MilesBuzz! - Buying Instant Miles Versus Building New Miles

Quick question for seasoned travellers out there. My wife and I both have 35K miles on Alaska Airlines right now and are planning to soon travel to Athens, Greece. The best flight in our mind is a one-connection flight on Delta. Which of the following scenarios would you recommend we do:

1) Fly on Delta for $2200 total and both individually earn 15K frequent flyer miles on Alaska Airlines (taking us both up to 50K).

2) Buy instant miles to get us both up to 50K frequent flyer miles on Alaska and then attempt to get "free" partner tickets on Delta. I think it would cost us about $800-900 to upgrade to 50K miles each.

3) Transfer miles from family accounts to get us both up to 50K frequent flyer miles on Alaska and then attempt to get "free" partner ticket on Delta. I think it would cost us about $350-400 to do this transferring to get us up to 50K miles each (and also would deplete our family members of 30K miles--but what do we care, wink, wink).

So which of these 3 options would you recommend?

Thanks!!!!

I guess this depends on whether or not money is the limiting factor. If you're short on $$, I would try option 3. If you've got the cash and want to be able to use those 50K miles each for a later trip, use option 1.

However, I would not under circumstances spend money to do any mileage buying or transferring until you have reservations on hold for the flights you want. Otherwise, you may end up having to pay for the flights anyway after having bought/transferred miles before finding out that you can't use them on the dates/flights you want because there is no award availability.

Not too short on money, but being newlyweds it'd be great save the $1.4K to $1.8K and finally cash in our frequent flyer miles on Alaska. And as for our buying or transferring frequent flyer miles, you're right. I actually have an e-mail in to Alaska Airlines' customer service about whether there is award availability for a specific Delta flight. Not too sure whether they like to answer such questions w/o our having purchased the miles yet to qualify for that particular deal.

I guess this depends on whether or not money is the limiting factor. If you're short on $$, I would try option 3. If you've got the cash and want to be able to use those 50K miles each for a later trip, use option 1.

However, I would not under circumstances spend money to do any mileage buying or transferring until you have reservations on hold for the flights you want. Otherwise, you may end up having to pay for the flights anyway after having bought/transferred miles before finding out that you can't use them on the dates/flights you want because there is no award availability.

I actually have an e-mail in to Alaska Airlines' customer service about whether there is award availability for a specific Delta flight. Not too sure whether they like to answer such questions w/o our having purchased the miles yet to qualify for that particular deal.

I don't have any experience with Alaska Airlines, but most airlines will let you make reservations even if you don't have the miles you need - they know that there are a number of ways to top up mileage balances as needed. However, they can usually only do this by phone.

I've also found that e-mails to airlines are very iffy. IF you get an answer, it's an even bigger "if" whether the reply you receive comes even remotely close to answering your question.

My advice - call AS and ask them about the flights/dates you want. Then you're in a much better position to figure out what you want to do.

if you know the trip date or range of dates, call about the award tickets because, if not available and you think the ticket price might go up, you have your answer...good luck

Many warm welcomes to FlyerTalk.

There might be some additional information required here that could in the right scenario help you out.

Maybe you can close the gap for the miles you may need to purchase. If you don't already have it, your could both acquire the alaska MP Signature card with the 10,000 mile bonus leaving you only 5,000 miles away from the 50K you need with little or no expense. Thus you'd need to only purchase 5,000 miles and end of with a card that actually has been highly rated in the Freddie Awards and gets equally high marks from those who have the card. Discussion in the Alaska Airlines forum is here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=580332

As well, if you have the time, i'm sure someone in that forum could easily suggest an additional promo on how to get the extra 5,000 miles you might need for almost nothing.

Athens cleaned up nice for the Olympics and you are sure to have a great time.

Again, welcome to FlyerTalk and please ask any of us for help.

Cheers,
Randy


Quick question for seasoned travellers out there. My wife and I both have 35K miles on Alaska Airlines right now and are planning to soon travel to Athens, Greece. The best flight in our mind is a one-connection flight on Delta. Which of the following scenarios would you recommend we do:

1) Fly on Delta for $2200 total and both individually earn 15K frequent flyer miles on Alaska Airlines (taking us both up to 50K).

2) Buy instant miles to get us both up to 50K frequent flyer miles on Alaska and then attempt to get "free" partner tickets on Delta. I think it would cost us about $800-900 to upgrade to 50K miles each.

3) Transfer miles from family accounts to get us both up to 50K frequent flyer miles on Alaska and then attempt to get "free" partner ticket on Delta. I think it would cost us about $350-400 to do this transferring to get us up to 50K miles each (and also would deplete our family members of 30K miles--but what do we care, wink, wink).

