Received my first LP account statement ever in the mail yesterday along with a bilingual (Spanish-English) newsletter. The statement date was 27JUN00 and the newsletter simply states Vol. 5 No. 2. There wasn't much in the newsletter that was not already on their website and the statement was pretty vanilla.

Given that they've been swamped with the million mile promotion, I'm not surprised that this newsletter doesn't have a lot of new content.

Got my Latinpass statement 2 days ago. Called them today and 11 more postings were identified by Jessie. She said I was one of 9 or 10 new "Million Milers"!! Obviously, I am delighted and relieved. Acid test will be the first free flight I take; however, the LP folks have been nothing but gracious every time I talk to them.

Congratulations markschn! That was quick. From your earlier post, it looks like you completed your trip in June. What did you do to get everything posted so quickly?


[This message has been edited by dhacker (edited 07-18-2000).]

Got mine in the mail just now, dated 27 June 00. Shows about 65% of all activity posted.

FWIW--

My traveling companion's girlfriend is arriving tonight from Managua on Free Ticket #1-- it looks like everything is real.

I've talked to Jessie by phone a number of times-- she has been quite helpful.

I just got my statement. Of the 21 required, 11 have posted so far. I'm waiting for TWA, US Airways, Hilton, Radisson,Taca and Aeropostal. I guess I'll have to send in my originals to Latin Pass, although I'm not really comfortable parting with them.

I Fedexed every boarding pass and every receipt to them on a weekly basis. I kept color scanned copies of everything that I didn't have a duplicate original of. I called them (politely) nearly every week, took names and resolved conflicts or discrepancies as they occurred. During the last week in June, I realized I couldn't "double dip" USAir miles and took a short roundtrip on National from Vegas to LAX. Those miles posted almost immediately. Marriott was the slowest of the bunch and USAir was behind them. Latinpass folks were great. Sorry to hear Juan has left the company but Aileen and Jessie are there, thank god.

Yesterday I FedExed the documentation for the five remaining unposted flights to Latin Pass. The ones that didn't post were Aces (2), Aeropostal, Copa, and Lacsa.

Surely the "prize" boarding pass is the one from the Copa GUA-MGA flight:

This pass was printed on a printer whose ribbon was several lifetimes past its intended use - at first glance the bp looks blank! To top this off, the ticket agent at GUA conveniently affixed the exit sticker to the bp *directly* above the airline and flight information... only the city pair was not covered, and nothing else on the boarding pass gave even a hint that this is from Copa!

So.... I carefully peeled away the exit sticker, trying not to think about the half million miles that were riding on my peeling skills. Once off the bp was still covered by a residue of glue. Fortunately this proved to be the kind that can be rolled off with a rubbing motion. With a bit more work I had a bp that (while showing some wear) had all key information barely readable.

I found that xeroxing the bp under a "dark" setting will make the flight info even more readable.

I hope that Latin Pass also finds this readable, and that all of you have an easier time getting credit for your flights!

Hiker Guy

Returned on 7/22 from the run and mailed them all the orginals on 7/23. Spoke to LP today to find only the Intercontinental in CCS, and the 3 TWA flights are still not in.Seems that TWA are done manuallly and that takes time,so hopefully it'll be a few days only till it all clears.

WOW--Craz!! You figured out that time travel thing, huh?? LOL

Djlawman

Every flight, hotel and car rental has posted for me but one - US Airways! It seems to be a common problem and I wonder why this is so? Joven, glad to read that your friend was successful claiming first reward - was he generous and opted for a business class ticket! Interested in hearing about the procedure for booking and ticketing a reward with LP and if there are any nuances. Hiker Guy, my Avianca boarding pass ex BOG was like yours but LP posted the miles without any hassles.

Gabriel:

He did coach-- he's looking to get the most trips out of the miles. He has 3 more years of school in Michigan, so he doesn't want to use them up to fast.

The biggest nuance is that you book a reservation through the partner you will travel with and put seats on hold, then contact LatinPass with the confirmation number for ticketing. At first we had a little trouble figuring it out (i.e. Copa insisted on a OnePass number) but after a few tries with Copa and Taca, we got the hang of booking the flights in the FF seat inventory-- I gather they use the same class for LatinPass as for Distancia or OnePass.

In some ways it's better to deal with individual airlines directly because I think they have more access to availability than booking through a 3rd party lilke LatinPass. Also you don't have to wait days to find availability like you sometimes do when booking partner award travel.

As far as the Copa agent wanting the OnePass number, I think the agent just wasn't familiar with the LatinPass procedure-- and I'm finding that a big element of having seasoned travelers like us using LatinPass is that we're educating the employees much better than 101 memos on how to enter LP numbers, do LP ticketing, etc. Among the lot of LP millionaires, we have had thousands of LP transactions, and we will continue to give agents practice as we book free travel.

[This message has been edited by Viajero Joven (edited 07-24-2000).]

LP Millionaires as LP- & Partner- Employee "Trainers" !!!

Yep, 200+ LatinPass trainers, in exchange for a few seats that might otherwise go empty.

Should we have a dental plan, too??