beckoa

Remember the BSG will be changing soon... AS will soon have 20 minutes to deliver our bags, or one receives $20 ecert or 2,000 miles (from $25 or 2,500 miles)

Data point: AS81 SEA-ANC April 9, Stopped in the BR upon arrival in ANC, grabbed a coffee to go and bam- my bags were there (and everyone else was gone already ... under 25 minutes ^^)

beckoa

AS scored 3/3 again... bags made it in 25 minutes or less:

• AS865 SEA-KOA 5/3/10
• AS6 LAX-DCA 5/7/10
• AS109 SEA-ANC 5/8/10

golfingboy

last time when I went to DCA [the day before the storm hit] the bags came out in under 10 minutes after the aircraft parked at the gate. ^

However, on my return leg to LAX, I stood in front of the carousel with a smirk on my face knowing that in about 15 minutes I will be 2,500 miles richer Keep it up LAX, I want those free miles!

FWIW, when I picked up my parents at the airport on their return trip from KOA on DL, it took almost 50 minutes for their bags to reach the carousel and the flight arrived around 5AM, so it was defiantly one of the slower time frame of the day at LAX, yet the bags took forever.

Westcoaster

Just successfully used the $25 ecert we got from a SEA-LAS flight in March. My husband had watched his bag being loaded onto the plane at SEA. At LAS the bag didn't show up on the carousel. The LAS baggage agent gave us the paperwork for the ecert/miles without any prompting from us. The bag was delivered to our hotel some 6 hours later.

I briefly thought about the 2500 miles option but decided it's always nice to save money right now. AS has made it really easy to use such discounts by making them ecerts.

OmniScorpio

Just curious, what's everyone's take on the two options avail for AS's awesome Baggage Service Guarantee?

I actually picked up a voucher today from my flight and the options available are either a $25 discount voucher towards a future AS flight purchase (must be purchased by 8/31/2010) or 2500 Mileage Plan miles (does not indicate whether they're EQM - but I highly doubt its EQM anyway).

Technically if you consider the monetary value of 2500 miles, it's a good deal compared to if you opted to "buy" the miles directly from AS.

In anycase, I'm leaning towards the miles option since it really seems like the better deal , but wanted to see what everyone thought.

baliktad

Miles are only worth what you redeem them for. Figure out what award flight you intend to redeem next. Identify the price you would have paid for that flight (not the listed price, or the average price, just what you would have paid). Divide to figure out the value of a mile to you. Then decide whether the 2500 miles are more or less valuable than the $25 AS credit.

The miles are RDM's only, not EQM, so that shouldn't factor into your equation.

Most people value miles at about 1 cent per mile (CPM), although if you are redeeming for some long haul or premium international flights on partners, you can find value of 1.5-2 CPM and up.

beckoa

I've had to ask myself this question before too... and I've gone both ways... I think I have cashed them in for 2 sets of $25 and 1 2500 miles... used one cert to Hawaii and have one still in my account... for me it helped make a trip a bit more affordable, and the $$$ goes towards the all mighty EQM

jackal

Unlike baliktad, I think it's fair to value the miles at the equivalent purchase price, not just what you would have paid for it. After all, the trip you're getting still has the value of what others are paying for it. And in other areas of life, we don't value something less just because we didn't pay full price for it. (If we did, the Nordstrom Rack or outlet malls would not exist, and people would not get excited over finding designer labels at Wal-Mart prices).

That said, even though I value my miles much more than the 1.5-2cpm baliktad does, I would still go with the dollar voucher over the miles. Why? Because I am more interested in EQMs than RDMs, and $25 in my pocket now means I am more likely to travel soon versus a fantasy "someday" trip with miles. On top of that, though, if you play your cards right and find a good routing on a good fare (admittedly not easy to do on AS), that $25 can translate into almost 2,500 miles anyway (with elite bonuses)--maybe even more if you factor in booking bonuses and the like.

Also, I've taken the liberty to merge your post into the existing thread we have on this subject.

OmniScorpio

Hmm this is exactly what I was looking for when I posted the question =).
I don't fly *enough* to be able to weigh both options thoroughly so I'm grateful for the two detailed comparisons =). Thank you!

I guess the $25 is better than the miles since you sorta need a lot of miles before you can book a trip. The $25 will prob go farther for me in the long run ($25 discount mileage run for instance).

Thanks again for the advice/input people! Jackal : No worries, I did a search before posting, didn't see this thread (necro'd for 2 months).

AaronKamp

Yesterday on 23 there were a number of us with no bags. Mine did arrive today though. I forgot to directly request the voucher at the terminal yesterday (I only had 3 hours sleep the night before and it was a long day) but did email the baggage counter in Sea for one. We'll see if they give it to me since my bags were 20 hours late and not 20 minutes late.

jackal

6/11/10 AS 14 SEA-EWR: Jazon256 arrived at the belt exactly 19 minutes after posted arrival time, and by the time I explained the BSG to him ("It's now been 20 minutes on the dot. Want to go collect $20?" ), the bag rounded the corner of the carousel.

hgdf

6/24 AS 520 SEA-BUR. The plane blocked in at 6:00 PM. Apparently they had some sort of mechanical problem with the belt. Around 6:15 the buzzer sounded and the red light flashed, but the belt didn't budge. After several minutes of this, a couple of ramp guys waded through the crowd and made their way to a back room behind the belt. A couple minutes later the buzzer buzzed, and the light flashed once again and the belt started to move slowly.

My bag arrived at 6:24. Gleefully, I trotted over to the baggage office and announced that I had come to enforce the guarantee. I was given a voucher with no argument.

baliktad

02 Jul AS530 SEA-ONT Carousel started moving at 25 mins, my bag showed up about 30 mins after parking. The flight had a few dozen military personnel with large heavy bags, which all came out first. When I asked for my BSG certificate at the baggage office, I was told "normally we don't issue these when there is a big group like this, but I'll give it to you this time."

04 Jul AS531 ONT-SEA Bag was on carousel by the time I made it to baggage claim, about 15 minutes after parking.

Rifleman69

Flight 35 BOS to PDX yesterday, bags were at least 30 minutes late. 2000 miles applied to account today via the voucher!

AaronKamp

I take the miles, since by and far the vast majority of my AS travel is for work and all of our travel is required to be booked through BCD.

All of my award travel is long-haul international in premium classes which is generally 4-6 cpm if using a 90k award based on what I normally pay for those itineraries.