Update GlobalPass
 

For the past few days, I've been in constant contact with Guy Booth and GlobalPass (thanks to heads up from milesrus and Shelley) and some of you should now be seeing results from them to try and resolve the ticketing problems with TACA. As an partner, GP would not have known what the requirements are for ticket stock during their changeover and these situations have happened before in the past with other partner arrangements involving several of the hotel and airline programs you are likely to be members of. At the end of the day, no one wants to take ticket stock back since you have to pay up front. This stuff does happen. GP got caught short and while they could have simply let this change ride over, they did get the advice they needed and have worked with TACA for more ticket stock which is what you are seeing from several posts today. Obviously TACA is guarding this well since the arrangement they likely have with GP is at a rate less than "market price."

Now, there will likely not be enough stock available for all requests to be handled, but attempts are being made to honor "most" of them. I think in reviewing many of the posts here that a few of you are likely to be on the short list - most likely anyone trying to sell your awards. Their rules strictly forbid this and whether you like it or not, that's the rules. (In the past, i do know that some of you have sold your awards anyway, so please stay off the soapbox.) As long as your award request are in your name or family member names, my guess is that you'll get first attention and then they will work on down the line.

I'll continue to try and work with GP and members here to find resolve on this. Guy is now on vacation and a few loose ends may need additional attention later on, so be patient.

In the next few days you'll see on InsideFlyer.com a really interesting interview with Guy on the topic of GP. Frankly it's amazing that he has been able to hold any of this together when partner airline don't renew partnership contracts. While nearly all the critical posts here blame GP, and they certainly have earned some of it, there's also the matter of how the industry is changing. Ever try to get an upgrade on an RJ?

As well, I will soon be moving the GP forum from the airline sector to "Other Programs." It's clear it's really not an airline programs anymore and frankly never was. It has partnerships and things that resemble coalition programs, but GP is not an airline. So if you suddenly see it gone, look in "Other Travel Programs."

That's it for now.

RANDY,
THANKS ALOT, especially if what milesRus posted that you indeed lost you Mil miles. Either way IMO you have gone to bat for US once again.

Although I find myself fortunate to have burned off the last of my GlobalPiss miles in February, I've been lurking and watching this drama unfold.

Randy, your passion and involvement in assisting the members of your online community sometimes goes beyond the call of duty. Good job with Guy Booth and GlobalPiss! ^

Many Thanks!
 

Randy, thank you very much for all your efforts and your update! ^
Now keeping my fingers crossed to get those ticket numbers.

Thank you very much!
 

Randy I reall appreciate what you have done for us. I do not believe anyone wanted this to get ugly and you have saved the day. You have also saved me a lot of postage!

Thanks Randy for the update and the help. I've just made a sticky out of this thread.

I knew as soon as the news hit several weeks ago that my days as moderator of this mostly sleepy forum were numbered. Even with all the recent outrage, I'm proud to say that I never had to delete, move, or edit any posts here whatsoever (at least none that I can remember). Thanks to the LP/GP FTers for keeping it civil. ^ ^ ^

GP releated discussions will no doubt continue in the Other Programs forum to detail the ultimate handling of our last award requests and the understandable reactions of members who learn of the changes too late and are left holding large balances of arguably worthless bonus miles. Let's hope GP finds a way to do right by these folks as well.

Edit: I may have to continue the hard work of moderating this unruly place for a while longer. ;) I mistakenly thought Randy was planning to fold this forum to a non-branded forum like "Other North & South America Frequent Flyer Programs". "Other Programs" is a category, so it looks like the LP/GP forum may live as long as GlobalPass remains in business!

Tickets in Names of Others
 

Randy,

Another thanks for your getting involved to help resolve all of this. I hope that when GP takes a look at the ticket reservations, they will honor award requests for others who are clearly traveling with a GP member. I have one set of reservations where others with different surnames are traveling with us on on the same flight itinerary, and yet another set of reservations where others will be joining us at the same destination, but flying in from a different location. I would hope that GP would realize that it is unlikely that I'm trying to sell tickets to someone else and coordinating flight dates to join them at some common destination!

