MilesBuzz! - Points.com fees are going up from April 2nd 2005

I have heard that Points.com will increase the renewal fees for PointsPlus members starting April 2nd. Currently it is $19.95/year.

It will be about $8-$10 a month. Better hurry up and renew.

Wow, $8-10/month? What a ripoff. They already kill you in the conversion process, now they want over $100 a year for that privilege?

I'll burn your miles/points for you for free :D

(Except eBay -> Asia Miles - that's a good one.)

That's just adding insult to injury :rolleyes:

I got a free membership and made use of it once to get some miles from an airline I rarely use to one I use a little more than that. I don't see renewing on the horizon.

Wow, $8-10/month? What a ripoff. They already kill you in the conversion process, now they want over $100 a year for that privilege?

I'll burn your miles/points for you for free :D

(Except eBay -> Asia Miles - that's a good one.)

Too true. Were they getting so much demand that they thought they needed to raise prices to cool it off?

I guess next they'll blame it on fuel price hikes. Or 9/11. :p

Thanks for posting. I searched for the info and found it on their press release.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050310/nyth085b_1.html

<snip>We also took important steps to prepare for the launch of our feature-rich reward management portal, which will provide consumers and loyalty partners with numerous advantages. We are on schedule to commence launch of the new Website next month."

The new Web site will include broader consumer offerings, and present each consumer with a comprehensive personalized view of their entire reward program universe. New management tools, such as Join, Earn and Buy, will help consumers realize more value from their favorite reward programs, to help them "Get More Rewards, Faster(TM)". These tools will also add additional revenue streams for the Company. The system will be driven by an ATG Marketing Enterprise System that will use the consumer's unique reward program, reward goals and point balance mix to suggest ways to use the Join, Earn, Buy and Swap tools most effectively.

In connection with the expanded offering, the Company will change the pricing and structure of its current PointsPlus membership. The enhanced pricing model, which will be unveiled during the second quarter in greater detail, will include a recurring subscription model and higher price points, supported by pricing research and market comparatives.

The enhanced pricing model, which will be unveiled during the second quarter in greater detail, will include a recurring subscription model and higher price points, supported by pricing research and market comparatives.:eek:

i just transferred out all my ebay points in fear they will also screw around with the exchange rate.

Remember back in early January when they offered 100 AA miles for doing a 15 minute survey to members? It came to both me and my DH. It was all about this kind of thing. I remeber thinking then that the types of programs they were asking about were awfully expensive. Of course, we have yet to receive the 100 miles.... :rolleyes:

Before panic sets in, does points.com set the exchange rates or do the airlines? Should I be moving my ebay points to Asia Miles now? Any advice appreciated.

Remember back in early January when they offered 100 AA miles for doing a 15 minute survey to members? It came to both me and my DH. It was all about this kind of thing. I remeber thinking then that the types of programs they were asking about were awfully expensive. Of course, we have yet to receive the 100 miles.... :rolleyes:

I finally got mine about a week ago. May have been because of the e-mail I sent them--they never replied but at least the miles are there now.

BTW, a PointsPlus membership is $29.95, some time within the past year they raised it from $19.95. At $29.95 I didn't plan on renewing. Will be interesting to see what their new "enhanced pricing model" will be.

It would be cool if points.com could evolve into an e-market for points. Where points.com takes a reasonable commission on each deal -- but there is no such thing as point devaluation. Now that would serve a market need.

BTW, a PointsPlus membership is $29.95, some time within the past year they raised it from $19.95. At $29.95 I didn't plan on renewing. Will be interesting to see what their new "enhanced pricing model" will be.A while back PointsPlus was offering a year's renewal for 4500 USScareway Dividend Miles. I don't know if that offering is still active. It was a good use for some orphan miles for me :)

Remember back in early January when they offered 100 AA miles for doing a 15 minute survey to members? It came to both me and my DH. It was all about this kind of thing. I remeber thinking then that the types of programs they were asking about were awfully expensive. Of course, we have yet to receive the 100 miles.... :rolleyes:

I got the survey offer too and took the survey indicating that these additional features would not be of use to me.

My 100 miles posted about 2 months ago:
01/31/05 POINTS.COM MBR SVY 1Q05 0 100 100

Before panic sets in, does points.com set the exchange rates or do the airlines? Should I be moving my ebay points to Asia Miles now? Any advice appreciated.

Not advice, but I wonder how that eBay thing is doing, whether the take is good or it's another turkey like Auction for America. I do some selling of low-dollar items and haven't yet had a buyer mention those points.

