freqflyer
Oct 3, 02, 8:41 am
I have a small retail operation and am considering giving away FF miles or hotel points as incentives for sales. How do I go about doing this and how much do the points cost ?
MilesBuzz! - How does a merchant "buy" miles to give away with sales of its products/services ?
zipual
Oct 3, 02, 9:13 am
I found the website:
www.aadvantage.com/introduction.jsp (http://www.aadvantage.com/introduction.jsp)
I thought there used to be a website you could get this info from, but I cannot find it. I did find this on the AA.com website under their FAQ section:
Q: What is the AAdvantage Incentive Miles program?
A: The AAdvantage Incentive Miles program allows companies to buy AAdvantage miles and use them as an incentive for any audience. Businesses large and small can give miles to thank business partners, increase sales, and reward or motivate employees. It's any easy and inexpensive way to give travel, build loyalty and get results.
Here are just a few ways that companies can use AAdvantage miles:
Customer Rewards
Loyalty Programs
Sales Promotions
Employee Motivation
Special Events
Fund Raising
Distributor Incentives
Business to Business Incentives/Rewards
If you would like more information on the AAdvantage Incentive Miles program please call 1-800-771-5000, or visit aadvantage.com and e-mail us through the web site.
Hope this helps.
[This message has been edited by zipual (edited 10-03-2002).]
www.aadvantage.com/introduction.jsp (http://www.aadvantage.com/introduction.jsp)
I thought there used to be a website you could get this info from, but I cannot find it. I did find this on the AA.com website under their FAQ section:
Q: What is the AAdvantage Incentive Miles program?
A: The AAdvantage Incentive Miles program allows companies to buy AAdvantage miles and use them as an incentive for any audience. Businesses large and small can give miles to thank business partners, increase sales, and reward or motivate employees. It's any easy and inexpensive way to give travel, build loyalty and get results.
Here are just a few ways that companies can use AAdvantage miles:
Customer Rewards
Loyalty Programs
Sales Promotions
Employee Motivation
Special Events
Fund Raising
Distributor Incentives
Business to Business Incentives/Rewards
If you would like more information on the AAdvantage Incentive Miles program please call 1-800-771-5000, or visit aadvantage.com and e-mail us through the web site.
Hope this helps.
[This message has been edited by zipual (edited 10-03-2002).]
freqflyer
Oct 3, 02, 9:38 am
Thanks for that. As I am based in Asia, I am looking more for Asian airlines or hotel programs such as Starwood, Hyatt or Hilton etc. Can anyone else help ?
Randy Petersen
Oct 3, 02, 9:42 am
https://www.aadvantage.com/aao/index.jsp?Page_From=OrderMiles
Here's the order form page for AAdvantage miles. They have a minimal order of $5,500.00 for miles which is 250,000 of them. Miles cost 2.2 cents per mile, plus the 7.5% federal tax and a .001 processing fee per mile. For the minimum order of 250,000 miles you'll spend $6,162.50 which means your cost per mile is 2.465 cents per mile. From our experience, this is about normal for the price of miles.
For United, their program is called Reward miles: Minimum Initial Purchase
The price per mile is US $.02, plus a 7.5% Federal Excise Tax and a US $.001 per mile processing fee. For electronic Reward Miles, there is a 200,000 mile minimum purchase equaling $4,500 inclusive of tax and processing fees.
https://secure.ualmiles.com/RM_Order.jsp
Miles aren't inexpensive, which is why you've seen many partners such as car rentals, etc. change the number of miles they give away. We pay about the same to award miles for magazine subscriptions, which if you do the math means we lose money on the offer. However, our goal is just to get someone in the door and hope to renew them the next year when we would have a chance to make back that lost revenue. Miles aren't always the answer and it really depends more on your audience than anything. Obviously for us it's the business we're in and is expected, but you have to be very wary of your goals and controls. You also have to be sensitive to what people are prepared to think a fair reward for your product. For instance, we recently launched a 3,000 mile per subscription for Insideflyer with american Airlines. Do the math - the miles cost us $73.95 and we only charge $59.95 for the product. Which means to begin with we are in the hole $14 and we still have the cost to print and deliver the book and the magazine. Yes, we have decided to purposely lose money the first year with hopes of a high renewal effort the second year. Again, miles can be very helpful, but they honestly don't work for anyone and you have to really know what you are doing in pricing out the bonus offer.
