Does anyone have any opinion on which program is the most honest one? By this, I mean programs that will seldom, if ever, try to change their T&C and pretend they don't know what you're talking about when you mention missing bonuses; programs that doesn't require prompting, but automatically gives you all the points you're entitled to.

I will start by saying I have mixed experience with United. I was given my flight mileage almost immediately after the plane landed--in fact, I was pretty shocked by the prompt credit! But I also never received my miles for the double-college-fees bonus, nobody seems to know what's going to happen, just ask me to wait.

I think I'll like to know which program is really honest and customer friendly, so I never have to worry about keeping track...

Rain

In this case you need to follow up with the issuer of your United Visa, not with United. Mileage Plus has no idea how much you spent with a college... that info has to come from the credit card company. And they're notoriously bad about posting bonuses without jumping through hoops.

In my experience most programs are more or less run on the up and up (well, maybe excluding LatinPass/GlobalPass). But their level of competence, and their ability to deal with errors, varies greatly.

While some members are frequently frustrated by targeted promos and changes in award categories at Starwood, the fact that Starwood Lurker spends so much time here sorting out problems for members and clarifying misperceptions says a great deal and goes a long way in my book. The couple days' heads up we got on category changes saved me some points at the Westin MEL for later in the year...

As far as a 'what you see is what you get' program, it's hard to argue with Southwest. But then they don't really have any awards that I want.

I am not as experienced as most of you with different programs but I am happy with my experience with Northwest since I've joined. Lots of little mileage bonuses along the way, and when I did get my 50,000 miles, not much trouble redeeming for standard award for 2. The free upgrades seem to keep coming pretty regularly even though I'm only a lowly Silver Elite. My home airport is MSY so perhaps I am not competing with so many people for those upgrades as folks do flying from hubs.

So I would recommend it highly and, in fact, I have signed up both my husband and a good friend on Northwest. The friend is already Silver Elite also, and while my husband's business travel is usually by car, so he didn't get status this time, he is getting pretty close to a standard award ticket, so he's pleased also.

If I thought the program wasn't as promised, I wouldn't want to get other people involved in it. But I'm very happy and think others will like it too.

The simplest, most trouble-free program is Southwest Rapid Rewards. There's not even a close second in terms of having uncomplicated rules and efficient posting of credits.

That said, Southwest is not for everyone. Either you find their destinations useful or you don't. Also, there are no great destinations for using rewards (overseas, etc).

Of the international airlines, I have generally found American and United to post credits quickly and efficiently.

Southwest is definitely the easiest to understand. If you do a lot of traveling I'd suggest CO or NW for the free upgrades.

I dont know of any program that doesnt reserve the right to vary their T&Cs at any time.

As for stuff not crediting - I think most problems arise through partners (be they other airlines, credit cards, hotels, etc).

Personally I wouldnt call it dishonest just because something doesnt post as you'd expect.

Actually despite my bumps along the road with United
I would stay right where you are and consider working effectively together with United to solve your problem.
United has never shown me to be dishonest.
Sloppy and poorly communicating yes.Slow to get resolution perhaps at times.
But it is one of our nations best carriers and World Class programs of the Legacy Carriers.
As far as Southwest is concerned I wouldn't touch them even with two free tickets in my hands.
My sanity and comfort are worth more then that. They are a limited service carrier with expiring miles/credits.
I have personal friends that fly them and they are perhaps more patient and forgiving then I by having some of their days ruined.Yes that happens elsewhere too on a given day granted..
While they have some very nice people working at Southwest and good guest friendly policies it is basically a flying bus most of the time.

With no reserved seats and some of the worst boarding procedures ever witnessed outside of Third World Countries.
Every body push shove heave onboard.Low cost tickets yes.
But easily matched or beaten in many cases by most other carriers with far greater rewards and exceptional partnership opportunities on a global basis.
You can build and bank with a future in mind at United and Star Alliance(as long as they or any carrier today for that matter remains in business)
I will now probably be stoned ,flamed, tarred and feathered by the Southwest Loyalists

I would be more then wiling to get involved with my contacts at United and Bank One/Now soon to be Chase to see how I can help get you a resolution.
I make no promises but I usually come through 98 % off the time for those Flyertalkers over the years I have assisted.

By the way I am currently flying AA and considering a return to United.
I think they are both VERY good to do business with.
As is Delta,NW and Continental. I will still take United First
AA Second or tied
And perhaps Delta and NW Third.If your on the West Coast Alaska IMO is a class act.
Very well run but slowwwwwwww to answer phones.
Feel free to direct any questions and your personal details/case to me.
The unofficial non authorized part time Ombudsman of FT here
Good Luck Cheers

Dishonesty award for 2004:

5th Place: Amtrak, for cancelling its partnership with UA with no advance notice.

