Purchasing airfare for boss
 

I have to buy airfare for my boss on United. I will have to use her credit card but I was hoping to find a portal that would allow me to earn extra points or $$ by going through it first. The price is the same through United or any of the aggregators. Is there anything better than say the $2 they offer on Orbitz??

This one is small but I will be purchasing business class airfare to Paris for her in the next few months which will be a biggie.

ETA - I realized I never finished filling in my title, sorry about that!!!

Traveloicty via Ultimate rewards mall offers 2 miles per dollar spent, so that's a lot of points potentially.

I also usually go through the UR portal with Travelocity for 2x Ultimate Reward points, but I usually pay with an Amex gold card for 3x Membership Reward points.

Make sure you discuss the +/- with your employer first
 

There are pluses and minuses of using third-party booking portals. The points are the obvious plus.

But, for a business person who may need last second changes, who may need other services, having booked through a third-party site may be seriously problematic (but not always).

Just make sure that your employer understands exactly what's involved.

I'd be careful--Its implied you're trying to score the points for yourself on the purchase for your boss. If this is the case make sure the points are worth more than your job. DYKWIM?

If one of my people even suggested this for themselves, they'd be out the door before they could finish the sentence. I had thought that OP was talking about obtaining a benefit for the employer.

That's pretty harsh. I could see if they were doing it behind your back, but if they asked permission, you can always just tell them no.

I mean, this is really no different from what thousands of people on this board are doing all the time -- collecting frequent flier miles and points on business travel. I don't see a huge difference about racking up 5,000 miles on travel for which I'm being reimbursed by my company. Most companies and partnerships permit it -- it's at least arguably a company asset that employees are allowed to have. This doesn't seem any different to me so long as it's above board.

You are assuming she cares about getting the points herself and has a rewards card which would benefit from the purchase.

If answers to the above are no, I wouldn't see a problem with this.

That said, I'd still clear it with your boss.

I agree with the last poster - this is way harsh.

If they could go through a portal and buy a UA ticket directly on UA, I really wouldn't see the harm. And if my employee did that I'd have no issue.

BUT, going through a portal to buy on a 3rd party site does have issues regarding changes. If I were asked - and I'd appreciate them asking me rather than send them packing mid-sentence for being forthright!! - I'd simply say that the purchase must be made using my corporate credit card
and directly on the airline's website... no 3rd party sites.

Travelocity via UR mall is 2 points per dollar on base fare, not on taxes/fees too.

From personal experience, using UR->Travelocity for United flights has allowed me to make changes as if I booked directly through united.com. I didn't have many issues moving flights around (usually with the standard $75 fee).

But think about the cost/benefit of this. You're playing with your boss's travel. How many UR points could you score? @2x, for $500 fare, or $2500 fare. 1000 or 5000 UR points. Is that worth potentially making your boss screwed in re-scheduling flights?

Explain to your boss that you are really into FF miles, and can set her account up, manage it, and maximize the points into it and out of it saving her and the company money. Maybe even 6 months from now do a report on how much she's saved by your doing this, and attempt to get a raise off of this. Outline things like the extra points by booking through UR and travelocity vs. regular booking on United.

That's how I'd go about doing this.

How is this person supposed to earn points for themselves when using their boss' credit card? :confused:

I really don't see how this is any different than a travel agent. The same change fees apply. I'd imagine many smaller companies use orbitz/travelocity/whatever.

I don't get why you guys are chastising the OP. If someone told me to do something like this for them, I'm guessing they don't care at all about any type of rewards that go along with it, other-wise they would do it themselves.

It's not like this is the most time-consuming process in the world.