Well, I am sure this has been discussed here at sometime but I haven't read it...so I will talk about it anyway:

Yesterday my boss and I were chatting and he told me that our company 'owns' our FF miles and can dictate use of them if they want.

The conversation came up due to a new policy of no Biz. class travel for anyway (even the Board) due to poor financials.

He went on to say that the new policy WILL allow us to use our points for upgrades or to take family along on biz. trips. (Worthles to me...all my points are with AC and they don't do point upgrades and I can't move points to LH or UA...my other carriers).

So....who else has these 'policies' where the company 'owns' your miles? I am quite sure this is illegal...

Dorian

U.S. government employees must also give their miles back to their employer for future business use.

The company I work for (a $100M publishing co.) does the same thing. Since I work from a home office, I was able to negotiate the ability to book my own travel & keep the miles/points.

When I first started with this co., they didn't tell me the policy & booked me on flights & created new mileage accounts. What a nightmare!

I met with our Exec. Publisher & got him to agree to allow me to do my own bookings.

Some aspects of this topic are being discussed on the following thread:
http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/Foru...ML/000062.html

The fine print in most programs state clearly that the benefits accrue ONLY to the FF account holder. While that doesn't stop a company saying you must use the points as the company directs, otherwise you will suffer the consequences, if you were to quit, they'd still be yours. Part of the reason for this term is that they want the flyer to do what is in the flyer's best interest, in terms of the FF program, as opposed to what is in the company's best interest. This may, and probably does, result in sometimes taking a more expensive ticket on a preferred carriers, as opposed to taking the cheaper ticket. If all the points "belonged" to the company, there would be no incentive for the flyer to choose any particular airline.

I don't think they would ever do it, but I imagine that an airline could collapse an account if they determined that the FFer had agreed that the points "belong" to the employer. After all, this would be tantamount to "transferring" the points, which is generally and explicitly dis-allowed.

For example, from the "Short Guide to the Canadian Plus Program":
Note that this point alone is highlighted in bold type, in the guide.

Regards,

Ken Hamer

Dorian: If you're into hardball, you might want to suggest to accounting, preferably the fiscal quarter after taking your first company mandated award trip, that the company could be guilty of tax fraud if they haven't declared the value of the award as taxable income.

Of course, that could work both ways. :|

Regards,

Ken Hamer

A note for those who may not be aware: while Canada taxes frequent flyer awards resulting from business travel, the USA does not, and I don't think Australia does either.

Ken! Love it!

Dorian

Did I hit a nerve with this topic?

Dorian!

According to my tax advisor reward travel from my personal travel (that I have paid for) is essentially a rebate of the money I have paid for past tickets, and would not be taxable. Reward travel for personal use from miles earned from tickets paid by an employer could be a different story. If reward travel is from both sources it would be almost impossible to arrive at a taxable value, for what that is worth.

Dorian: too bad about the no more J class travel, but at least they are spreading the pain to everyone. As for the points, if they got sticky about this, it could take the fun out of travelling

On the other hand, there are lots of other opportunities out there and like Ken says, if you leave, the miles go with you

I am sure it will all work out. Besides, how would the company know how many points (other than your base miles) you have actually earned. If they are going through a tough patch, you might feel a little charitable and help them out occasionally for some kind of favor in return but I don't think you need to give up those big promo bonuses that far exceed all the base miles you will ever earn!

I'll just say what I'm sure we're all thinking, Dorian: that SUCKS.

And it's just plain mean. I mean the one darn perk we get for screwing our wives, husbands, significant others, children, mistresses and bartenders who all miss us when we are gone on business is the ability to bribe them with free tix and upgrades

Seriously, though, I would personally find this a great excuse to take advantage of the wonderful job market out there...

Not only the points/miles, but those of us who use Travelers Advantage or other "5% rebate" shops get big, fat checks every month on top of the points.

Our company is on the verge of taking away our personal travel perks like this and I smell rebellion in the air....

Thanks everyone for the input....

I am about to head BlondeBomber's route....start consulting....just not in his field....more IT/business process stuff...

I figure I'm headed back to Vancouver (from Germany) in the New Year. The industry I am in ususally has 6 year economic cycles and we are just in the downturn....so I figure our financials aren't due for any big turnaround soon!

Dorian!!

[This message has been edited by Dorian (edited 10-13-1999).]

Here is my two cents on what to do in regards to do about the potential situation.

1. Open new frequent flyer accounts with each airline using your company or other address. That way if they do change the policy you can just give them the new zero balance account numbers.

2. Advise the responsible party that you are happy to comply with this new policy. At the same time tell them that you will now begin traveling no earlier than the start of the business day and arrive at your destination no later than the close of the business day.

They get all miles and you travel during the hours you are paid to work. The time away from home and family are worth something and the ff mileage cannot come close to compensating for that loss.

I'm sure most of us on this board are salaried and work well in excess of 40 hours a week not counting our travel time. It is reasonable to me that we either keep the miles or fly on company time.

I have never had to do this myself but have made this reccomendation to two of my friends when faced with this same decision. In both cases the company relented and let them keep the miles.

Rgds

TW