Kudos
 

^ Thanks "Randy" for all you do and helping us out!

Randy, thanks for getting involved and helping get this situation resolved.

I also thank Randy for his involvement. I wonder how many unused miles he has (or HAD).

However, I think he is a bit genereous in his support of GP.
1. What kind of company would drastically change the rules and not notify its customers?
2. What kind of company would only give 3 weeks notice?
3. What kind of company would have its President (apparently the only one who can make decisions) be on vacation during a major change in its strategy?
4. What kind of company would "run out of ticket stock" without knowing it would do so (or at least not letting its customers know the situation).

I could go on and on, but I think GP has always been on the lowest end of the Customer Satisfaction scale. Its poor service and, especially, lack of posting good information (such as steps to get tickets) on it web site, leave customers in the dark much of the time.

As to selling of tickets - I think that was rare. Maybe some to friends, etc. But with the difficult schedules, communication issues, etc., many would not buy these miles. I do think many gave tickets to friends and relatives (by the way, many relatives do not have same surname as the customer). Is it right they will issue a ticket to my son, but not my married daughter --without at least checking with me first? (No, I really only used my miles for myself and my wife, but you get the point)

I guess we need to be thankful they did not just "shut down" without notice, although that is what many expected to happen someday.

On the other hand, I do not understand why those that took the Mileage Run bonus did not use all their miles by now. Especially with the concerns everyone had about the program and the company. I know that there were restrictions, but with transfers, etc. - it was not hard to get rid of your miles in the 5 year time frame.

I will be interested in seeing the responses from Guy. The Program was one of the high points for the FF group. And the attempt to put together a FF program with "loose end" airlines was a good idea. Unfortunately, I think the Bonus program was too much of a good thing (not thought out too well) and in the end resulted in GPs demise. Yes, I know they are still around, but doubt if they will last another year.

Good to "meet" everyone, it's been a GREAT TRIP!

The InsideFlyer interview with Guy Booth can now be found on InsideFlyer.com at http://www.insideflyer.com/articles/o2.php?key=87

This conveniently 'forgets' that there was no mention of the 50% rule at the time of the bonus and that the rule was invented and applied retroactively. It also forgets that 1/4 bonus per year was usable without any matching requirement.
Very selective example. For air travel, GP is a waste of time and most certainly not 'better in terms of return than American Express and Diners' . It might have been if ticket prices using the GP travel agency were not inflated to the point of destroying anything that you might gain from it. Heck, you can't make it work even with the 100% extra coming from the LP bonus miles, let alone on its own.

Guess I'm gonna need a translation because everything was so vague it was hard to follow. Can anyone explain the point he was trying to make with the 40%, 60% comment?

Not sure. Does he mean to say that 60% of C class pax on Taca are on awards?

Interesting interview.

"Membership Rewards has a AmEx shop, they have a $199 iPod lets say, which you could also buy for 39,800 Membership Reward points. Simple mathematics tells you that it's .005. In our case if you translate $199, it requires $26 dollars and 500 GlobalPass miles. We're giving you four miles on the dollar. But, we don't want to rock the boat with American Express."

Does anyone understand this paragraph? Are they saying that for $26 and 500 GP miles I will, in return, receive a $199 Ipod?

So, he's still sitting on a million dollars allocated to our awards? Guess the member airlines would have had to fund that when GP went private, since the airlines who previously owned LP would have had to fund the outstanding liabilities.

Guy Booth's comments
 

Wow, I hope English is a second language for Guy Booth. Either that, or I need to go back to school to understand what he said.

I wish someone who knows can give us the real "skinny" on how the new Global Pass is going to work (with examples) and how partners interact. Not that I am likely to use it, but who knows?