Remember back in early January when they offered 100 AA miles for doing a 15 minute survey to members? It came to both me and my DH. It was all about this kind of thing. I remember thinking then that the types of programs they were asking about were awfully expensive. Of course, we have yet to receive the 100 miles.... :rolleyes:You should have taken the US miles. :)

You should have taken the US miles. :)

my mother did the US miles 100 and got them many weeks later than we figured they would come in. I took the AA miles and they took longer. We did the survey the same day and she used the US ones to help toward some magazine purchase on milepoint. Milepoint, by the way, is powered by points.com and they are weird because in two accounts our family has, the mags have started to come but they have yet to deduct the miles from both their system where you load which accounts to take them from, and from the airlines! Maybe we should just take those airlines out and see if they ever try to get them.

Anyway, my opinion of points.com has been noted in other threads for a long time now. I personally will let my pointsplus account fall off without ever renewing it, and will not rely on the service again. I transferred over the frontier miles (thanks to that thread from Dhacker) and some other things I cleaned out, but they are useless to me now and I do not have the ebay anything points going anymore either. That is at zero and I do not have asia miles.

I am concentraing on earing in 3 main airlines now:

United, NWA and AA. I have a credit card for each and you can transfer miles between accounts on NWA (powered by points.com, so they still getcha) and also on United (powered by another marketer but in a similar way.fee structure) and so I am happy with that. Mother and wife and I have used up ALL US Air miles. Mom only has like 66 of them left so if she gets a magazine with NWA or DL miles on milepoint, then those will get used up first in the purchase.

We have no other things that can be used on Points.com so I am done with them now. I recommend others be done with them too, but that's just me. They are too slow to post, the exchange rates stink, and now their rates will go up. Lose 'em!

:)MM

I emailed them about a week ago regarding a "rumor" that the fees may change. Suzanne from Customer Support of Points.com indicated today so has not heard of any increase in fees for April 2005. (for what thats worth). She did indicate that if I did not rene my pointsplus membership, I could continue to do exchanges at $9.95 per exchange.

I believe FT, before her canned response, but thought I'd pass it on to all>

Maybe it is all an April Fool's trick or a rumor to get everyone to renew their service. I renewed my accounts that I take care of for 2200 Ebay points.

KT

Actually, their renewal rate is at US$29.95 per year, however, their renewal bonus substantially drecreses earlier this year. Now you only get like 625 ebay points for renewing, while it was 2250 last summer. I think I might also liquidate my ebay points now and transfer all of them to Asia Miles for safe haven in case they do a rate increase.

I received my complimentary Pointsplus membership from the Fairmont. If I had to pay, eBay anything points seems like the best offer.

Umm, having some problems transferring points tonight. Ebay for some reason didn't authorize my transfer. Might have to call in tomorrow.

It has been delayed and seems like this will happen sometimes next week.

Umm, having some problems transferring points tonight. Ebay for some reason didn't authorize my transfer. Might have to call in tomorrow.

Any update on this matter?

I too am having a problem with transferring the eBay points. Initiated the transfer last week. They wrote back to say the email, name and account number had to match. I wrote back that it does exactly and have not heard anything yet. It seems there is a problem between points.com and eBay verifying these currently.

I am glad my wife and I "renewed our renewals" last year (mainly to get the bonus Anythingpoints) so we should be good until next year. I wonder whether our membership will be good until 2007 if we renew again ...

Is this true? I just tried to find a "renew" button on my account and I can't seem to find any. Maybe it's because I have already renewed until 2006.

However, if a renewal only nets 625 Ebay anythingpoints, for the same USD29.95 I think we all should just open a new account which will net 2,500 Ebay anythingpoints (I checked this as of this morning).

I really don't understand why they are doing this as I am sure the administrative cost for opening new accounts is higher for points.com as compared to renewals. With such a disparity in bonus points, what's stopping current customers (if they know about this disparity) from opening new accounts instead of renewing? :confused:

Actually, their renewal rate is at US$29.95 per year, however, their renewal bonus substantially drecreses earlier this year. Now you only get like 625 ebay points for renewing, while it was 2250 last summer. I think I might also liquidate my ebay points now and transfer all of them to Asia Miles for safe haven in case they do a rate increase.

i just transferred out all my ebay points in fear they will also screw around with the exchange rate.

Where did you transfer them into? I have a lot of them and want to get the best value I can from the transfer.

I think we all should just open a new account which will net 2,500 Ebay anythingpoints

Be very careful about opening a new account. I can tell you from personal experience that once an affinity account is associated with a particular points.com account, for all eternity it can NEVER be associated with any other points.com account. They say this is for "security reasons" and believe me, I have taken it to the mat with them and they claim there is absolutely no way to manually override this.

For example, say you have points.com account A and you have AsiaMiles account X. You cannot open points.com account B and associate it to AsiaMiles account X. No matter if you either (i) remove AsiaMiles account X from the profile of points.com account A -or- (ii) completely cancel points.com account A.

So, you would be left with orphan miles in AsiaMiles account X (unless well planned).

Unless you are willing to open *all new* affinity accounts, do not count on the strategy of just opening a "new" points.com account.

Where did you transfer them into? I have a lot of them and want to get the best value I can from the transfer.

Depending on what you want to redeem for, AsiaMiles would be touted by manhy aroudn here as the prime candidate. I can't begin to say how much the EBAP>AsiaMiles conversion possibility has changed my life! Really!Hawaiian Air is also not bad if you live on the US west coast and travel frequently to Hawaii.

I received my complimentary Pointsplus membership from the Fairmont. If I had to pay, eBay anything points seems like the best offer.
When did you do this? I belong to the President's Club but don't remember seeing this offered.

Be very careful about opening a new account. I can tell you from personal experience that once an affinity account is associated with a particular points.com account, for all eternity it can NEVER be associated with any other points.com account. They say this is for "security reasons" and believe me, I have taken it to the mat with them and they claim there is absolutely no way to manually override this.

For example, say you have points.com account A and you have AsiaMiles account X. You cannot open points.com account B and associate it to AsiaMiles account X. No matter if you either (i) remove AsiaMiles account X from the profile of points.com account A -or- (ii) completely cancel points.com account A.

So, you would be left with orphan miles in AsiaMiles account X (unless well planned).

Unless you are willing to open *all new* affinity accounts, do not count on the strategy of just opening a "new" points.com account.

Thanks for the warning. This is probably the more reason that points.com might lose a lot of customers ...

Oh well, in any case I think it should be easy enough to open new CX Asia Miles and Ebay accounts to match with a new points.com account ... as the only thing I need is to transfer Ebay anythingpoints into CX Asia Miles

When did you do this? I belong to the President's Club but don't remember seeing this offered.

It's still available if I am not mistaken. www.points.com/fpc and enter your President's Club number.

FYI - the ebay anything points >> points.com logjam seems to have been broken.

happy asiamiles transferring!

Be very careful about opening a new account. I can tell you from personal experience that once an affinity account is associated with a particular points.com account, for all eternity it can NEVER be associated with any other points.com account. They say this is for "security reasons" and believe me, I have taken it to the mat with them and they claim there is absolutely no way to manually override this.

For example, say you have points.com account A and you have AsiaMiles account X. You cannot open points.com account B and associate it to AsiaMiles account X. No matter if you either (i) remove AsiaMiles account X from the profile of points.com account A -or- (ii) completely cancel points.com account A.

So, you would be left with orphan miles in AsiaMiles account X (unless well planned).

Unless you are willing to open *all new* affinity accounts, do not count on the strategy of just opening a "new" points.com account.

Of course, you can always "disassociate" your FF acct from a previous points.com account and then "reassociate" it with the new one. I had to do this when I opened a second points.com account with the eBay AP/AA double miles deal. Of, course, I had to call to find out what was wrong as I had forgotten about the previous points.com acct.

Of course, you can always "disassociate" your FF acct from a previous points.com account and then "reassociate" it with the new one. I had to do this when I opened a second points.com account with the eBay AP/AA double miles deal. Of, course, I had to call to find out what was wrong as I had forgotten about the previous points.com acct.

rbAA, if they allowed you to do this, it is 100% contrary to how they treated me. I FLAT OUT CANCELLED my old account, and they would still not allow me to associate the AsiaMiles account associated that old, now nonexistant point.com account with a new one. This was about 4 months ago. I took it through the third level of management.

rbAA, if they allowed you to do this, it is 100% contrary to how they treated me. I FLAT OUT CANCELLED my old account, and they would still not allow me to associate the AsiaMiles account associated that old, now nonexistant point.com account with a new one. This was about 4 months ago. I took it through the third level of management.

i may be pushing it but I think i am kinda right when I suggest that rbAA knows all to well that Points.com's treatment of customers and their point-bearing accounts is completely subjective and sometimes purely based on luck. I think that with Points.com, if you get something you set out to get through them--no matter what it is, you were lucky. If you did not, it can be a long and windy road. Oh sure, a simple transfer here or there may post as planned but higher order stuff like what you were trying to to could get lost in the cogs big time, that's for sure! (it shouldn't but it can and it does)

So for those for whom it works out nicely, I say congrats. Make it work fer ya, keep going, and enjoy your ride. But for anyone who is stuck in the sidelines, waiting for something to post beyond the normal 4-6-8-10 week waiting period, concerned about an issue that has yet to be long since resolved, and now thinking that all other people surely think your issue must be user error, I give you this contact below. He is the man on top systems-wise:

Mike.Glass@points.com

Nice guy actually--pretty receptive all in all, and an old software guru at heart (so he claims in similar words)...