Good luck, but most of all make sure it's a smart business decision.
Here's the order form page for AAdvantage miles. They have a minimal order of $5,500.00 for miles which is 250,000 of them. Miles cost 2.2 cents per mile, plus the 7.5% federal tax and a .001 processing fee per mile. For the minimum order of 250,000 miles you'll spend $6,162.50 which means your cost per mile is 2.465 cents per mile. From our experience, this is about normal for the price of miles.
For United, their program is called Reward miles: Minimum Initial Purchase
The price per mile is US $.02, plus a 7.5% Federal Excise Tax and a US $.001 per mile processing fee. For electronic Reward Miles, there is a 200,000 mile minimum purchase equaling $4,500 inclusive of tax and processing fees.
https://secure.ualmiles.com/RM_Order.jsp
Miles aren't inexpensive, which is why you've seen many partners such as car rentals, etc. change the number of miles they give away. We pay about the same to award miles for magazine subscriptions, which if you do the math means we lose money on the offer. However, our goal is just to get someone in the door and hope to renew them the next year when we would have a chance to make back that lost revenue. Miles aren't always the answer and it really depends more on your audience than anything. Obviously for us it's the business we're in and is expected, but you have to be very wary of your goals and controls. You also have to be sensitive to what people are prepared to think a fair reward for your product. For instance, we recently launched a 3,000 mile per subscription for Insideflyer with american Airlines. Do the math - the miles cost us $73.95 and we only charge $59.95 for the product. Which means to begin with we are in the hole $14 and we still have the cost to print and deliver the book and the magazine. Yes, we have decided to purposely lose money the first year with hopes of a high renewal effort the second year. Again, miles can be very helpful, but they honestly don't work for anyone and you have to really know what you are doing in pricing out the bonus offer.
Good luck, but most of all make sure it's a smart business decision.
fallinasleep
Oct 3, 02, 10:12 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Randy Petersen:
For instance, we recently launched a 3,000 mile per subscription for Insideflyer with american Airlines. Do the math - the miles cost us $73.95 and we only charge $59.95 for the product. Which means to begin with we are in the hole $14 and we still have the cost to print and deliver the book and the magazine. Yes, we have decided to purposely lose money the first year with hopes of a high renewal effort the second year. Again, miles can be very helpful, but they honestly don't work for anyone and you have to really know what you are doing in pricing out the bonus offer.
Good luck, but most of all make sure it's a smart business decision.</font>
Randy, thanks for elaborating on your recent promotions for IF. However, given that many if not the majority of the Starwood-promo subscriptions were "given away" by the original subscriber to random FTers, who were unwilling to shell out cash in the first place and therefore even less likely to renew in the second year IMHO, I don't see how your promo is a smart business decision (unless ad revenues increase considerably).
If your aim is to create repeat business in the second year while minimizing your subscriber acquisition cost, wouldn't it be "smarter" to:
(A) limit the number of subscriptions you offer with the free bonus miles
or
(B) Just give away free or XX%-off subscriptions in the first year (you can easily do a promo on the IF and FT Web sites) but without the bonus FF miles and the handy FF handbook
I honestly do not think any loyalty is created to IF or FT by essentially re-selling A LOT of FF miles to the same individual at a loss, as you did with the Starwood promotion.
Now, I understand that advertising is an important chunk of IF's revenue stream (if I were a hotel or airline marketing exec, I would definitely advertise in IF), so the math may actually work out better if IF can raise its published ad rates.