And his statement: "So when you search for airfares in North and South America we beat the hell out of Expedia and Travelocity." seems to be contra from what I have been reading from FlyerTalk members about the cost of tickets on GP. Anyone seen real low prices on GP? :confused:

Mumbo Jumbo -- I think Guy should get a job working for the UN or the IRS Tax Code help desk. :D

I would hope that GlobalPass could get a little more competitive if they want us to use them.

Just ran a random example. JFK to SJO, Oct. 13 to 19, RT.

Expedia shows $335 on AA. $378 on Taca and LACSA.

Globalpass booking engine shows $578 (including taxes and fees) on AA, and $639 on Taca/Lacsa.

Price of 'domestics' to connect w TACA freebies:

Global Pass Price:

Adult Ticket Price: 1 x $205.58
Ticketing Fee: 1 x $8.22
Processing Fee: 1 x $15.00
Govt. Taxes and Fees: $54.72

Total Price: $283.52


America West's Price:

Base Fare $206.00

taxes and fees $39.30

Grand Total $245.30

Same flights. Same fare basis. GP is $38.22 more expensive. Note that GP adds both a processing fee and a ticketing fee. Marking up the taxes, too, are we, Mr. Booth?

Regarding the interview: where were all those tough questions?

Agreed, Where were the tough questions?

Such as:

Why did you not notify customers of changes in program?

Why a 3 week only advance notice, which sort of leaked out, on the demise of the Bonus Miles?

Why not send emails to FAQ you receive by so many rather than tying up phones and people's time (which could be used to write tickets)?

How could one not know ticket stock was running low and then why not let people know facts, rather than just saying (as if they did not know) "We ran out of tickets"? That's like a flight half way in the Atlantic announcing on the P.A. - "Sorry folks, we are about to run out of fuel in 5 minutes, we forgot to check."

I guess we can be thankful LP existed for so long and they did not suddenly just void the program.

My impression is that LP/GP wanted to ensure the long-term viability of the program by minimizing the benefits it provided to the MM promo recipients. Some/many of those folks earned the promo for minimal $, then had no plans to spend any additional $ on LP/GP partners. For those travelers who actually WERE interested in shifting their loyalties to LP/GP, I think that many of us were dissuaded by how we were treated -- shifting rules, non-disclosure of items, general attempts to make life difficult. Given that track record, we were scared to become loyal to it.

Although we all have valid complaints, I must say that LP/GP has at least allowed us to continue redeeming the MM bonus miles -- yes, the restrictions are onerous, but at least we may be able to see our TACA tickets being ticketed one of these days.

Major kudos to LP/GP telephone staff, too!

I for one tried to give GP all of my Hotel and Car Rental business. Unfortunately, more often than not, about 50% never posted. Same with Global Mall. I also recommended GP to some of my well travelled Venezuelan friends who were unaware of GP and their links to other airlines. I am now a little embarrased about this due to the demise of GP as a FF programme.

I am sorry to hear Guy Booth comment about his customers the way he did. But as customers, we go where we have the best value and service. I think LP million milers did their best to stay loyal to LP but one can only take so many changes before "other" programmes looked better.

Guy Booth: "We're working on the new booking engine; it will allow us to use multiple consolidators. Right now we have a single consolidator. So when you search for airfares in North and South America we beat the hell out of Expedia and Travelocity. Our plan is to get a European consolidator, then an Asian. Then it becomes a win-win situation."

I would like to stay a loyal customer as LP/GP has been very generous to my family, I have however made three attempts to buy tickets using the present “consolidator” and my price comparisons have always yielded a much better value from another supplier.

Last summer I tried to buy a round trip ticket from Shanghai to Beijing and I must admit GP was one of the few companies offering the routing. However when I included the paper ticket fee, and delivery fees (in the US), the ticket price was much higher than any other agencies offering the route. I recently tried to book a ticket from LAX to JFK and found the price was nearly 50% higher than the ticket I purchased on the United Airline website just fifteen minuets after I tried to book with GP. This price comparison was for identical flights and times on the same airline, so it was very fair. No need to go into my third attempt to purchase a ticket, you get the point.