There had been one FTer who shared my tenacity and found all the investors and boardmember's names, and also got more info on the corporate structure after some serious digging. I emailed with Mr. Glass and he eventually helped do the final clean up and compensation for all those people suffering missing miles from last year's Ebay Anything Points/AA/Points.com promo debacle.

To give you an idea of how long it took to finally resolve everything--even when dealing with top men, the last time I emailed with his was in February and I consider my dealings with Points.com to be completed in terms of my having any old or current problems with them. They eventually came thru for me and I did participate in a couple more small things using my existing account, so technically speaking, everything works now for me.

however, in my opinion, everything still takes way too long to post, and for that reason, as said in an earlier post in here, I will just let my account fizzle, and will not renew it again. I have no use for it's inherent hassles and relatively high fee structures. They are still the only company that does transfers and so business-wise, they nailed this market. I suggested in other threads that someone somehow make a newer version of Points.com and even appealed to Randy for this sort of thing, but I am only one man who is customer-savvy, not business minded. I am not on the war path to oust Points.com anymore but I tell you this: We will be in trouble should they continue to grow, because in my opinion, they still seem to waver and falter on a few major things concerning points postings and the like. This can be a big issue for anyone relying on them to convert something that makes or breaks a family vacation or something. Sounds trivial to some, maybe, but if you do use the service, please do not use it to plan travel! Use it just to pick up a few miles here and there in a growing account that is not yet being considered for award redemption by you or your loved ones.

Although Mr Glass helped me out and promised to look into issues that started problems in that big promo last year, things still run along with many holes for your points to get lost in. And now, the fees are going up, so you get to pay more for that level of service to continue.

They also power Mile Point, which, though two family members are currently receiving magazines from mile use set up in that system months ago, the miles fail to be properly deducted from people's accounts and the Points.com software that powers that service is pretty flaky in the opinions of many in the know. We are unable to get answers from them or Points.com on this issue and to me, such ineptness is inexcusable. To allow it is bad on all of our parts, I think. We should even eduscte the masses on this! I would not use the service if I were new to all things Points & miles!

Well, I have said my piece--again. Good luck w/ Mr Glass--that is, if he doesn’t take a few vactaions like the manager, Lissa Romano did 3 times during last year’s EAP/AA promo problem...

;)MM
-Customer Deight.

I would not use the service if I were new to all things Points & miles!

Agreed! What a pain points.com is. The only time it is worht having an account is when there is a loophole they were too stupid to catch. Then it's six months of waiting for points to post when they decide they don't want to honour deals they offered through their site.

Btw, I recently 'won' a sweepstakes with points.com for a week vacation at Intrawest. Also a scam imho. Sounds more like a week of promotional video hell, if you can even book anything at all using the coupon they give you.

http://www.points.com/unavailable.html

The site's down 'til Monday...we'll see what "great ways to manage our miles" await us in a few days.

http://www.points.com/unavailable.html

The site's down 'til Monday...we'll see what "great ways to manage our miles" await us in a few days.


Points.com has been planning this change for about six months now. They've hired a PR firm (I think - it might be an advertising firm). This is from a press release:

"The new Web site will include broader consumer offerings, and present each consumer with a comprehensive personalized view of their entire reward program universe. New management tools, such as Join, Earn and Buy, will help consumers realize more value from their favorite reward programs, to help them "Get More Rewards, Faster(TM)". These tools will also add additional revenue streams for the Company. The system will be driven by an ATG Marketing Enterprise System that will use the consumer's unique reward program, reward goals and point balance mix to suggest ways to use the Join, Earn, Buy and Swap tools most effectively."

I am cautiously optimistic. Will you all want to manage your points in this new portal?

Thanks.

The new site seems to be up and running.

I have been using Points.com to transfer eBay Anything Points to AA and Asiamiles and last week renewed my membership.

Here are the new fees:

Membership Billing Structure

You can change your membership billing structure by selecting one of the options below, and then click on "Save Changes".
Current Status
You are currently not being billed.