For instance, we recently launched a 3,000 mile per subscription for Insideflyer with american Airlines. Do the math - the miles cost us $73.95 and we only charge $59.95 for the product. Which means to begin with we are in the hole $14 and we still have the cost to print and deliver the book and the magazine. Yes, we have decided to purposely lose money the first year with hopes of a high renewal effort the second year. Again, miles can be very helpful, but they honestly don't work for anyone and you have to really know what you are doing in pricing out the bonus offer.
Good luck, but most of all make sure it's a smart business decision.</font>
Randy, thanks for elaborating on your recent promotions for IF. However, given that many if not the majority of the Starwood-promo subscriptions were "given away" by the original subscriber to random FTers, who were unwilling to shell out cash in the first place and therefore even less likely to renew in the second year IMHO, I don't see how your promo is a smart business decision (unless ad revenues increase considerably).
If your aim is to create repeat business in the second year while minimizing your subscriber acquisition cost, wouldn't it be "smarter" to:
(A) limit the number of subscriptions you offer with the free bonus miles
or
(B) Just give away free or XX%-off subscriptions in the first year (you can easily do a promo on the IF and FT Web sites) but without the bonus FF miles and the handy FF handbook
I honestly do not think any loyalty is created to IF or FT by essentially re-selling A LOT of FF miles to the same individual at a loss, as you did with the Starwood promotion.
Now, I understand that advertising is an important chunk of IF's revenue stream (if I were a hotel or airline marketing exec, I would definitely advertise in IF), so the math may actually work out better if IF can raise its published ad rates.
Randy Petersen
Oct 3, 02, 10:37 am
A few points you are missing: we had no way of knowing that someone would have done the Qantas thing with Starwood and turn some of it into a feeding frenzy, so you need to discount that part of your theory. We were simply trying to rev up subscriptions and get new readers attention. I think you over estimate the "bulk purchases". A majority of all our transactions - in fact a huge majority - were purchases of 1-2 subscriptions. You also under estimate the fact that most of the bulk purchasers were also trying to play the donation game - as a result most of them did in fact provide us with a list of others to fulfill the magazine orders, some to libraries, etc.
At the end of the day, we lost serious money - not planned, but still believe we'll do just fine when renewal time comes around next year. Remembering that a huge majority of people took out single one and two year subscriptions.
Not sure where you thought thsat most were give backs but certainly not from my accounting department. As for "essentially re-selling A LOT of FF miles", again not sure where you get that idea. We have offered miles and points for magazines incentives for over 10 years with various successes and offers and over that time not a single person had ever mentioned that. Our thoughts on the super bonus was that the indistry was in a slump. We had noticed a lot of increased calls and emails from frequent flyers we really didn't know about what to do wit htheir milesand more people asking for advice. Something certainly appropriate for the times the programs and airlines were and are going through. It was that very scenario in which we decided to roll the dice and see what might happen. The only thing we did not plan on was the fact that Starwood had a lock down at the end of our promo that did not allow any changes on their Web site, period. As a result we were forced into a situation of honoring that promo until they came off lockdown, more as a good business partner than anything since we certainly didn't want to rile their members by not honoring the offer on their Web site.
As for advertising....it's actually a minor part of the income for InsideFlyer.
At the end of the day, we lost serious money - not planned, but still believe we'll do just fine when renewal time comes around next year. Remembering that a huge majority of people took out single one and two year subscriptions.
Not sure where you thought thsat most were give backs but certainly not from my accounting department. As for "essentially re-selling A LOT of FF miles", again not sure where you get that idea. We have offered miles and points for magazines incentives for over 10 years with various successes and offers and over that time not a single person had ever mentioned that. Our thoughts on the super bonus was that the indistry was in a slump. We had noticed a lot of increased calls and emails from frequent flyers we really didn't know about what to do wit htheir milesand more people asking for advice. Something certainly appropriate for the times the programs and airlines were and are going through. It was that very scenario in which we decided to roll the dice and see what might happen. The only thing we did not plan on was the fact that Starwood had a lock down at the end of our promo that did not allow any changes on their Web site, period. As a result we were forced into a situation of honoring that promo until they came off lockdown, more as a good business partner than anything since we certainly didn't want to rile their members by not honoring the offer on their Web site.