I do see some hope in the GP plans to add new consolidators and maybe they will be able to at least be competitive on ticket prices. I would not mind paying a few dollars more, for the mileage accrual benefit, but so far the difference in price has not been offset by the additional miles offered by GP.

I hope GP does not wait too long to implement the new consolidator program or they may loose the interest of those who are still trying to remain loyal.

Thanks for all the great feedback from everyone. I had remained loyal to LP/GP with all hotel/car rentals but had no opportunities to fly South. Unfortunately I ran out of time to schedule flights for my remaining miles - which also included getting my wife to commit on vacation time at short notice. The MM trip was still a trip of a lifetime and I will be able to eventually recoup the cost with free stays at Hilton Resorts. Thanks again to all!

?
 

Please tell me how you will do this using GP miles? I thought you could only transfer from Hilton INTO GP? This would help a lot of people, if in-fact you can do this (use GP miles for Hilton stays)? Did I miss something? Hope so! ;)

The transfer of LatinPass miles to Hilton ended in early 2003. I assume some people still have points left with Hilton. I redeemed all mine in 2003 when the price of a 6-night award went up 50% from 100,000 to 150,000 points.

I transfered as many points as I could back in 2003 when it was possible. I managed to transfer about 500,000 points to Hilton. I did not know that the value of the resort stay went up so much! But, as it goes with the rest of my LP/GP points, it is very difficult to get vacation scheduled between my wife and I ... pretty pathetic. Luckily I will still be able to use the Hilton points.

I'll give you my take in case you haven't read it elsewhere:
1. If you'll look at the fine print of almost every single major frequent flyer programs you'll see this "... subject to change without notice." If you think that this is the first time that any program has ever changed it's rules without notice.... then you have not been active in enough programs. Now, you might have considered this a tough question and wonder why we didn't ask them. It's simple, we read it in their rules, we understood their rules and they did nothing wrong outside their rules. While it may not be like you and I would do it, it certainly was using the very same procedure that many other programs have used.
2. See above. I've seen others give no notice, just a few days notice, etc. Again, their rules do say they have the right to change the program without notice and others have done it in the past as well–American, United, etc.
3. I can't answer that one.
4. I can only guess on this one. They had X number of ticket stock for some time and might have figured that based on past redemption patterns they had enough. Because of FT, the heightened awareness of these changes made for a larger demand on redemption and thus they ran out.

I am not sure why people were expecting tough questions in the IF interview. From the interviews I have read, IF does not really do 'tough questions'. You could say exactly the same of the Marc Jansz (KLM) interview. You have different styles of journalism. You can have hard-hitting 'call to account' type of journalism or you can have journalism which is oriented towards giving additional information and/or different insights. IF is more in the style of the latter, more Martin Bashir/Richard & Judy than Jeremy Paxman (these names probably don't mean much to non-UK FTers, but I am sure that you can substitute other names).
Randy's answer to point 1 raised by SAPMAN makes, IMO, this very clear. Yes, they can change the rules at will and don't need to give notice and, yes, they would not be the only ones to have ever done that. Are there many others who have drastically re-written the rules without notice or at very short notice, or indeed, virtually extinguished the program to replace it by a completely different one? Perhaps not. Now, if you are in the call-to-account style of journalism, you would probably raise that as a key issue. If what you want is to give a different insight/perspective, you won't.
Take IF as it is and judge it by the standards of what it seeks to achieve.There is nothing disrespectable about its style of journalism but it has its limitations, as well as its strengths.

[QUOTE=tvl4free

Edited per The Moderators request Only

This one one of those times, Randy, that we disagree. Programs do make changes without notice, this is consistent with their T&C, and they need to be called to account for it every time they do it.

It's one of the lowest, dirtiest, rottest things that can happen in a program.

And if public shaming won't do any good, at least a program's members will see what's going on and decide whether or not to trust the program going forward. I sure don't trust Amtrak Guest Rewards, will the no-notice changes they've imposed.

InsideFlyer did great work shaming DL for changing its elite status rules, though doing so was certainly consistent with its T&C. Not everything that can be done within a program's rules is ok.