6 month Membership (continuous service)
$9.95 per month billed in one payment of $59.70


3 month Membership (continuous service)
$14.95 per month billed in one payment of $44.85


1 month Trial
$19.95 per month

I drained my ebay anything points account out of fear of new "enhanced exchange rates," and now it doesn't seem like you can look at the exchange rates unless you're conducting an actual swap.

Can someone conduct a dummy swap from ebay anything points to asiamiles to see if the rate remains the same?

I drained my ebay anything points account out of fear of new "enhanced exchange rates," and now it doesn't seem like you can look at the exchange rates unless you're conducting an actual swap.

Can someone conduct a dummy swap from ebay anything points to asiamiles to see if the rate remains the same?

It appears to me that the EBAP>AsiaMiles ratio is intact.

Thanks. :)

It appears to me that the EBAP>AsiaMiles ratio is intact.

Wow -- from $20/yr to $10/month! :eek:

Glad I signed up for a free year and then extended it for a year for $20 and eBay points last summer...

Darn, after reading the thread last week, I still forgot to renew and my membership expires end of June!!

Anyway, at US$120 a year for the membership, they're shooting themselves in the foot. When people are consolidating their points to redeem a ticket that is worth like US$500, I just don't see people paying $120 a year for this previlege. Besides, there is no longer sign up or renewal bonus too. I know that they were loosing money, but trying to increase revenue by increasing membership fees by 400% is just plain stupid. Anyone has any exec's email that I can write to?

I for once am willing to pay like US$10-15 per transfer instead, but I don't see this option available either. Highly doubt they'll get to the membership renewal/enrollment level they anticipate.

They actually asked a question in their January survey to see if people will be willing to pay $10/month for the service and I wonder how many percentage of the people didn't read the whole thing and click yes.

What are you guys' thoughts??

I for once am willing to pay like US$10-15 per transfer instead, but I don't see this option available either.
You have the option to pay $20 for one month of "service." If you make a couple transfers, that gets down to your $10/transfer range.

I'm not going to be using points.com anymore. Too bad. :(

You have the option to pay $20 for one month of "service." If you make a couple transfers, that gets down to your $10/transfer range.

I'm not going to be using points.com anymore. Too bad. :(

Well, the $20 one month of service is not available to existing members.

I think that points.com business will likely drop substantially by this crazy, irrational increase in membership fees!!

Just got a statement from AA that included this offer for Points.com: "Enter the Million Miles Sweepstakes. Earn 100 bonus miles immediately!"

https://points.com/join/c?c=0504-61-002

You can either sign up for a free Points.com membership, or if you're already a member of Points.com, just log in. This enters you into the sweepstakes and gives you 100 bonus AA miles.

I agree that the new fee structure stinks, but at least you can get some free miles right now.

The sign-up bonus (100 AA) will be credited within the next 7 days. That's not "immediate"!

Just got a statement from AA that included this offer for Points.com: "Enter the Million Miles Sweepstakes. Earn 100 bonus miles immediately!"

https://points.com/join/c?c=0504-61-002

You can either sign up for a free Points.com membership, or if you're already a member of Points.com, just log in. This enters you into the sweepstakes and gives you 100 bonus AA miles.

Thanks! I got the link from AAdvantage BEFORE Points.com upgrade and of course could not register for the offer...

Curious to the feedback on the new site positive and negative
And in comparison to the old points.com site
Thanks

It was easier to get conversion quotes on the old site.

I have to agree with you.It is very difficult IMO across the board
Wanted some feedback from the community.
Waht do you think of the green color?
Thanks

You can set "goals" with most airlines. Does anyone have any idea what they are used for, other than the "graph" display? Targeted promotions? How about your "preferred" program for earning points/miles? Is it only for their gift certificate shopping section?

Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 11:04:52 -0400
To: LTLIZARD@YAHOO.COM
From: "Points.com CEO Rob MacLean" <news@mail.points.com> Subject: Good News from Points.com

Dear Jeffrey,

Thank you for being a PointsPlus member. I would like to share some exciting news with you.

Over the last few months we’ve been working on improving the Points.com Web experience. To do this, we reviewed member feedback in surveys, emails, and phone calls in order to better address your reward program needs.

Today we are delighted to announce the launch of our new Web site. What we hope you will experience is a member-focused application that will help you manage your miles and points like real financial assets.

Some of the new features include:

A new Balance Tracker to help you set and monitor goals for your reward programs;

The ability to Buy and Earn miles and points in your favorite programs to get you closer to a free flight, vacation or merchandise;

New sections including Flights, Nights, Shopping, and Magazines that will give you more redemption options;

New mile and point management tools like Join (new reward programs) and Swap (formerly known as “exchange”) to help you Get More Rewards, Faster™; and

A new user interface with navigation wizards that provide a more personalized experience. The exchange calculator, for example, is now inside the Swap wizard allowing you to work with your real reward program balances.