As for advertising....it's actually a minor part of the income for InsideFlyer.
fallinasleep
Oct 3, 02, 12:21 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Randy Petersen:
A majority of all our transactions - in fact a huge majority - were purchases of 1-2 subscriptions. You also under estimate the fact that most of the bulk purchasers were also trying to play the donation game - as a result most of them did in fact provide us with a list of others to fulfill the magazine orders, some to libraries, etc.
At the end of the day, we lost serious money - not planned, but still believe we'll do just fine when renewal time comes around next year. Remembering that a huge majority of people took out single one and two year subscriptions.</font>
Randy, thanks for your reply. I am sure that the large majority of orders were for single or double subscriptions, but the natural follow-up question (and I don't expect an answer) would be what percentage of total new subscriptions were attributed to bulk purchasers. As for the donation game, I think that was part of my point. At the end of the day, the copy of IF sitting in the library, Admirals Club or Red Carpet Club (or the free copies that were given away to FTers who were unwilling to order a subscription even with the generous Starwood promo in effect) is unlikely to generate a new/renewal subscriber IMHO, so your average acquisition cost ends up being much higher than $75 minus the cost of printing/postage/overhead and subscription fee.
Anyway, there are clearly a lot of details (such as the Starwood site lockdown) which I did not know about or am privileged to, and you are right that no one could have imagined the feeding frenzy that occurred, so my comments are not meant as a criticism, just an analysis and what I hoped was some helpful, but perhaps naive, suggestions.
I will keep my fingers crossed that you are right about the renewals.
Hopefully, the knowledge that the Starwood promotion was a loss-making one for you will motivate renewals. My general sense of FTers from three years of reading FT is that, although they are probably a great demographic in terms of purchasing power, they are as a group extremely value and price-point conscious (and I am not basing this on the popularity of the SPAM forum since I don't think the demographic in that forum is typical of the average FTer, at least I hope not). I think it is important to remind FTers that the best way they can support FT besides contributing to the boards is by subscribing to IF.
I don't see a problem with "advertising" that fact more aggressively, even if there are no miles involved.
[edited for grammar]
[This message has been edited by fallinasleep (edited 10-03-2002).]
A majority of all our transactions - in fact a huge majority - were purchases of 1-2 subscriptions. You also under estimate the fact that most of the bulk purchasers were also trying to play the donation game - as a result most of them did in fact provide us with a list of others to fulfill the magazine orders, some to libraries, etc.
At the end of the day, we lost serious money - not planned, but still believe we'll do just fine when renewal time comes around next year. Remembering that a huge majority of people took out single one and two year subscriptions.</font>
Randy, thanks for your reply. I am sure that the large majority of orders were for single or double subscriptions, but the natural follow-up question (and I don't expect an answer) would be what percentage of total new subscriptions were attributed to bulk purchasers. As for the donation game, I think that was part of my point. At the end of the day, the copy of IF sitting in the library, Admirals Club or Red Carpet Club (or the free copies that were given away to FTers who were unwilling to order a subscription even with the generous Starwood promo in effect) is unlikely to generate a new/renewal subscriber IMHO, so your average acquisition cost ends up being much higher than $75 minus the cost of printing/postage/overhead and subscription fee.
Anyway, there are clearly a lot of details (such as the Starwood site lockdown) which I did not know about or am privileged to, and you are right that no one could have imagined the feeding frenzy that occurred, so my comments are not meant as a criticism, just an analysis and what I hoped was some helpful, but perhaps naive, suggestions.
