Happy

Funny thing is, we actually were from Hong Kong... One trip every 2 years to see families and friends is just about right, CX F not withstanding. The city is just getting unbelievably crowded by the day. And the weather... Only the few months from Nov to Feb are tolerable.

OT:

Last Saturday I casually looked up June F availability when BA site was semi-functioning. There were plenty available esp the afternoon flight from YVR. But we could not bring ourselves to go in June, or Jul or Aug - too hot and too much rain. Sept is Typhoon season. Oct is good if you dont mind the skyrocket hotel rates due to the Chinese Trade Fair for the whole month (April and October each year)... So really Nov to Feb are the few months we normally would consider a trip. Sorry about being so picky but we were completely rained out last time we went in June. We did not even go to Kowloon during the week we were there. The only consolation was the terrific Chinese gourmet foods we had through out the week. FYI, Ren HK has a superb Chinese restaurant that even frequented by the local super riches. There are a couple other restaurants specialized in very very good but very very pricy seafoods in the same vicinity as well.

I would take a long cruise any day (and have, 16 to 18 days Transatlantic every year for the past 5 years, sometimes twice a year! and here and there 7 to 10 days Carribeans in the Fall or Holidays) than taking 1 trip to HKG every year, even flying in CX F.

Happy

No AAnytime award on Partners. Must be Saaver award.

Mountain Trader

Did I really read a post a few pages back that suggested contacting the FDIC because Bank Direct miles had not posted to an AAdvantage account by the 4th or 5th of the following month?

An early candidate for post of year.

mtt05001

I want to preface this by saying it may not be in the correct forum, but if so just please let me know.
I'm curious to know the logistics in moving people's seat assignments with myseatfinder and any other sites that may do this. By just having my frequent flyer number, such as what myseatfinder.com ( as well as others), can they reallymove/modify anything such as my seat assignment?

If so, how does this actually work... a programmed bot to go in and do this or what?

Thanks for any info., I appreciate it,

-Mike

seawolf

I hope so.

seawolf

For those overly concerned with miles not posting "on time".....relax. It just showed up this morning.

LAX_Esq

Well, they didn't actually post "on time." There was apparently a technical glitch on BD's side which caused them to post two days after they were supposed to post. Not a big deal since we know the explanation, but not "on time" nonetheless.

josephstern

What if I was just "concerned" but not "overly concerned"?

ps9a

Wasn't referring to partners, and an AAnytime award on American is not my preferred redemption method. Was just pointing out that if you live in a city from which you might consider flying AA, it isn't hard to find $.005-.007 value from your miles using an AAnytime award.

ceieoc

My application was also returned because I didn't initial one section on their signature card. Unfortunately BankDirect didn't mail my application back to my mailing address. BD used my street address required due to the US Patriot act. Fortunately a jogger found my application blowing down the street as my street mail box where BankDirect sent my application to is not secure like my post office box. The jogger thought my application was important as it had my social security number, name, address, signature and and amount of initial deposit. BD said sorry they did not follow instructions and did not mail it to my mailing address. BankDirect also said the delay was due to the Memorial day holiday. I reminded them that the last day of the month, May 31st was not a banking holiday and the customer service rep then said she didn't know why our mileage posting was delayed for May accrual. The mileage for May posted yesterday. Did anyone find out why there was a BankDirect delay in posting our American Airlines miles for May.

Bank Direct also didn't award my promised miles from my direct deposit until I faxed them a copy of my direct deposit pay stub. It was an additional hassel to get my miles especially after BankDirect just reduced our American Airlies mileage accruals by 75% for balances over $200,000. BankDirect thought I didn't direct deposit the entire amount based on income until I provided a copy of my pay stub.

With the new award schedule starting April 1, 2011 from BankDirect, it seems that BD prefers customers with balances under $200,000 as they reduce mileage award benefits by 75% for balances over $200,000 and limit the number of accounts per household.

rrgg

ceieoc, I hope things go better. It sounds like they aren't highlighting everything that needs to be signed/initialed. I'm writing to them about this because I've heard it come up before. I don't understand the pay stub issue, and that seems new.

Regarding the posting this month, miles usually post on a Tue for me, sometimes Wed. The fact that they came on the 7th this time is no real surprise since it's still the first Tue.

josephstern

It does sound like it's getting harder and harder to qualify for the various bonuses with BankDirect. Back when I got my (smaller) DD bonus, I only had to do one DD, and it was tiny. I inquired, got my miles, and moved on. That must have been under the reign of Henry.

Now, with BankDirect asking for paystubs and such, it seems like it's a bit of a different ballgame. I'm currently working on qualifying for my debit card and bill payment bonuses, and something tells me that they'll be giving me a bit of a hard time when it comes down to getting my miles. I admit that some of my debit card charges are to the same vendor repetitively, but as far as I can tell, they get a per transaction fee each time, so maybe they won't care.

My real question is, why do they even offer these bonuses?

When I'm not working towards a bonus, I'm a stable customer with a large balance.

When I am working towards a bonus, I have lots of transactions in and out, but no more money involved, overall.

What value do they even get out of direct deposit transfers? And how can it possibly be worth whatever they pay for 10,000 miles?

If I make 36 bill payments over 12 months, that's worth 5000 miles to them? Shouldn't it cost them money? Is it that they think I'd otherwise use checks, which cost them more? In fact, I'd otherwise use bill pay at my regular bank, which costs them nothing.

I guess, in many ways, this is just the problem with trying to reward specific behavior: you can't really target the actions you want.

miahf

They aren't trying to target certain behaviors, just trying to make you feel like you invested more time in the bank so you aren't as willing to switch to another bank where you will have to learn a new system. This is probably especially true with bill pay since you spend time setting it up and then it is fairly easy to pay going forward. Most people probably won't want to change banks and have to do the bill pay set-up again unless they have a big problem at Bankdirect or a strong financial reason from some other institution.

josephstern

Huh - OK - that's a good perspective, and a new one to me.

I've got to say, though, if they really want my business beyond the chunk of miles-earning cash, they should redo their site. It doesn't compare with my other banks' but I don't mind since I don't interact with it much.

mikelat

How long does it take to get the bonus miles for direct deposit? I'd like to cancel as soon as possible since I'm not thrilled with the services provided, but I want to be sure and get my bonus miles first.

Thanks!