I bet this has been debated in here in other threads, but I think it is a hot enough topic that we need to go over it again. I think something needs to be done too.
No matter what some might say, I strongly believe that all airlines and hotels should let you get the flight or the stay using either your miles or you money, with no restrictions and no blackout dates.
Let me explain (and think STARWOOD when I tell it):
If I have 25,000 miles, I should be able to get a seat just like the next guy who has $300 in cash. Provided there is a seat available in the class wanted, say, economy class from JFK to Vegas, that seat should be given, miles or money.
There should not be a limited number of mile-allotted seats!
This was once the way it was and I think they should go back to this model.
Today it may be rather easy to earn the miles using everything from credit cards to dining to buying online to blood drives, but it is sure hard to redeem them! In comparison, I kinda like the old way. You walk into the airport or pick up the phone, and if there is a seat at the right price, you pay using miles or money.
I am pretty much in the know when it comes to how and when to redeem my points, but I still had to carefully plan my ski trip from THIS Feb with much consideration. I had to start planning it and I had to redeem my miles LAST March! That’s 11 months out! I have had to plan trips to Hawaii or the Caribbean 8-10 months out! Yeah, we know the scene, but it sure would be better if I called up airline X and said, how much is that seat, and they said, “Sir, it is either $450 or $30k RT!” That would build loyalty in my mind--because I would then strive to GET miles on that airline!
But this isn’t even about that. It is not about any specific airline. It is about fairness vs. pure and simple “hook-line-and-sinker” business tactics being employed by all airlines and most hotels out there today.
The only exception continues to be one of the best, highest quality chains, and that as some of you know, is Starwood. And guess what: It is harder to earn them, but they sure have a higher VALUE in the end! And they seem to retain their high-end customer base as well. Hmmm…
Yes, miles (points in their case) or money, if they have the space, you get the room. “That’s 16,000 points a night sir, or you can spend $525 per night to stay here. We may even have miles+ money splits going on during that period and if you hold a moment, I’ll gladly check for you.”
That, my friends, is service. If the price is right for me and I’m willing to throw down coin, I am in. Fair and simple.
But in contrast, the dumb, stingy airlines say things like, “No sir, the ticket is no longer available at the 25,000 mile award level. There are blackouts and restrictions anyway. O course, you can spend double miles today and have an über-double-secret-rule-busting-we’ll-screw-you rate instead, if you like! You see, even though you are calling 364 days in advance, we only have 4 seats available at the 51,000-mile level and you only have 50k in your account. Sorry! There is nothing we can do for you. No soup for you. Would you like to buy our miles at the rate of $30 per thousand, a $25 fee to do it and another $25-$75 fee to have us click a button that makes them actually hit your account on time?”
Bah humbug!
C’mon people, let’s get the airlines to start to rethink all of this!
Now, some of you are reading this and thinking, “well, if they let us all onboard with miles only all at once, they would go out of business!”
Guess what: The selling of miles, credit card partnerships, dining, blood drives, and other crap that their own marketing teams think up IS business for them! It is not cash for flight business, but believe you me, they made and are making their money! They created the monster. They SHOULD be able to control it as well!
I once had a phone agent say to me, “Well sir, you ARE getting your ticket for free so why do you care there is a fee for (XYZ)!” What nerve she had! Those “Free” miles she thinks I just magically have in my account DID come from THEIR airline’s own marketing, sales, promotions and partnerships! It should not matter HOW I got the ticket—It should be worth the same thing as the next guy’s.
OK, so why should one person pay $6,000 for this first class seat whilst the guy next to him is some idiot from the Griswald family and he used some crumpled dollars and a few thousand miles he scammed off some dumb promotional gig involving box tops and pudding vouchers?
Well, like I said, that coveted high-end airline seat was also marketed to the masses through the use of all kinds of things I mentioned above. Paid for with solid currency or by award miles, it gets sat in by many people every single day. It should be treated as such. Its VALUE should be such that the “existence” of those miles is the same thing as the money spent to sit there at any given time! I mean, c’mon, are some people really “better” than others?
We have to get rid of that thinking too. It’s all about VALUE.
Thoughts? Trust me, I have a few more! ...
MM