Canarsie

Changes in policies and the terms and conditions of frequent travel loyalty programs are bad enough when members perceive them as devaluations...

...but what about when they are implemented at the wrong time of the year after you have already decided to invest the effort in achieving status or using your miles or points for an award; or implemented with no advance warning or no official announcement — or both? Does that affect your trust in that frequent travel loyalty program — and if so, how does that affect you and the way you conduct business with the company which administers that frequent travel loyalty program?

Please explain how important to you is your trust in a frequent travel loyalty program based on your vote in the informal poll above.

Thank you!

skibum7732

I simply do not trust anyone beyond a few close friends and some family members...I never put any trust in a business

Ambraciot

While in theory I'd prefer to trust the programs I use, I use the ones I believe have the highest expected value, which often means factoring in and accepting the risk associated with unstable untrustworthy ones. I certainly appreciate getting great value from rewards programs, but I'm always prepared to get burned and make other arrangements with cash.

CMK10

I don't trust faceless corporations either so I'd say unimportant. I just remember the old caveat of "subject to change at any time".

Gamecock

Trust?

I don't trust many people.

If a program changes business practices without warning I'll reevaluate my judgment of their business practices and probably move on.

redreeper

I don't trust anyone or anything (companies, etc.) with more than I can afford to lose.

But I do consider loyalty programs an investment, and I don't like it when my returns are less than anticipated/expected/indicated. Carlson went heavy on promos, etc a couple years ago and then the hotel redemption values went up, at least for the hotels useful to me (9k to 28k - ish). If I had known, I would not have invested my time and "stays" in them. But that could happen with any program. Luckily my useage is usually in the lower end of the programs out there (economy fligts - I tend towards quantity rather than quality on airlines, but v.v. on hotels) and I can't think of ANY program that has pleasantly surprised me with giving better returns than expected. Except maybe IHG - they have been really good to me with upgrades and promos.

myccapp

No issue of trust here. You are given funny money that can only get devalued. That's a game with short holds only (I don't see this as an investment). I'm trying to pile as much as I can from free resources like cc's and company travel but usually don't base my private travel on how much miles I'll get. This way I'm trying to be prepared for immediate changes.

balima

Apart from immediate family and a few closest friends I don't put my trust 100% in anyone or anything.

And when it comes to miles/points I'll just say a few words,

Catera, Devaluation, Month-of-Miles. Terms can change at any time.

TravelerMSY

Trust? Trust no one.

Besides, loyalty programs exist for us to game them, not to actually give them unconditional loyalty.

Jasjot Sadana

Well,the way the devaluations have been going around,majorly from the last 12 months or so,well TRUST is one word not much used with Loyalty programs of today

dparis

Seems a strange question. Loyalty schemes are there to help airlines make money, and present a challenge for some customers to find ways to maximise them

CPRich

I don't really understand what this is asking. For those hwo said it was very important, what has a program done to "betray" you, and what did you do? Why did you trust that they wouldn't?

JerryFF

It is like any business arrangement - trust is not a factor. The only thing of consequence is what is in the contract. If it is not in writing, it doesn't exist. I don't understand why people expect to trust this business any more than they trust any other business.

People develop loyalties and then think of them as friendships. The airlines, hotels, car rental companies are not your friends - they are as much your business alliances as your local car dealer.

My son and daughter in law have been saving miles for a family vacation in Hawaii for some time now. They were not quite there and figured to have enough by spring for a trip this summer. Then UA raised all the mileage requirements as of Feb 1. Now they will have to put it off for at least another year. Big disappointment, but there was no loyalty involved in their part with UA. They are collecting miles in UA because UA has the most convenient flights for their business trips and because UA also offers the best opportunities for non-flying mileage accumulation for them. It has been a business arrangement - nothing more. No personal feelings or friendships with UA.

When I was their age, mileage programs were minimal. The idea of getting a free trip to Hawaii for a family of 4 was unheard of. It always "hurts" when you lose something you thought you had. But, as Lewis Black says, it's an "illusion". Like the stock market - no profits until you actually sell that stock that just doubled. Keep it and the profits may well evaporate.

pricesquire

I don't trust businesses, period. Especially when their TCs state things like "we can change our program at will with zero notice"....

Never understood trust in corporations. Profit is their motive and bottom line. Period.

Loyalty goes both ways, but I've yet to see a corp. that "gets" that...

sushanna1

Interesting how the comments do not reflect the poll results.