In addition, your PointsPlus membership has been renamed “Points.com Gold”. As a PointsPlus member you have been automatically upgraded at no additional charge and you have full access to all Points.com Gold benefits through the full term of your 12 month PointsPlus membership.

Points.com Gold benefits include:

UNLIMITED number of Swaps between reward programs;

UNLIMITED live toll-free telephone and instant message chat support, exclusive to Points.com Gold members;

UNLIMITED RECURRING SWAPS to automatically swap the miles or points out of one account into another;

25% BONUS on all Points.com Earn offers; and

DOUBLE ENTRIES into all the Points.com sweepstakes that you enter.

Over the next year we will continue to add new features and benefits to your Points.com experience. Please feel free to give us feedback any time by emailing us at: customersupport@points.com.

The next time you sign in we'll ask you to quickly change your User ID to your e-mail address to help us provide increased security and to serve you better.
To see the new Points.com, go to: http://www.points.com

Sincerely,

Rob MacLean
CEO, Points.com


Points International Ltd. is located at 179 John Street, 8th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1X4


The HTML graphics in this message have been displayed.

You can set "goals" with most airlines. Does anyone have any idea what they are used for, other than the "graph" display? Targeted promotions? How about your "preferred" program for earning points/miles? Is it only for their gift certificate shopping section?

It takes a while to learn all the aspects of the site and its interesting propositions.You might want to call their customer service too for further clarification.

Thanks for the post

I just don't think anyone is going to pay $10/month. That's over $100 a year! What are they thinking??? They should make it $10 a year and make their money off of selling members services (like credit cards and stuff).

As far as the color goes, I guess it looks okay. I personally like the green, but it doesn't look incredibly professional. I don't know of a large corporation that has such color on their website.

Also: what's up with the links at the bottom? Those are the same on all InteractiveCorp websites (Expedia, Match, Ticketmaster, etc). Now, I know that IACI owns around 20% of Points.com, but that's no real explanation. Unless IACI is paying Points a fee for this service, it seems to me that that sort of favor is almost a violation of fidiciary duty to the greater Points.com shareholder. Why give favors to one investor?

Anywayz

what these guys at Points.com are is this:

They are experts in mass marketing to the newbie and the unknowing.

And with hype that can be generated in that market, they will succeed. I don't like it, but it is true, and hey, it's business.

I guess as sad as it is, you gotta give them credit for the ability to do that.

I have recently seen a few emails, ads on the web and in banners, stuff on the local news and even in the newspaper! My own friends said, "Hey, look at this--it looks cool. Hey, you are the miles man, isn't this great?..." (I recall screaming "KHANNNNNN!")

There are TONS of people out there--countless thousands and tens of thousands of people, in fact, who have miles but have no clue how to use them or what to do or where to redeem, etc.

These people have been sitting on their dusty miles and not knowing or often even caring about whether they expire or which airlines they are on, etc. They still live in and think in the older school of thought that there are only a few ways to earn and burn miles and they still think they can actually book with ease.

Some of these people have woken up to the fact this is not possible and they want answers. Some have come here and some of those people have learned and become un-newbies who know sit here typing all day and theorizing on the best way to get tix. I am all for these types and hey, I was one long ago too (in a different forum, many moons ago)

Well, Points.com is capitalizing on that larger market of unknowing masses who will suddenly see them as the savior and answer to travel troubles!

These masses will say and think things like this:

"Sure, if I have 10,000 Delta miles or whatever, and I also have 16,000 AA miles, I will use a service such as Points.com to somehow combine the useless miles. So what if it costs me $225 or so to do it, and hey, that's a free ticket, right? Most tickets are $250, right?! I just saved $25!!!" ...Stuff like that (my numbers used only as an example)

oh my oh my...

and with more people trying to redeem (and not even knowing how to do it) we are in trouble... Not that it is necessary to have a cap on how many people should be out there gaining interest in miles, but we are still in trouble...

UNLESS WE can get to them first or educate the masses too.
Do we wanna do this? What's in it for us?
I dunno. But I do know this: Points.com has increased awareness and they are appealing to people who do not necessarily know of FlyerTalk. That could be a plus or a minus depending on how you look at it.