So which of these 3 options would you recommend?

Thanks!!!!

AMEX DL credit cards come to mind, if not already suggested/obtained.

Two other things>

1. If you fly the miles, you get status miles as well
2. If you transfer them, your family members lose them, do they need them?

I have 42,000 Alaskan miles that I would love to get rid of.

Thanks everyone for your great input. I actually spoke with Alaska today and they informed me that there is zero rewards availability during our travel time period, but that we'd indeed get Alaska miles on a RT Delta flight.

So I've located a $1155 (taxes included) RT deal for Seattle<->Athens with one layover both ways on Delta.com. Before buying it I thought I'd check out a couple travel agents nearby my office. One of them (www.newwavetravel.com) actually told me they could get me a 13-night (we had been looking for 15-night stays but are flexible) deal for $920 (tax included). I was quite suprised by this deal and only just a few moments ago performed a google search and realized that they are a consolidator ticket offerer (sorry people, I'm new to all of this).

Anyone have any comments on these sorts of businesses? Do people think I should take the deal? That would be a savings of $470 for the two of us.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks!

i've not used consolidators, but have read in ft that you may not get miles....a lot of threads are available re consolidators if you can find them...perhaps a search in this forum or mr using consolidator as the argument will turn up a few...

Save the 1400 or 1800. Would you pay that much to have gold status on Alaskan? IF you're so worried about getting gold and having miles then do some mileage runs. Do you have any idea of the compound value of that amount in 30 years?

the reward ticket stuff is a bit screwy and my tip is you're sort of thinking wrong in looking at whether delta has flights available.

as a practical matter the way it works these day is you try to book a reward flight to your destination and back if you can get it, and then as it gets closer, try to change it to your preferred itinerary.

so for instance air france sometimes doesn't release inventory to delta til a week or two out. so last year booking from washington to amsterdam, i booked some screwy itinerary and then switched to a more direct routing a week out, which cost me like $100 i believe.


my experience is that it's rarely worth it to buy or transfer miles if it's any significant number of miles. there are usually alternatives like taking out a credit card or eating in the right restaurants or signing up for e-mails.

and to greece you may well find that the number of miles you get from buying a paid ticket and will have when you come from buying a ticket added to the number you now have will wind up giving you a free trip BACK next year, essentially making it cheaper to pay than to buy miles.

So I've located a $1155 (taxes included) RT deal for Seattle<->Athens with one layover both ways on Delta.com. Before buying it I thought I'd check out a couple travel agents nearby my office. One of them (www.newwavetravel.com) actually told me they could get me a 13-night (we had been looking for 15-night stays but are flexible) deal for $920 (tax included). I was quite suprised by this deal and only just a few moments ago performed a google search and realized that they are a consolidator ticket offerer (sorry people, I'm new to all of this).

Anyone have any comments on these sorts of businesses? Do people think I should take the deal? That would be a savings of $470 for the two of us.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks!

It seems to me to be a lot more savings than $470. For $2,200 total you get just the flight. For $1,840 total you get flight plus 13 nights in a hotel. Figure $50-$100/night for the hotel and that alone saves another $650-$1300.

For international flights, I almost always use a travel agency that deals with consolidators. Airlines can not sell all their seats at retail prices so they use consolidators to sell at reduced prices for international flights. 99% of the time I get miles on fares/tickets sold through consolidators but if you are concerned, ask the travel agent which 'fare class' that the flights are booked in. Then ask Alaskan Air whether you earn miles for that type of fare class.

Such packages are available oftentimes because this way you can't tell how much the flight cost and how much the hotel cost. I remember once the flight + hotel from upstate NY to Iowa cost less than just the flight, for the same reason. It was a last-minute deal and worked out well costwise, even if you ddin't need the hotel!

I am not familiar with the particular agency you named but if you want, you can check the BBB in their state to see if they have any complaints against them. You can also pay by credit card to be a bit more protected and can double check with the airline and hotel in question to be sure your flights/rooms are reserved. Generally, as I said, I don't have a problem using consolidators. But if it were the first time I were using an unfamiliar one that I just found on the net, I would do my homework first.

Keep us posted what you end up doing.

Wow. This forum is an AMAZING resource. Unfortunately, our travel dates are quite inflexible as my wife can only get those two particular Mondays off of work (she teaches dance all day on Mondays) and thus I can't really shop around for alternate dates. Next time we try something of this nature I'll definitely fight for more flexibility. And the only drawback with taking the consolidator deal at this point is the fact that we would be reducing our stay from 15 nights to 13 nights (this is kind of a big deal to me considering the time it takes for the flights and the ferry trips).