4th Place: American, for adding a $500 RT "co-pay" for using miles for upgrade awards. This is a major program change which substantiallly devalues the miles and puts biz/first travel out of reach for many. To its credit, AA did provide a good 2 months notice before implementation.

3rd Place: United, which no longer reserves awards seats on certain *A partners (i.e. Lufthansa) >90 days before travel. Used to be 330 days, the change will make it difficult if not impossible to obtain seats during peak travel periods to Europe and Asia. No advance notice whatsoever.

2nd Place: Starwood, for a massive devaluation under the guise of "adjusting" categories for certain properties. No advance notice, and a change that will put many European properties out of reach for many.

1st Place: Continental (repeat recipient) for pretending to offer Nonepass Saver awards in any meaningful way. CO's program remains the most dishonest of all.

Honesty in Miles Awards for 2004:

3rd Place: Delta/ICHotels, for honoring a 25K bonus mile offer that was no doubt oversubscribed thanks to FT!

2nd Place: Hyatt, for providing the popular FFNs with virtually no fine print. Sadly, the rules will change in a month or so, but Hyatt deserves credit for providing a good 6 months notice before changing.

1st Place: Southwest. Provided plenty of notice when it decided to cut the online booking bonus from 2 credits to 1. Still a tremendous deal, and no BS capacity controls. What you see is what you get. ^

Honesty

I guess you can call them all honest, at least until they do "improvements" to their programs

I guess Southwest, at least for being consistent

OnePass is pretty pathetic, although to be honest it is fairly tough to get any "saver" or base-level awards on any airline lately. Getting base awards to popular destinations on UA requires either 8 month advance purchase or phenomenal luck.

Most honest is WN by far - it's a no-bull program. They are, of course, limited in scope and they have blackout dates, but the don't bury this information in fine print and there are no garbage fees. WN is able to present a straightforward product with no disinformation or doublespeak and make a profit. Love 'em or hate 'em: admit it - they are the most honest.

I do not consider any of the legacy airlines to be honest. They attempt to make money with deception, one-way flexibility (their flexibility), disinformation, fine print, garbage fees, frequently-changing parameters, and consumer unfriendly service. No surprise that they are all losing money, whereas WN makes a profit by taking the opposite approach.

I don't view any of the hotel programs as dishonest. Every year, they recategorize some properties. We know the properties have it in their interest to campaign for a higher level in the program. The Starwood I recently stayed at (Sheraton COS) is going from Cat 1 to Cat 2. I wish it had stayed Cat 1, but I can see why they deserve Cat 2. And when the hotels have undergone devaluations (like HH and MR in recent years - I haven't been involved with SPG that long), they gave members about 1 1/2 years to get awards out at the lower levels. We had 6-9 months' notice of the changes, and then a year after that to actually complete the award stay. I've gotten my awards in all of the programs when I've wanted them, and the change/cancel rules are reasonable. I consider the programs fair and forthright to the members. Whenever I've had a problem with my points or benefits, the program has fixed it quickly.

In general, I sense that the hotels respect me. They respect my time, they respect my wish to do business fairly, and they respect my long-term business relationship with them. I don't get that sense from the airlines at all.

Great List I love it !!
But don't you know that all of the above were enhancements to better serve you and your travel needs

To be fair, this wasn't really UA, was it? I was under the impression that this was an LH decision; if LH doesn't make the seats available until 90 days out, it's not really UA's fault that they can't book them.

I've actually been fairly happy with UA. IMHO they've been one of the more stable programs over the past couple of years (as opposed to, say, Delta)..

Dan

My experience is that Delta is pretty honest in posting miles. Even if they missed it, you emailed them, and they will post it promptly. They will not pretend they've never ran the promo.

The dishonest award for me goes to AA & CO.
AA : always (and I mean 100% of the time) will not post any shopping points until I emailed them at least twice. They never do it automatically, and they'll never post even after they promised to.

CO : Even worse. I'm still fighting for a couple hundred miles from last Feb. I bought from same retailer twice in a month, but CO will NOT post the 2nd one. I guess it's not in their blood to check the order #. And they don't care.

And forget about the award. The award calendar shows availability, but when you click on it, it'll show completely different sets of awards.

CO wins hands down for most dishonest....or perhaps we should say "most squirrelly". A few examples:
1. Absolutely pathetic standard award availability..."they don't call it NonePass for nothing"
2. The upgrade award lottery
3. The continued contentions of behind the scenes rigging of the elite upgrade process
4. The lame responses of the OnePass reps who appeared on the FlyerTalk