Just got off the phone with the travel agent for the Merrill Lynch card because I wanted to know which airlines fall under the "Preferred Carriers" for the 25k reward.

According to the information I had read prior to signing up for the card, I thought there would be several airlines that would be considered "Preferred Carriers" and that you would be able to chose among those carriers for your trip that would cost you 25k points. Boy was I wrong!

Here's what I was told. The "Preferred Carrier" for your itinerary would be the airline with the lowest published fare for your trip. All other carriers would be considered "Non-Preferred." This means that you would basically be stuck using 30k if you want a specific airline UNLESS that airline happens to have the lowest fare.

The big problem I see is that you do not really have a choice between several "preferred carriers" as I though you would. I refuse to fly on several airlines because of their service, lack of award redemption, etc... I think they mis-advertised this fact on the website because it states "Since the availability of Preferred Carriers may change, you should check at the time of booking to determine which carriers qualify for this level of Air Reward." It is not WHICH carriers qualify but which carrier is the cheapest.

Just thought I would let everyone know what I found out because I am just a little peed off about this! Sure the Ritz Vouchers will be great but basically if I chose the airline I will have to pay 30k for a ticket I would only have to pay 25k airlines points or 20k Orbitz points for.