I will keep my fingers crossed that you are right about the renewals.
Hopefully, the knowledge that the Starwood promotion was a loss-making one for you will motivate renewals. My general sense of FTers from three years of reading FT is that, although they are probably a great demographic in terms of purchasing power, they are as a group extremely value and price-point conscious (and I am not basing this on the popularity of the SPAM forum since I don't think the demographic in that forum is typical of the average FTer, at least I hope not). I think it is important to remind FTers that the best way they can support FT besides contributing to the boards is by subscribing to IF.
I don't see a problem with "advertising" that fact more aggressively, even if there are no miles involved.
[edited for grammar]
[This message has been edited by fallinasleep (edited 10-03-2002).]
glenn_b
Oct 3, 02, 1:37 pm
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Randy Petersen:
For instance, we recently launched a 3,000 mile per subscription for Insideflyer with american Airlines.
---------------------------------------------------
Randy,
Did I miss the announcement for an IF/AA promotion or is this the Starwood deal that recently expired?
I tried doing a search but did not find anything mentioning AAdvantage.
Thanks for the great site and keep up the good work.
Glenn
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Randy Petersen:
For instance, we recently launched a 3,000 mile per subscription for Insideflyer with american Airlines.
---------------------------------------------------
Randy,
Did I miss the announcement for an IF/AA promotion or is this the Starwood deal that recently expired?
I tried doing a search but did not find anything mentioning AAdvantage.
Thanks for the great site and keep up the good work.
Glenn
Randy Petersen
Oct 3, 02, 2:16 pm
The American offer is http://www.insideflyer.com/american
As for the other comments, not sure how we got off target, my orginal comments were in line with helping the person buy miles as a merchant and some side advice on what to consider.
As for the other side topic - if I'm wrong about the renewal rate for InsideFlyer, you might have to find another place that will fork out the money to support something similar to FT. No InsideFlyer, no FlyerTalk.
As for the other comments, not sure how we got off target, my orginal comments were in line with helping the person buy miles as a merchant and some side advice on what to consider.
As for the other side topic - if I'm wrong about the renewal rate for InsideFlyer, you might have to find another place that will fork out the money to support something similar to FT. No InsideFlyer, no FlyerTalk.
nindobe
Oct 3, 02, 7:23 pm
If you are losing money on every subscription that you give out all these miles with but are hoping the new subscribers will renew down the road why don't you limit the amount of subscriptions to 2 or so a person?
I would have to imagine that someone who doesn't pay for a sub will be less likely to renew (myself included, although I think it's a great magazine I don't have a lot of expendable income and don't spend $60 for any magazine sub).
Also, the CC companies must be paying considerarebly less for their miles (probably in the $.01 range) why would there be such a disparity?
BTW, thanks for hosting such a wonderful useful and enjoyable board.
I would have to imagine that someone who doesn't pay for a sub will be less likely to renew (myself included, although I think it's a great magazine I don't have a lot of expendable income and don't spend $60 for any magazine sub).
Also, the CC companies must be paying considerarebly less for their miles (probably in the $.01 range) why would there be such a disparity?
BTW, thanks for hosting such a wonderful useful and enjoyable board.
swag
Oct 3, 02, 10:17 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by fallinasleep:
At the end of the day, the copy of IF ... that were given away to FTers who were unwilling to order a subscription even with the generous Starwood promo in effect) is unlikely to generate a new/renewal subscriber IMHO </font>
Remember that a lot of the giveaways were given to folks from this board who asked to be gifted an available sub. So there's obviously some interest - it's not like the mags are going into the trash. As one who was generously gifted, I'll wait till the end of the year to decide if if worth the $ to me to renew. After 2 issues, I'm currently undecided.