As for the consolidator I've been dealing with (New Wave Travel), I plan on dropping by there again today to confirm the whole mileage situation (getting Alaska frequent flyer miles for a Delta RT). I also plan on checking with our local BBB to see if there are any complaints against this company. I'll probably also do a "consolidator" thread search on this forum as well (dang newbies!).

So some of you have purchased hotel accomodations through these consolidators as well? As we want the island portion of our stay to be very flexible, I think we're only interested in booking hotels for our first two nights in Athens.

Thanks again everybody!

It seems to me to be a lot more savings than $470. For $2,200 total you get just the flight. For $1,840 total you get flight plus 13 nights in a hotel. Figure $50-$100/night for the hotel and that alone saves another $650-$1300.

For international flights, I almost always use a travel agency that deals with consolidators. Airlines can not sell all their seats at retail prices so they use consolidators to sell at reduced prices for international flights. 99% of the time I get miles on fares/tickets sold through consolidators but if you are concerned, ask the travel agent which 'fare class' that the flights are booked in. Then ask Alaskan Air whether you earn miles for that type of fare class.

Such packages are available oftentimes because this way you can't tell how much the flight cost and how much the hotel cost. I remember once the flight + hotel from upstate NY to Iowa cost less than just the flight, for the same reason. It was a last-minute deal and worked out well costwise, even if you ddin't need the hotel!

I am not familiar with the particular agency you named but if you want, you can check the BBB in their state to see if they have any complaints against them. You can also pay by credit card to be a bit more protected and can double check with the airline and hotel in question to be sure your flights/rooms are reserved. Generally, as I said, I don't have a problem using consolidators. But if it were the first time I were using an unfamiliar one that I just found on the net, I would do my homework first.

Keep us posted what you end up doing.

Thanks for the lengthy reply. The $920 per person fare I was cited actually does not include hotel accomodations, so it would indeed be a savings of $470. But that is indeed a sizable savings and money I could better spend elsewhere. I've also followed your advice and confirmed with Alaska Airlines that I would indeed be awared FF miles for a Fare Class T ticket on Delta.

However, when it comes to the BBB part I looked up the company and it turns out that they have had one complaint in the past 3 years filed against them (which to me seems small given the volume of sales they must have). The complaint specifically rests below.

But as for my decision, I might sleep on this over the weekend and check to see if anyone has further advice for this queezy-stomached flyer...

Thanks!

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Marketplace Experience

Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record
BBB Definition:
unsatisfactory record - A company has an "unsatisfactory business performance record" with the Bureau is based on the experiences reflected in BBB files. This file condition results when the company has failed to resolve or respond to complaints, repeatedly failed to respond or resolve issues in a timely manner, failed to resolve the underlying issues for a pattern
BBB Definition:
pattern - More than 2 complaints involving the same allegations usually within 12 months that are significant in relation to the company's size and volume of business.
of complaints, failed to honor their commitment to mediate or arbitrate disputes or honor mediated agreements or arbitrated decisions, failed to substantiate, modify or discontinue false advertising claims that are challenged by the BBB, or failed to discontinue unauthorized use of the BBB name and logo, a Federally protected trademark.

with the Bureau due to failure to respond to a complaint.

When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.

The Bureau processed a total of 1 complaint about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 1 complaint closed in 36 months, 0 were closed in the last year.

Sales Practice Issues
BBB Definition:

Sales Practice Issues - Claims of alleged sales presentations made in person or by telephone that contain misrepresentations of the product or service, high pressure sales practices, failure to disclose key conditions of the offer, and verbal representations not consistent with written contractual terms or agreements.



No Response
BBB Definition:

No Response - The company failed to respond to the complaint.



1 - Company failed to respond to the BBB to resolve or address the complaint issues.

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Company failed to respond to the BBB to resolve or address the complaint issues.

Ops, this would make me nervous but just my personal thought.

However, when it comes to the BBB part I looked up the company and it turns out that they have had one complaint in the past 3 years filed against them (which to me seems small given the volume of sales they must have). The complaint specifically rests below.


If it's only one, and they have been around for awhile, it doesn't seem that bad. I assume they do enough business that if they had a consistently low satisfaction rate, there number of complaint would be more than one.

Good luck with your decision, and welcome to FlyerTalk!

How about calling the consolidator (directly or via the travel agent) and directly asking them about the complaint? I would think a legitimate outfit would be prepared to answer this.