Originally Posted by
sosueme
One thing that seems to get by those that sing the praises of the 1.5 point "upgrade" is that the prices you will pay at Chase are almost always greater than those which you could get through Kayak (etc) or from going directly to the airline's site. I recently checked the cost of a RT ticket through both these options (did it twice on different days and checked at different times). Price on Kayak was identical to that which was posted on the Airlines site ($300). HOWEVER, WHEN I CHECKED CHASE FOR A PRICE I got one for $400. Yes...I realize that points by themselves have a cash value and that with the 1.5 cent rate I technically would have saved a little (at least the quoted price wasnt $450 at which point the benefit would have been nonexistent!) but come on....is that what a reasonable person should expect...that Chase is upcharging the ticket price before giving the "benefit"?
I raised this with Chase (at two levels) and after proving that each responder didnt really read what I had written (each time I got the chatter about how tickets on "discounter sites" are often unavailable when you try to buy them even though I expressly told them that the tickets were available on the airline site and at the smae cost)) the only thing they could say was that CHASE DOESNT GUARANTEE THE LOWEST PRICE. I checked their Agreement and that is correct but I'd be willing to bet that those who read about this "benefit" assume that the price will be no more than that which is being offered by the actual airline.
If this isnt a "bait and switch" for which Chase should be ashamed I dont know what is!
Right. Time again and again, for bookings involving international travels both flights and lodgings always have inflated prices of minimum 5% but there are some outrageous examples as you have found.
Our recent flight booking has a 15% padding - LX was $203, Chase UR was $237. While using UR saved $45 ($237/1.5 = $158), it is far from 1.5x. If buying from LX, it also earns $6, further reduces the saving to $39. I should have bought direct because for such reduced saving, it is not worthwhile for potential hassles should there is any irrop / schedule change as it is extremely hard to go thru UR to get accommodated versus book direct. At least now I can tell myself that our flights are 2 independent segments so if anything happens it would not affect a connection.