At the end of the day, the copy of IF ... that were given away to FTers who were unwilling to order a subscription even with the generous Starwood promo in effect) is unlikely to generate a new/renewal subscriber IMHO </font>
Remember that a lot of the giveaways were given to folks from this board who asked to be gifted an available sub. So there's obviously some interest - it's not like the mags are going into the trash. As one who was generously gifted, I'll wait till the end of the year to decide if if worth the $ to me to renew. After 2 issues, I'm currently undecided.
Miles Man
Oct 4, 02, 1:01 am
I got my first subscription years ago from a postcard included in my mileage statement. It gave me the first 6 months free, or similar. I never thought I would keep it, but now i'm hooked! I've renewed year after year all because of the postcard!
Also, the subscription rate for IF is not $60, it's $45. You can usually get a deal for 50% each year the Freddies come around. (BTW Randy I hope you have that promotion again hint hint http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif) In addition, I think the promotion increases the publication numbers, which in turn increases the advertising rate. Perhaps not significant but certainly a possibility.
Either way, I love IF and FT. Thanks Randy for the addiction!
Also, the subscription rate for IF is not $60, it's $45. You can usually get a deal for 50% each year the Freddies come around. (BTW Randy I hope you have that promotion again hint hint http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif) In addition, I think the promotion increases the publication numbers, which in turn increases the advertising rate. Perhaps not significant but certainly a possibility.
Either way, I love IF and FT. Thanks Randy for the addiction!
MileKing
Oct 4, 02, 7:32 am
I would imagine that volume purchasers of miles, like the phone and credit card companies, are not paying anywhere near 2.2 cents/mile. A few years ago I had the opportunity to talk with a marketing executive for a major Canadian telephone company. He was involved with that firm's miles offering for phone service (5 miles/dollar...similar to AT&T, MCI, etc.) and shared with me that they were paying in the 1 cent/mile area (US).
Randy Petersen
Oct 4, 02, 10:44 am
You're right about the 1 cent per mile, though the bottom is now about 1.2/1.3 cents. But........and it's a big BUT, MCI buys more than $500 million a year in miles and Citibank probably buys close to $600 mliion dollars. The guys like us pay the 2.2 cents. You can figure out these things by looking closely at what car companies and other charge you for the 7.5% federal tax. I think we figured out Hertz was around 1.7 cents per mile.
I think the member posting this thread is looking at a more marginal start in these programs and the money and rules say 2.2 or 2.0 cents per mile.
I think the member posting this thread is looking at a more marginal start in these programs and the money and rules say 2.2 or 2.0 cents per mile.
clanson
Oct 4, 02, 12:54 pm
Our company made a purchase of 500k Aadvantage Miles a couple of years ago and paid $0.02 per mile plus tax at that time. This was before AA's price increase last year. Our Company attends a number of trade shows and we used the miles in large blocks as door prizes. The recipients had a heck of a time depositing the miles into their accounts because we were unaware of the mileage limit per person rule. After many months, Aadvantage made an exception and deposited the miles into the winner's accounts. Just something else to be aware of when you consider miles as business incentives.
ozstamps
Oct 4, 02, 12:57 pm
Interesting figures Randy. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">For United, their program is called Reward miles: Minimum Initial Purchase
The price per mile is US $.02, plus a 7.5% Federal Excise Tax and a US $.001 per mile processing fee. For electronic Reward Miles, there is a 200,000 mile minimum purchase equaling $4,500 inclusive of tax and processing fees.</font>
Wonder how inquisitive UA are on WHERE those miles go?
Right now a Business class ticket from anywhere in USA to OZ is 90,000 miles. 2 tikets is therefore less than $4,500 if your own business happens to have a competition and you "win" - or variations on that theme. "Staff incentives", 'Target bonuses", "Reward for long service" etc.
A bit over $2000 for a C ticket R/T to OZ otherwise running 4 or 5 times that is not a bad looking deal. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif
------------------
~ Glen ~ Calling all United 1K Members - please join .. www.1Kflyers.com (http://www.1Kflyers.com)
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">For United, their program is called Reward miles: Minimum Initial Purchase
The price per mile is US $.02, plus a 7.5% Federal Excise Tax and a US $.001 per mile processing fee. For electronic Reward Miles, there is a 200,000 mile minimum purchase equaling $4,500 inclusive of tax and processing fees.</font>
Wonder how inquisitive UA are on WHERE those miles go?
Right now a Business class ticket from anywhere in USA to OZ is 90,000 miles. 2 tikets is therefore less than $4,500 if your own business happens to have a competition and you "win" - or variations on that theme. "Staff incentives", 'Target bonuses", "Reward for long service" etc.
A bit over $2000 for a C ticket R/T to OZ otherwise running 4 or 5 times that is not a bad looking deal. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif
------------------
~ Glen ~ Calling all United 1K Members - please join .. www.1Kflyers.com (http://www.1Kflyers.com)
steven b
Oct 7, 02, 3:40 pm
Randy, what are the chances of a repeat of the Starwood 2500 promotion? If you lost out on the last one, can we assume the chances aren't great?
Thanks
Thanks
CG
Oct 7, 02, 5:05 pm
UA is very inquisitive. The terms of the program prohibit the business from giving any of the miles to members of the business. In addition there is a limit of something like 40,000 miles per person per year that can be given. Exceptions have to be cleared through the program. Their website has some good info, looks like they have closed all the obvious loopholes.
Steve M
Oct 7, 02, 9:36 pm
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by CG:
UA is very inquisitive. The terms of the program prohibit the business from giving any of the miles to members of the business.</font>
That's interesting, since many of the other programs' mileage purchase incentive programs specifically promote their use as employee incentives, among other things. I can see how they'd want to prevent a small business owner buying a bunch of miles then "incenting" himself with a large bonus. But for larger organizations that are making bona fide purchases to give to employees, why would they care?
UA is very inquisitive. The terms of the program prohibit the business from giving any of the miles to members of the business.</font>
That's interesting, since many of the other programs' mileage purchase incentive programs specifically promote their use as employee incentives, among other things. I can see how they'd want to prevent a small business owner buying a bunch of miles then "incenting" himself with a large bonus. But for larger organizations that are making bona fide purchases to give to employees, why would they care?
Efrem
Oct 8, 02, 10:37 am
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ozstamps:
Right now a Business class ticket from anywhere in USA to OZ is 90,000 miles. 2 tikets is therefore less than $4,500 if your own business happens to have a competition and you "win" - or variations on that theme.
A bit over $2000 for a C ticket R/T to OZ otherwise running 4 or 5 times that is not a bad looking deal. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif
</font>
Which is exactly why these programs have limits on how many miles can go into one person's account per year (not per instance). AA's 35,000 is typical. You can get yourself an economy ticket within North America (or another region on other airlines) for about US$750-$800, which is a nice saving if your alternative is full transcon fare for $2,000+, but not much more than that.
(edited to fix typo)
[This message has been edited by Efrem (edited 10-08-2002).]
Right now a Business class ticket from anywhere in USA to OZ is 90,000 miles. 2 tikets is therefore less than $4,500 if your own business happens to have a competition and you "win" - or variations on that theme.
A bit over $2000 for a C ticket R/T to OZ otherwise running 4 or 5 times that is not a bad looking deal. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif
</font>
Which is exactly why these programs have limits on how many miles can go into one person's account per year (not per instance). AA's 35,000 is typical. You can get yourself an economy ticket within North America (or another region on other airlines) for about US$750-$800, which is a nice saving if your alternative is full transcon fare for $2,000+, but not much more than that.
(edited to fix typo)
[This message has been edited by Efrem (edited 10-08-2002).]
freqflyer
Oct 9, 02, 7:04 am
Hi Randy, Thanks for the info on AA and UA. Could you perhaps enlighten us as to the purchase of hotel points - perhaps Starwood, Hyatt or Hilton ?