount of points it would have taken for a single round trip ticket with Delta or the others.

SmoovyG

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

ChiSoxFan — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:10:11 EST

Agree on Southwest. I get a free round trip ticket for anywhere for every 4 round trips I make. Plus I get credit for car and hotel rentals. And if you get 100 points in a year you get to choose a companion and they get to fly free with you for the next 12 months. Nothing can beat it for travel in the US in my opinion.

ChiSoxFan

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

Franklin Comes Alive! — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:56:31 EST

Or... fly Southwest, who has a simple system for earning free tickets that are really easy to use.

Franklin Comes Alive!

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

cabinaero — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:54:04 EST

@MrFalcon: That's generally good advice, but most (all?) airline web sites have a plainly labelled feature that search for upgradable fares.

Other than that, tough luck on getting an upgrade unless you have some status with an airline. Some routes on United are notoriously difficult to upgrade even if you're a 1K.

cabinaero

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

chortik — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:53:54 EST

yea, delta's been sucking lately. they changed their skymiles redemption program a while ago to introduce tiers. so now a ticket to europe from jfk is 75k miles rather than 50. that's crap, i'm cancelling my delta/amex as soon as i use up all the miles.

chortik

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

Tallanvor — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:36:56 EST

@MrFalcon: However, those fares will also cost more, and booking over the phone usually carries an additional fee as well.

Tallanvor

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:34:39 EST

@kimdog: I agree...the main airline I fly (delta) and the airline I will probably start to fly (US Air) are on the bottom of this list...awesome!

12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

MrFalcon — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:25:52 EST

Do remember that many of the seats you book through the web that are the cheapest available (either through airline websites or search services like Travelocity) are cheap in part because they are FULL of restrictions. If you want to book *and* upgrade, it is best to call the airline directly and see what seats are available that will give you that option. Otherwise, you will likely be in for a surprise.

MrFalcon

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

Yankees368 — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:18:54 EST

Don't forget jetBlue. I love the airline, but its nearly impossible to every earn a free flight with their "true blue" system. All points expire after 1 year and you must have 100 points total. It's really a terrible system.

Yankees368

Best Airlines For Actually Booking And Using Reward Points

kimdog — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:08:20 EST

Great. Delta and US Airways are the only two airlines that fly into the po-dunk airport nearest to my parents home. I usually fly US Air, and I'm pretty certain that I got a free ticket at 25,000 miles in 2005. I wonder if they've gone up.

At least I'm flying on Continental later this month.

kimdog