Canarsie

Please click here for the article and poll results.
_______________________________

How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with award redemptions at the frequent flier loyalty program(s) of which you are currently a member? FlyerTalk and Frequent Business Traveler magazine are conducting the Frequent Flyer Program Award Redemption Satisfaction Survey, which will be active through June 20, 2014.

This is the latest in a series of joint surveys by FlyerTalk and Frequent Business Traveler magazine. Frequent Business Traveler magazine will provide the survey; FlyerTalk members will provide the opinions. While most FlyerTalk members use their miles and points for trips, satisfaction with the ability to redeem those coveted awards as desired can vary significantly.

Results of this poll will be announced by both Frequent Business Traveler magazine and FlyerTalk.

Additionally, you will be given the opportunity for a chance to win a piece of valuable airline memorabilia as an incentive for participating in the poll, which should only take a minute or two of your time to complete.

So — with which airline frequent flier loyalty programs are you very satisfied pertaining to the redemption of your hard-earned miles for award travel; and with which airline frequent flier loyalty programs are you least satisfied? Please vote today and let everyone know!

bingocallerb22

Am I blind? I do not see Avianca LifeMiles listed? (Winner of 2 Freddie awards for their FF program.)

ralfkrippner

My observations:
- beeing a mid-tier or top-tier member of a program helps a lot in securing the award seats you want (this was not so important in the past)
- partner airlines award seats in business or first class are increasingly hard to get
- fuel surcharges got insanely expensive and are a true rip-off especially targeted at award redemptions. They have reached levels where your fuel surcharge is more expensive than the full cost of fuel calculated per seat (and fuel cost always was a part of the fare calculation already).

airoli

+1 to what ralfkrippner said.

As it pertains to "fuel" surcharges, there is also a disturbing tendency to differentiate these by cabin travelled, i.e. fleecing members redeeming in premium cabins more than those redeeming in the economy cabin, and to differentiate based on country of origin of a reward ticket (i.e. JFK-LHR-JFK has different surcharges from LHR-JFK-LHR).

LovePrunes

i was trying to answer question 1 and the survey crashed; i did back page to try and reload and now it says i've already completed the survey

StephenC

British Airways Avios availability is shockingly bad, especially for Business Class cabins, and only appears to be getting worse.

Abducted Alien

+1 ^ My Miles & More long haul business class award fee was the same as LH´s lowest offer in whY on same day same route to Asia. Though I prefer to sit on LH´s new C seat, but I hope my award seat in business is secured (M&M *S).

jspira

Sorry to hear.

We haven't had any reports of the survey crashing - what was the error? If the browser closed, it was most likely not the survey but the browser itself that crashed.

If you use a different browser, you probably can take it - let us know.

BA Favourite Flyer

Boy, isn't that the truth! I've been trying since January to book companion flight LAX - LHR Business or First for late October with no success at all. It's frustrating after accumulating all these Avios and not being able to use them. I'm about ready to throw in the towel. Anyone else experiencing this with BA?

Justaregularguy

In 2010 I used 110,000 Continental points to fly from CLE to Europe and back in Bus. Class. Today that trip is 280,000 Mileage Plus points + an additional $329. (So that must be what the Plus stands for). That said, you can only find a couple days a month where you can get the real discounts. If you do get a saver award, the next screen makes it hard to get the same reward on your return flight. They work very hard to make sure you pay the most. Bah Humbug on United.

deborahjmoss

Agreed! We are retired and can choose nearly any day or week to fly but the availability is dreadful, or I should say nonexistent, unless you wish to fly economy- then your airmiles are worth nothing, your additional taxes and fees are not far off the cost of a sale ticket. We are complaining to American Express with whom we earn miles, and to British Airways. Maybe if more of us get more vocal they may change things. I am ready to vote with my feet - or should I say seat! and am now moving towards Virgin.

randinc

I'm using miles once or twice a year, sometimes with partner airlines and have yet to have a problem. I find that booking early-months in advance is important if I want to get the routes and schedules I'd like. Wait too long and you'll see the world whether you want to or not!

Delta just changed my schedule a little bit and I was contacted by Alaska both by phone and email.

We do Alaska to Puerto Vallarta annually and always have a good experience and that's booking first class.

No wonder I'm loyal.

malbarda

Booked biz class for my son from LBA - JFK via LHR in March for early July, return early August (so peak season) with not too many difficulties.

Azamaraal

Alaska Airlines offers the best program available at the present time. Ability to fly with Cathay and Emirates with virtually no fees is incredible. Just hope that no-one listens and joins or otherwise availability will fall and they might increase the cost with stupid surcharges.

BA is the worst if you are flying internationally or via LHR. However, I am gradually using up my 400,000 points by flying inside Asia or in South Africa where awards are cheap with no surcharges. Flew J class from Hong Kong to Japan really cheaply on Cathay using BA points as well (Haneda - HK).

Aeroplan is OK if you are booking well in advance and only book star partners with no surcharges (United, Air NZ, South African Airways, Swiss) but flights are hard to find and you must book with an agent as you will have to tell them the routing.

Sure wish there was some way to switch my Aeroplan, AAdvantage and BA miles to Alaskan. If anyone knows a trick to do this please let me know immediately <G>.

dliesse

I'm somewhat disappointed by the survey itself. In my mind, if they're going to ask about redemptions it should include all types, not just free flights.

Personally, I'd rather use my miles for upgrades, an experience which has declined significantly on all airlines. But that's not a question in the survey.