There are tons of unused miles out there and hype sells. Points.com knows this very well. Its colors appeal to the younger set as well as to those who wanna be young again through the miles they have been carrying around since college. I know a guy who keeps earning on his CC but has never redeemed and has no idea how to. He has a billion miles but cannot begin to fathom what to do or where to go. He never travels and I cannot explain it to him in terms he would care to understand. I also cannot find a way to wrestle them from him for some sort of compensation because he is rich and way too laid back to be bothered with it. But if he does see this stuff about Points.com, I could very well see him saying, "Hmmm, is this what Jeff was talking about? Oh, I now will book a trip using whatever they say to do..."

People will buy. If you build it they will come. I do not like Points.com and have madethat clear in the past. Their customer service sucks and they know it but will not change it. But somehow it lives on. They know what they are doing. Their fees are way too high but it's not the people in this thread they are going for. But remember, they are going for the mass markets. They entice us--the ones with existing pointsplus accounts--to stay with them, but most of us will probably not do so. They realize this as well. They will still somehow make it big off this stuff and I am sorry to say I already know of a few people who have not minded paying the fees. It makes me cringe when I hear someone say, "oh, it was only $25 to do that transaction..." Well, that's WHY it's so high, mate! You just sent a message that you are cool with dropping that kind of money for something that should be cheaper!

AGHAGA!

Oh well. I see a new onslought of change and over crowding in the airline booking world. It will not be good for mile gigs I think. Not in the end. They consoldate first and then change and do away with things later on.

I bet the company plans are to entice the all the airlines to let them manage everything and when that happens, and when only one company gets the control, then it can rule. It can start to do away with and strip down the services even more than the individual airlines may, because they are their only watch dog! Eventually, as if it were already part of the plan that the airlines pay into and gain from, mile gigs as we know them today will die. We will either have to utilize Points.com which has no competition, or we will pay outright for travel.

:(MM

'Tis a sad day when this happens and the Yankees win one at Fenway too.

Not exactly a program but still a stinker in the eyes of many ;)
Anybody renew their membership for over 3 times the price?
I have not as I don't see their so called enhancements like the right to speak with customer service.......... :mad: :td:

777, could not agree with you more. I have not renewed - I can't believe their new pricing structure. To me at least, it seems like a fast way to toally kill their entire business. Its one of those business decisions that I simply cannot understand at all. Time will tell.

Hello all,
Curious...has anyone ever received the 100 american bonus miles. I've procrastinated on pursuing it with them but myself and 2 other family accounts never got them.

My membership will be running out in the fall and I won't be renewing, so I'm trying to use them for every angle I can until then. I got lucky and just happened to get a gold account for my sister the weekend before the so-called upgrade, got the registration bonus too. By this time next year, when they see how many members they've lost, I bet they'll come up with a more affordable offer.

I know what you mean. I renew before the change to their program but definately won't be renewing after my year is up. This is program is way worse than the previous program. Especially since you get see what miles you could get like before.

I did however, get the 100 bonus miles however.

KT

Not exactly a program but still a stinker in the eyes of many ;)
Anybody renew their membership for over 3 times the price?
I have not as I don't see their so called enhancements like the right to speak with customer service.......... :mad: :td:
NO. I have not renewed and will not renew. I still have ~ 10 months on my membership, though, nice for converting eBay points to AsiaMiles but not for anything else.

Hello all,
Curious...has anyone ever received the 100 american bonus miles. I've procrastinated on pursuing it with them but myself and 2 other family accounts never got them.

My membership will be running out in the fall and I won't be renewing, so I'm trying to use them for every angle I can until then. I got lucky and just happened to get a gold account for my sister the weekend before the so-called upgrade, got the registration bonus too. By this time next year, when they see how many members they've lost, I bet they'll come up with a more affordable offer.

I will not renew and I have actually blocked their emails. I did getthe 100 AA miles but it took months extra and I never pursued it. But they did finally come and that, I think, was the last thing I ever did or will do with them.

Of course, when you do a mileage transfer between members on DL or NW, it is Points.com who powers the transaction and collects the money from the airline, but at least those work and do come thru on time. just DO NOT screw it up when doing one!

;)MM

NO. I have not renewed and will not renew. I still have ~ 10 months on my membership, though, nice for converting eBay points to AsiaMiles but not for anything else.
Lucky you :) I'm with you on the Asia Miles page.
That and AA were the two compelling factors in the big picture handsdown
It is actually quite sad what has become of points.com.
I am or was a huge fan of what they had actually done originally.
That is before the self inflicted suicide attempt of their membership fees.
A great thing for the future of any company and its revenue picture.
However with that said any company must be able to create value for their customer.
And at present I think they have some serious problems.
They also have a complicated sell factor. A few of their potential customers told me they delete all their offerings because they don’t understand what they are offering.

