WHEN US Air goes under (not if) I will be ready! I plan to be for all these FFPs. We unloaded all our US Air miles seeing as how we have United accts. Not that they are A list or anything, but at least they plan to stick around a little longer. Only my mother has 24,506 miles on the defunct carrier right now and I seriously believe US Airways is going to die out soon (check today's WSJ to see more--it's front page again). Anyway, we are doing some dining for miles for her this week and soon she will have 25k. With that, we have a free ticket to someplace soon. That's gonna be one ticket reservation we can make on a United plane and if US Air goes under, UAL will honor it because we will have the E ticket and UAL ref code, etc. Of course, if wanted to make any changes they could not be done, whereas if US Air is still alive by the time we fly, these would be possible for std. fees. We shall see. But the point of this is for us to redeem and be poised to redeem at all times.
I try to keep myself poised just in case... My AA is growing because I have the citi AAdvantage card. Stored valued cards worked nicely for me and yet, even without them, I know the miles can be converted to HHilton points if the Sh** hits the fan. And I suspect that even if programs start to disappear, hotel ones would be at least among the last ones to do so. We have lots of other miles in the family but they are poised and ready… If these programs start to go away, which I think they are slowly doing, then we will be set to redeem. Again, I am trying to be positioned to burn ‘em immediately! You all should too, whether you have 25k, 50k or 500,000k.
Get yourself positioned to redeem on the drop of a dime! That's the key. Know the routes and possible places you can fly and be ready.
The times, they are a changin'...
All of this great change/phase out stuff these airlines are doing reminds me of the way things changed on college campuses in the 1980s, when I was at UMASS. Things drastically changed in terms of drinking alcohol. Now that is very different from miles but remember, this is about taking away things people want because they enjoy it too much! Towns, states and schools successfully worked in conjunction and their efforts slowly changed policies and rules across the board. Their cooperation was enormous and relentless. Even the varying drinking ages and DWI legalities in many states and in many colleges changed rapidly so that in the course of a few years, the freshmen coming in could not even fathom that there were once keg parties in the dorms on their floors or in many school apartments off campus. People that used to throw these parties were now on the staff of officials set out to bust you for having one! And yet, we all used to enjoy them regularly. One really arcane policy was enacted in the town of my school in those days whereas if a party that was happening on your lawn were to spill into the street, you could be arrested for drinking on town property. I saw a student trip off the curb onto the sidewalk for a split second at one party and because he had a beer in his hand, the police, who were now watching every move at every party promptly hauled him away. He was 21 but still got fined. The house renter, who was a student also, got a big fine as well and to me, that is ultra-conservative thinking and way too sick for my blood! Needless to say, people started to want to have such parties less and less over time. The plan worked... for everyone but the students. And now, in my opinion, kids who should have learned the rules of life and how to combat mistakes and setbacks while in college--where you need to figure out how to make choices when you are young-- are now making these mistakes in the corporate world and in their family life. This is a whole other topic but my point is that the watchdog mentality of restriction and policy changes that took away freedoms of enjoyment made us less able to grow and live life. Now, with ebay police watching your award sales, corporate rebate scams on the rise and partnership screw ups that post your points too late or make you purchase 1,000 miles for $30+ because your account is short 1 mile when you want to redeem, we have fee-heavy bitter companies that do not want us to enjoy travel and the freedom of living our lives as we choose to. So many choose to bail out before even redeeming these miles. Many choose to not travel as much. Things go DOWN. I am responsible for my own actions but I am being forced to pay as though I had hired someone else to take care of things even though I don’t want them too. It downright stinks.
Similar to the shameful end of such events enjoyed by the masses, existing mileage programs with liberal ways of both earning and burning are slowly becoming a thing of the past. At least the redemption part is getting harder and harder to enjoy and some equate this to a scam! They lure you in with promises, and if you partake, you are done! Sure, it's my choice to obtain the miles or to buy a beer, but there is really something wrong here. Even responsible users are feeling the crunch and it's not just because of a bunch of bad guys. We are all considered bad guys because we actually have the nerve to contact an airline to--gasp--try to redeem out points!
Because of this, the airlines and other official industry factions are creating exactly what they planned in the grand design of things: They are making us, the consumer feel the pain of "imbibing" and participating in any of the very same mileage-earning programs they actually came up with! Sure, the lure is easy, but just like stumbling onto the street of a no drinking zone recently designated in your local college town, we are feeling the crackdown at every turn. I am certain the programs will go away eventually and the sick rules about redemptions and fees are a clear sign of it. Stop us from using those miles is the only way for the creators to survive. That, or liquidate and set off a whole chain of events that could crumble the foundation of all things "free."
Let's hope we have a bit more time to plan out the funeral than we did with say, United breaking its partnership redemption ties with Hilton. I recall frantically transferring miles at 11pm one night to get them in on time. Let's get out of town and fast--and that means get on a plane and fly now! Party's almost over, man!
MM