Darn, after reading the thread last week, I still forgot to renew and my membership expires end of June!!

Anyway, at US$120 a year for the membership, they're shooting themselves in the foot. When people are consolidating their points to redeem a ticket that is worth like US$500, I just don't see people paying $120 a year for this previlege. Besides, there is no longer sign up or renewal bonus too. I know that they were loosing money, but trying to increase revenue by increasing membership fees by 400% is just plain stupid. Anyone has any exec's email that I can write to?

I for once am willing to pay like US$10-15 per transfer instead, but I don't see this option available either. Highly doubt they'll get to the membership renewal/enrollment level they anticipate.

They actually asked a question in their January survey to see if people will be willing to pay $10/month for the service and I wonder how many percentage of the people didn't read the whole thing and click yes.

What are you guys' thoughts??

You have the option to pay $20 for one month of "service." If you make a couple transfers, that gets down to your $10/transfer range.

I'm not going to be using points.com anymore. Too bad. :(

Well, the $20 one month of service is not available to existing members.

I think that points.com business will likely drop substantially by this crazy, irrational increase in membership fees!!

100 AA Bonus Miles from Points.com
 

Just got a statement from AA that included this offer for Points.com: "Enter the Million Miles Sweepstakes. Earn 100 bonus miles immediately!"

https://points.com/join/c?c=0504-61-002

You can either sign up for a free Points.com membership, or if you're already a member of Points.com, just log in. This enters you into the sweepstakes and gives you 100 bonus AA miles.

I agree that the new fee structure stinks, but at least you can get some free miles right now.

The sign-up bonus (100 AA) will be credited within the next 7 days. That's not "immediate"!

Thanks! I got the link from AAdvantage BEFORE Points.com upgrade and of course could not register for the offer...

What do you think of the new Points.com site ?
 

Curious to the feedback on the new site positive and negative
And in comparison to the old points.com site
Thanks

It was easier to get conversion quotes on the old site.

I have to agree with you.It is very difficult IMO across the board
Wanted some feedback from the community.
Waht do you think of the green color?
Thanks

You can set "goals" with most airlines. Does anyone have any idea what they are used for, other than the "graph" display? Targeted promotions? How about your "preferred" program for earning points/miles? Is it only for their gift certificate shopping section?

just got THIS EMAIL from Points.com:
 

Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 11:04:52 -0400
To: [email protected]
From: "Points.com CEO Rob MacLean" <[email protected]> Subject: Good News from Points.com

Dear Jeffrey,

Thank you for being a PointsPlus member. I would like to share some exciting news with you.

Over the last few months we’ve been working on improving the Points.com Web experience. To do this, we reviewed member feedback in surveys, emails, and phone calls in order to better address your reward program needs.

Today we are delighted to announce the launch of our new Web site. What we hope you will experience is a member-focused application that will help you manage your miles and points like real financial assets.

Some of the new features include:

A new Balance Tracker to help you set and monitor goals for your reward programs;

The ability to Buy and Earn miles and points in your favorite programs to get you closer to a free flight, vacation or merchandise;

New sections including Flights, Nights, Shopping, and Magazines that will give you more redemption options;

New mile and point management tools like Join (new reward programs) and Swap (formerly known as “exchange”) to help you Get More Rewards, Faster™; and

A new user interface with navigation wizards that provide a more personalized experience. The exchange calculator, for example, is now inside the Swap wizard allowing you to work with your real reward program balances.

In addition, your PointsPlus membership has been renamed “Points.com Gold”. As a PointsPlus member you have been automatically upgraded at no additional charge and you have full access to all Points.com Gold benefits through the full term of your 12 month PointsPlus membership.

Points.com Gold benefits include:

UNLIMITED number of Swaps between reward programs;

UNLIMITED live toll-free telephone and instant message chat support, exclusive to Points.com Gold members;

UNLIMITED RECURRING SWAPS to automatically swap the miles or points out of one account into another;

25% BONUS on all Points.com Earn offers; and

DOUBLE ENTRIES into all the Points.com sweepstakes that you enter.

Over the next year we will continue to add new features and benefits to your Points.com experience. Please feel free to give us feedback any time by emailing us at: [email protected].

The next time you sign in we'll ask you to quickly change your User ID to your e-mail address to help us provide increased security and to serve you better.
To see the new Points.com, go to: http://www.points.com

Sincerely,

Rob MacLean
CEO, Points.com


Points International Ltd. is located at 179 John Street, 8th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1X4


The HTML graphics in this message have been displayed.

It takes a while to learn all the aspects of the site and its interesting propositions.You might want to call their customer service too for further clarification.

Thanks for the post

I just don't think anyone is going to pay $10/month. That's over $100 a year! What are they thinking??? They should make it $10 a year and make their money off of selling members services (like credit cards and stuff).

