loomis

For the most part, I am a lowly leisure traveler. No amount is too small for me chase, especially if the transaction is needed for some bonus incentive, to top off an account, or to extend the validity of my miles in a certain program.

redreeper

no.

Hoops... collecting miles/points is a never ending series of hoops.

rc408

I've pursued 8 miles before. It took multiple emails but they finally posted. It's not necessarily the 8 miles but the fact that they are trying to stiff me that gets me to pursue it.

mia

When it appears I do not understand the program correctly, or that the program is not implementing its own rules exactly as written, I will pursue even a trivial amount. I am currently in the fourth month of trying to extract one Tier Point from Virgin Atlantic Airways. I don't need the point, it will not benefit me in any way, but I think I earned it and I will pursue it until they can explain how I miscalculated. I find this worthwhile because another year I may need to fly (or spend) the absolute minimum to requalify for status, and I want to know the real rules.

crabbing

in other words, they are defrauding the customer, by not provided the miles promised (and purchased, with so many FF surcharges).

i smell a class action!

icurhere2

There's no amount too small for me (airline or hotel). I was charged a $1 "room rate" on an award night once and I sent a note to Hyatt for my 6 points out of principle.

Happy

A class action for $0.50 to $1.00 per rental contract fraudulently charged? That is pretty much the average taxes I saw on the rentals.

How many contracts needed to make the vulture lawyers interested?

pinniped

It depends.

For retail transactions - partners that were offering miles - I'll fight for every d*mn one of them. I paid for those miles as part of a product bundle, usually paying above the lowest available street price for the product itself. I figure if the miles didn't post for me, they probably didn't post for a lot of people, and the merchant overcharging for the product because of the mileage bundle is effectively scamming the buyers.

Other small promotional posts...I sometimes don't pursue. I know if I followed consistent logic, I should pursue all miles. We are paying for all miles, no matter the source or whether a partner is involved. "Promotions" are simply one method of adjusting the cost of the goods or service. But the reality is that I have to get a bit p*ssed off and suspect someone is trying to jam me up before I'll call and fight about 100 miles.

EasternTraveler

Anything less than 1

AA_CPA

50 miles to be exact. If it's greater than 50, within reason, I'll follow-up passively with e-mails.

For 75 miles, I'll make calls. And pester once a month or so.

For 100 miles, I'll contact by phone every two weeks.


I look at 50 miles as a $10 AAdvantage Dining dine - which is my usual, daily lunch cost. It's not worth the effort when I can just have lunch and get those miles.

tusflyer

I don't bother with anything less than 1000, unless I need the activity to extend the miles expiration date.

crabbing

curiously, i couldn't figure out exactly how many cars are rented every year, but hertz (who is #2 behind enterprise) posted its revenue at $4.7B. if the typical rental is between $100-200, you're looking at 20-30 million contracts.

so let's assume that "Budget, Dollar and the like" collectively have 50 million contracts annually, and let's assume that 50% of those rentals never see their promised and paid miles. that would be $25M per year in theft from customers.

Happy

Your assumption is every customer requests FF miles and every rental car company does not honor the request. That is way too far fetch in making such assumption.

First of all, these days, $100 barely covers a 2 day rental. I have not had any weekly rental that is below $300 in past 6 months, using all kinds of discount codes I could find and in lower class of cars.

Then, not everyone is obsessed with miles. A lot business travelers dont care for it. A lot casual renters have no idea about it (and probably dont belong to any FF program anyway.)

From my own conversation with the owner of an in-town Budget office we rent at least 4 or 5 times a year for our long trips (pick up in town, drop off at airport. Do the reverse, for trip longer than 10 days.), we are one of his handful customers who ask to put FF number on. 99% of his customers dont.

Lastly, I have not had any non-posting from Hertz or Avis.

But, if you are confident in your assumption, please contact a law firm specialized in class lawsuit and report back to the thread so we can all benefit.

vasantn

Exactly my sentiments. Unless I need them to renew my elite status, of course.

crabbing

my numbers didn't include hertz or avis, and the 50% came from the OP's estimation. a limitation to 2-day or weekly rentals is unrealistic. but you're right, that many bus travelers use corp rates that don't accrue FF miles, and many leisure travelers use discount or upgrade coupons, if at all.

the point is that your assumption, that ~$1 is trivial, is flatly wrong in the face of the volume of rentals. and my assumption does not even include the value of punitive damages for a policy to deliberately not provide the purchased miles.