I’ll admit it took two of my trusted Flyertalk community gurus to communicate originally what I needed to do to sign up in the program over 1 year ago.
I was not a paypal or ebay customer previously so I was baffled at first to sign up with 3 partners to utilize the scheme

Points.com could have been a big part of the future IMO had they found other ways to derive revenue.
If only someone in the home office in Toronto can stop the train wreck effect
They still might be able to salvage this mess
The Losers Circle award also has been won by points.com with what has to be one of the worst website makeovers in history.
They actually spent money on that new site :rolleyes:
It performs and looks worse then the original.
That is a special talent all of its own.I actually believe the new website is more offensive then the membership fees if that is at all possible.
If you have a CS question be prepared to pay to have someone to speak too or
email for free and see if somebody can follow-up in a few days or so (sigh)
Ahhh and they say loyalty has its rewards :p Guess that depends where these days ;)

Lucky you :) I'm with you on the Asia Miles page.
That and AA were the two compelling factors in the big picture handsdown
It is actually quite sad what has become of points.com.
I am or was a huge fan of what they had actually done originally.
That is before the self inflicted suicide attempt of their membership fees.
A great thing for the future of any company and its revenue picture.
However with that said any company must be able to create value for their customer.
And at present I think they have some serious problems.
They also have a complicated sell factor. A few of their potential customers told me they delete all their offerings because they don’t understand what they are offering.

I’ll admit it took two of my trusted Flyertalk community gurus to communicate originally what I needed to do to sign up in the program over 1 year ago.
I was not a paypal or ebay customer previously so I was baffled at first to sign up with 3 partners to utilize the scheme

Points.com could have been a big part of the future IMO had they found other ways to derive revenue.
If only someone in the home office in Toronto can stop the train wreck effect
They still might be able to salvage this mess
The Losers Circle award also has been won by points.com with what has to be one of the worst website makeovers in history.
They actually spent money on that new site :rolleyes:
It performs and looks worse then the original.
That is a special talent all of its own.I actually believe the new website is more offensive then the membership fees if that is at all possible.
If you have a CS question be prepared to pay to have someone to speak too or
email for free and see if somebody can follow-up in a few days or so (sigh)
Ahhh and they say loyalty has its rewards :p Guess that depends where these days ;)

I agree with you.
And ya know, I like to think it was that whole AA/Ebay scheme that eventually started the unwravel in that company. Now they are like a losing baseball team with poor management. believe me, I know what that feels like as a fan. Things can change but it takes time and money and time and desire.

Points.com is losing and no one I know in here or otherwise is going to sign up or renew. If they ask about it, I will tell them not to. I'd get out and take the Asia miles now too. They do not listen and they do not adapt, and they kept on the same personnel who screwed everything up for them in the past. This will be their downfall and yet they still take money for membership fees while attempting to sell the public on the theory that the only way to deal with points and miles is to use them. It is not.

Perhaps this is old news, but in looking at the points.com site for the first time in ages I notice that a monthly Gold membership is $4.95 and an annual membership is $49.95 (each are cancellable at any time, without any refund for prorata unused membership period).

What does a Gold membership get you, other than (1) access to customer sevice and (2) 50% more on "Earn" offers?

Perhaps this is old news, but in looking at the points.com site for the first time in ages I notice that a monthly Gold membership is $4.95 and an annual membership is $49.95 (each are cancellable at any time, without any refund for prorata unused membership period).

What does a Gold membership get you, other than (1) access to customer sevice and (2) 50% more on "Earn" offers?

Aggravation and confusion is the only clear benefit I am still aware of besides long hold times and agents struggling to figure out what business they are in.
If there is any member of the human race that still has an interest in this Titanic of a scheme my suggestion would be to email them before you consider spending a wooden Canadian nickel with them.
My bet is they won't have much in the way of benefits to offer. The whole business model needs to go back into rehab ;)

Be very careful about opening a new account. I can tell you from personal experience that once an affinity account is associated with a particular points.com account, for all eternity it can NEVER be associated with any other points.com account. They say this is for "security reasons" and believe me, I have taken it to the mat with them and they claim there is absolutely no way to manually override this.

For example, say you have points.com account A and you have AsiaMiles account X. You cannot open points.com account B and associate it to AsiaMiles account X. No matter if you either (i) remove AsiaMiles account X from the profile of points.com account A -or- (ii) completely cancel points.com account A.

So, you would be left with orphan miles in AsiaMiles account X (unless well planned).

Unless you are willing to open *all new* affinity accounts, do not count on the strategy of just opening a "new" points.com account.

But you can do it if you have 2 "mileage" accounts... I did that once with Alaska Airline... but they became PCR points...