I still found the Guy Booth interview an interesting read, btw. ^

I think GlobalPass would have gotten more sympathy if they'd sent an email from Guy Booth to members that read something like Sure, there would have been criticism. But they could certainly play it a bit more straight and proactive, and that might generate some sympathy.

GP Credit Card Fraud and more....
 

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Today, 8:11 pm #1
flyingformiles


Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: AAEXP; SPG Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3 GP Credit Card Fraud and more....

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As a member of Latinpass/Globalpass/GotTheShaftPass,
I am concerned more about the unauthorized charges that have shown up on my credit card than I am about the lost miles.

This problem is probably bigger than we think......

I am a little shocked that IF didn't question Guy Booth's reponses to the questions with a deeper, journalist, investigative eye.

All you have to do is read the overwhelming number of people who have seemingly had unauthorized charges show up on their credit cards and tie that in to employees working for a company (GP) going downhill and you have a situation that will probably involve the Florida Attorney General and the Justice Department (credit card transactions, I believe, fall into the federal realm as wire-fraud, mail-fraud and interestate commerce apply to them)

Randy, would you, or your writers, take the time to ask Booth why this happened on his watch? From what I am reading on FlyerTalk, he is NOT responding to anyone (probably upon the advice of his attorney).

Anything you can do would certainly shed light on this subject.

I have included 2 links in this that lead to GP discussions:

http://www.insideflyer.com/messages...eferance_key=87 is in response to the article in Inside Flyer and

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=457165 regarding the credit card fraud.

Randy,

Yes, others have changed their programs, but rarely without notification.

I wonder if Randy would support AA if AA said miles would only be good for the next 20 days (then all miles canceled) and no bookings for more than 6 months out. AND they did it without any notification to their members. That is basically what GP did.

If the GP members did not sign in to a site to discover this (say they were on a 2 week cruise), they would have not had a chance to use the miles.

Lucky me - I used almost all mine before June.

Well, despite the ¨can change without notice¨clauses, there should be some integrity. I think if I were Guy Booth, I would announce a new Million Bonus miles program for 10 flights and then, 60 days later cancel all miles. Why not, they can change the program without notice. :rolleyes:

Today I received notification from Globalpass of the Fedex tracking number of a package that they sent today that includes 13 tickets (all for travel leaving October)

Delta Makes Changes In Skymiles!
 

In an e-mail today which many of you may have also received Delta has advised its members of changes in Skymiles...

""As we continue to simplify and improve the SkyMiles program, I'd like to make you aware of an upcoming change that will be implemented at the end of next year. Your account currently contains two separate types of miles: one balance was accumulated in the older Delta frequent flyer program that ended in 1995, and the second balance contains miles that have been earned in the current SkyMiles program since 1995. In order to streamline the tracking and redemption processes, we will be consolidating these mileage balances on December 31, 2006.

Anytime from now until December 31, 2006, you may redeem your older Delta frequent flyer miles or donate them to a charity by calling SkyMiles OneSource™ at 1-800-325-3999. If you choose not to redeem or donate your miles by this time, each mile will automatically be converted into one mile in the current SkyMiles program and added to your balance in January 2007. You may redeem these miles like any other miles in your SkyMiles account, subject to all SkyMiles program rules. ""

So I guess this is how a program that cares about its members goes about it with an advance notice of over 15 months! Kudos to DL !!

All in all we were very fortunate to receive the million mile bonus and most of us knew that the program was too good to be true.

What to do?
 

So can anyone tell me what I can do with my Million Miles?
Please be respectfull, as I know what I´d like to do with them also! :D

Take as many of your friends as you can on a trip of their lifetime to South America - and book and fly before the end of the year...........otherwise you're going to lose all your miles.

Jag, I think you are mistaken
 

They will NO LONGER allow you to book anything! That's the crux of the problem...they ran away in the middle of the night.....pretty pathetic....though, if you know the Booth family history, this actually isn't too far out of character