As far as the color goes, I guess it looks okay. I personally like the green, but it doesn't look incredibly professional. I don't know of a large corporation that has such color on their website.

Also: what's up with the links at the bottom? Those are the same on all InteractiveCorp websites (Expedia, Match, Ticketmaster, etc). Now, I know that IACI owns around 20% of Points.com, but that's no real explanation. Unless IACI is paying Points a fee for this service, it seems to me that that sort of favor is almost a violation of fidiciary duty to the greater Points.com shareholder. Why give favors to one investor?

Anywayz

what these guys at Points.com are is this:

They are experts in mass marketing to the newbie and the unknowing.

And with hype that can be generated in that market, they will succeed. I don't like it, but it is true, and hey, it's business.

I guess as sad as it is, you gotta give them credit for the ability to do that.

I have recently seen a few emails, ads on the web and in banners, stuff on the local news and even in the newspaper! My own friends said, "Hey, look at this--it looks cool. Hey, you are the miles man, isn't this great?..." (I recall screaming "KHANNNNNN!")

There are TONS of people out there--countless thousands and tens of thousands of people, in fact, who have miles but have no clue how to use them or what to do or where to redeem, etc.

These people have been sitting on their dusty miles and not knowing or often even caring about whether they expire or which airlines they are on, etc. They still live in and think in the older school of thought that there are only a few ways to earn and burn miles and they still think they can actually book with ease.

Some of these people have woken up to the fact this is not possible and they want answers. Some have come here and some of those people have learned and become un-newbies who know sit here typing all day and theorizing on the best way to get tix. I am all for these types and hey, I was one long ago too (in a different forum, many moons ago)

Well, Points.com is capitalizing on that larger market of unknowing masses who will suddenly see them as the savior and answer to travel troubles!

These masses will say and think things like this:

"Sure, if I have 10,000 Delta miles or whatever, and I also have 16,000 AA miles, I will use a service such as Points.com to somehow combine the useless miles. So what if it costs me $225 or so to do it, and hey, that's a free ticket, right? Most tickets are $250, right?! I just saved $25!!!" ...Stuff like that (my numbers used only as an example)


and with more people trying to redeem (and not even knowing how to do it) we are in trouble... Not that it is necessary to have a cap on how many people should be out there gaining interest in miles, but we are still in trouble...

UNLESS WE can get to them first or educate the masses too.
Do we wanna do this? What's in it for us?
I dunno. But I do know this: Points.com has increased awareness and they are appealing to people who do not necessarily know of FlyerTalk. That could be a plus or a minus depending on how you look at it.

There are tons of unused miles out there and hype sells. Points.com knows this very well. Its colors appeal to the younger set as well as to those who wanna be young again through the miles they have been carrying around since college. I know a guy who keeps earning on his CC but has never redeemed and has no idea how to. He has a billion miles but cannot begin to fathom what to do or where to go. He never travels and I cannot explain it to him in terms he would care to understand. I also cannot find a way to wrestle them from him for some sort of compensation because he is rich and way too laid back to be bothered with it. But if he does see this stuff about Points.com, I could very well see him saying, "Hmmm, is this what Jeff was talking about? Oh, I now will book a trip using whatever they say to do..."

People will buy. If you build it they will come. I do not like Points.com and have madethat clear in the past. Their customer service sucks and they know it but will not change it. But somehow it lives on. They know what they are doing. Their fees are way too high but it's not the people in this thread they are going for. But remember, they are going for the mass markets. They entice us--the ones with existing pointsplus accounts--to stay with them, but most of us will probably not do so. They realize this as well. They will still somehow make it big off this stuff and I am sorry to say I already know of a few people who have not minded paying the fees. It makes me cringe when I hear someone say, "oh, it was only $25 to do that transaction..." Well, that's WHY it's so high, mate! You just sent a message that you are cool with dropping that kind of money for something that should be cheaper!

AGHAGA!

Oh well. I see a new onslought of change and over crowding in the airline booking world. It will not be good for mile gigs I think. Not in the end. They consoldate first and then change and do away with things later on.

I bet the company plans are to entice the all the airlines to let them manage everything and when that happens, and when only one company gets the control, then it can rule. It can start to do away with and strip down the services even more than the individual airlines may, because they are their only watch dog! Eventually, as if it were already part of the plan that the airlines pay into and gain from, mile gigs as we know them today will die. We will either have to utilize Points.com which has no competition, or we will pay outright for travel.

:(MM

'Tis a sad day when this happens and the Yankees win one at Fenway too.

Points.com makes it into the FT Programs That Make You Cringe List
 

Not exactly a program but still a stinker in the eyes of many ;)
Anybody renew their membership for over 3 times the price?
I have not as I don't see their so called enhancements like the right to speak with customer service.......... :mad: :td: