Ever offer miles as a gift and have it backfire?
 

I have a lot of banked miles. When they use to expire I spread the word to family and friends to please use them. In the old days availability was a lot better, so a quick trip was not out of the question.

Now, it's a major hassle. Family and friends understand that the miles no longer expire (NWA), but I'm still not stingy with family and if I can save a nephew or parents the cost of a ticket, good for all.

Now, they seldom ask, but if they drop a hint, I tell them I'll check it out. Well the last few times I have come up short, unable to help. Availability is so scarce that it's nearly impossible to help out.

I shouldn't feel bad, but I do. They don't understand the system, nor the fact that it involves more than a simple phone call. I have told them no more, unless they have a verrry flexible schedule. :(

Last year, I gifted 2 biz class *A awards to friends. That was a mistake. People just don't know what it takes to get 160k miles these days. Never again.

I've taken to offering up any "Fly 3" type of certificates instead, then give them the actual cert so they can make their own arrangements.

That said, I just sent a friend who has Stage 4 cancer home to see her grown sons for Mother's Day using miles. The bottom line on that one is that I just did not care if I needed to use SkyChoice double miles to make it happen...

I've used miles a lot for family and a time or two for friends. The challenge I find is that they get fixated on dates, which often mean I have to come up with miles for saver first or standard coach. Even though I articulate what I am willing to offer - a saver coach ticket - that has no meaning to someone without miles. Once I have created an expectation, no matter how inadvertently, I feel an obligation to follow thru.

Still, many of these tickets have been used to motivate siblings to visit aging parents - and their visits are priceless.

I've taken to offering up any "Fly 3" type of certificates instead, then give them the actual cert so they can make their own arrangements.

That was the on good thing about the NWA coupons. Once you handed over the coupon, you had done your good deed. The recipient had to do the legwork. Now, the miles are banked and it's much more difficult for them. BUT, now the miles don't expire, which is better by far. I just hope there is an airline left to fly when I actually get around to using them. :rolleyes:

I've sent my parents to Hawaii several times, and will be doing so again this winter.

They're retired and can leave any day of the week. Even though I travel mostly low season, I've been having more & more trouble getting seats for myself & my husband.

So, I've just been giving them to my parents. They're happy and the miles get used. BTW - they REALLY appreciate it and recognize how difficult they are to earn and also to use.

A few years ago I gave my Dad an award ticket to fly up from MIA.
The flight was on a RJ, he never stopped complaining "it must be because you got a free ticket why I had to fly on such a crappy plane. I never want anymore of your free tickets, thats the last time I fly AA"

Ironically that was he last flight ever.

mike

I gave my sister a free trip to Europe two years ago. We even found some dates that worked and booked it. She ended up canceling the trip and after the miles got put back I sort of "owed" her 50,000 miles. Just last week I ended up rebooking her something but I didn't enjoy the gift nearly as much as I had hoped.

Though I do feel miles "rich" I don't plan on being overly generous any longer.

My biggest problem has been been the opposite when gifting family. Since I come from an airline family (Dad was a captain for National Airlines; brother is right seat on AA), they are used to making travel date/time decisions at the last minute, since they were accustomed to flying standby. It has been hard to get them to understand that I can get them confirmed space if they plan ahead. A couple of times I have had to bail them out using double miles on the day of departure when they were unable to clear a couple flights as non-rev. I am more than happy to book them using FF miles ahead of time; after all, Dad's profession gave me my love of travel and the knowledge to become a road warrioress!

You kidding? The other airlines could be in ashes on WN's mantle and those NW DC9ers will still be in the air..

If you really loved them, you'd RuleBust.

Just sayin'.

;)

I sent my parents to Europe (well England anyway) on NW fly-writes that were going to expire.

Their outbound cancelled and they had to overnite (forget at whose expense) in DCA. They complained about the trip for at least a decade.

Yes, I have gifted several times...only been a problem once.

My church was having a group go to Kenya. I wanted to go but couldn't take the time. I took the group leader aside and said "I've got the miles...can I contribute a ticket?" expecting him to be the go-between.

Mind you this was March last year and the trip was going to be in July

I wanted to burn some BA miles, but couldn't get seats ATL-LGW, but was ok finding LHR-NBO (or Europe-NBO).

He put me in contact with the traveler (who was a pretty un-sophisticated traveler) who was going to either buy or redeem a ticket ATL-Europe.

Coordinating this was a nightmare...then when he got to LHR, they were questioning the free ticket for someone else and BA detained him so long he missed the daylight flight (with everyone else) and flew on the red-eye. Brother what a mess.

That reminds me...I didn't get a letter from the church about the donation :(

I was going to give my sister and her husband 5 days at Alladin (SPG) in LAS for her 40th wedding anniversary. Was willing to upgrade them to suite and everything. Would have cost me 80,000 SPG points. She looked at not as a real gift, as I wasn't spending any real money. Decided not to do it, gave her $500 instead.

I agree with OP people don't understand what it takes to get the miles/points, so they don't appreciate the value of the gift.

I have done it several times .....

For our wedding in Italy I felw in one brides-maid from NZ, one Friend from HKG, and a couple within Europe..... We had rented a place for two weeks for all ... was great fun and very rewarding. Some of the friends wouldn't haven been able to come if we hadn't sponsored them .....

Last Christmas flew in a freind from NZ to the US, she needed a break away from home... also very rewarding...

And a some upgrades fro my brother on trips to conferences.... He is a Prof and the University doesn't pay C.

I am selective but I do it again ...

Gave our daughter a free domestic tix on NW.

She eventually picked a flight that was so inexpensive that instead of redeeming the miles I just bought her the ticket.

The next time we used some points from our Hilton timeshare and gave her and some free nights in Cancun. That worked a lot better.

I've gotten similar responses from family members. I still hear about a free ticket EWR-SFO that I gifted a few years ago. I could only make it work with 2 stopovers, which made the trip about 9 hours long. Over 5 years later I still hear complaints. Hey, if someone gives me a free ticket I don't care if I have to stop 3 or 4 times. Its FREE! If I don't like it I can always pay the $400 to get there a few hours faster.

Several years ago, we gave my in-laws 2 free tix to Hawaii.

On the way home, they volunteered for a bump on the final leg and got several hundred dollars each.

They used those vouchers for their next trip east, and took a bump again. Between those vouchers and what they had left from the first bump, they each had over $500 in Delta credits, which they've used up over several trips.

They haven't paid for a flight in over 3 years, thank to us and their Delta Dollars ;)

The gift that keeps giving ....
 

flyerwife, just curious, did they offer the certs to you since you "paid" for the original tickets?

Me, trying to bring mom down for the Holidays; she hates flying, so I said no prob, I've got miles for FC. Still no go, and I've gotta work every other Christmas ...

EmailKid

We've gifted miles several times, and they have always been good experiences except the one we thought was the most generous...

A member of our community that we are just vaguely familiar with, was diagnosed with terminal cancer.:( They had a fund raiser for him, since he was self employed, he nor his wife had heath insurance. I contacted his mother and offered free tickets (US Air) to the Caribbean. They decided upon the DR, and we scheduled the tickets. A week later, the mother contacted me and asked about their accomodations. She expected that we would provide for them, then explained that they couldn't afford lodging. We'd assumed they would use other donations. My husband and I went ahead and paid for five nights an all inclusive pkg at the Caribe Hilton. We felt bullied into it, but it felt to do something good for someone else. A multitude of phone calls from the mother continued... what about transportation to the hotel, spending money, tip money, etc...I dropped by $150 in cash to the wife to cover them (and to hush up the mother). The wife thanked me and said "I guess we won't be buying many souvenirs with just this." I was dumbfounded, turned around and left. This was two years ago, we never rec'd so much as a thank you note or a phone call about the trip. The miles were deducted from our acct and the credit card charged for the hotel, so that is the only way we knew they went.

I think we'll stick to spending our miles and hard earned money ourselves. ;)

The previous post shows that sometimes it is a good idea to use the miles on ....yourself. Just because money is not being laid out, it does not mean those miles are worthless.

My siblings and I understand the value of miles. We travel enough and we have a courtesy rule of sharing miles with each other. Sometimes, I have given my salespeople/customers free airfare to a convention/trade show.

I tried to give away a free trip to a cousin and she was offended and felt that I was showing off my miles. Moral of the story - Keep your miles to yourself and share them with people who appreciate them.

No cigarette money? Boy you're cheap.

Seriously that is just awful. I have always stayed away from donations to people like that where you just don't know how the money will be spent. It's sad that people like that give others a bad name.

Why does this matter? You could only deduct the value of the miles donated if (God forbid!) you paid taxes on the miles when you received them.

We have gifted lots of miles.

Back when there was a 1k room, the 1k agents at SEA would sometimes call us to assist, when there was an emergency need, and they just couldn't find a way to work free tickets. Make a Wish, evidentally, doesn't happen on the spur of the moment. I, along with some extremely generous FlyerTalkers from all around the world, contributed miles for folks to be wisked off to crucial operations on several occasions.

When my grand-nephew was shooting for a year-long scholarship at Notre Dame in Rome, I told him that, if he got it, I would give him an airplane ticket. He didn't learn until May that he had been awared the scholarship and, by that time had a schedule that only allowed travel on one day, crunched between his brother's Eagle Award Ceremony in the States, and a World Youth Day meeting with the Pope. It turned out that the only ticket I could get was in business. He loved it, and has now turned into a FF nut. While still in medical school, it looks like he will make 1k this year.

I once gave my older sister an award ticket to join my little sister and I for a trip to Williamsburg. This was a NWA ticket. On her return from Richmond to Peoria, she had a stop in Detroit. Evidentally Catapillar was having a big deal meeting Peoria because they offered her a $700 voucher, dinner and a free hotel, guaranteeing her the first flight out in the morning. When she got to the airport the next morning, they offered her $400 for her seat, and flew her out a couple of hours later. She used some of those vouchers for a trip to SEA to visit her daughter, got bumped again, and, as far as I know, is still traveling on my miles.

Our sweet daughter is an accomplished charmer, who can finagle tickets out of her Dad with a smile. A few weeks back we were having dinner with her in PDX, when she asked if we would get her a ticket to CDG on June 7th. We told her that there was no way on earth that she could get a ticket SEA/CDG in June, on a couple of week's notice, explaining that many people book these TransAtlantic award flights almost a year out. She said, "Please, please, please. I am feeling lucky about this trip." We gave her Hunki's 1k number and the number to the 1k desk, and within 24 hours, she had her Standard Save Award flights booked for the exact dates she wanted. Go figure. :confused: She is always extremely grateful when she gets a ticket. I am always a little surprised that UA issues the tickets without contacting us, but then, like I said, she is a charmer. She is at the top of our list for ticket gifts.

While our primary goal is to save for our retirement (we too are feeling lucky), it is also rewarding and fun to share from time to time.

Why is it that the ungrateful slouch ones are the most fun to read? AlexisLe's takes the cake, you couldn't make that one up if you had to. When you were passing over the cash and the comment over cheap souveniers was made, I was impressed with your tact. I might have reneged on the whole deal right there.

I would have canceled the tickets when they asked for the hotel then apologized, blaming it on the airline or something like that. Or maybe just their greed and sense of entitlement.

I gifted three tickets for some tangential friends to go to a conference last year but made it very clear in advance they could only get the airline tickets if they covered the hotel and the conference registration fee. (I wanted them to contribute to the cost of attending the event so they'd appreciate it more.) That went over quite well, even when I had to get two of them 6am flights so they could fly together (the only route I could get with two seats open on their available days). They were very appreciative and I think they got a lot out of going to the conference, which was my point.

Late last year I gave tickets to my brothers and their girlfriends so the six of us could all get together for a vacation. I asked them the days they wanted to travel, and since they didn't want to stay a Sat night (needed to get back to the east coast and acclimate before work on Monday) then I needed to use rulebuster awards to get their tickets, which on US book as full Y class fares. Due to an error in the airline's recognition of their ticket, they were given frequent flyer status on their flights and got an entire exit row on their outbound and were upgraded to F for their return flight. It was the first time in F for any of them, and they still can't stop talking about it (in a good way). Even if that hadn't worked, the whole point was to get everyone together since we hadn't had a family vacation in over 10 years since I started going off to school.

While both of those examples appreciated the contribution, I've got one I'm trying to help out right now that I don't think quite understands how any of it works, and I'm not sure that one will turn out as well as these. As it is going right now, I'm tempted to pull back from offering the tickets if they don't request me to book the tickets for them, and instead help them plan a trip on their own to book.

money talks.
 

if it's a one for one--you know, like with someone in here who uses coupon connection or something, then it is easy. When it is a friend, etc, I try to explain things a few ways. Firstly they already know I babble all about miles and how great I think it is, so they kinda got me there when it comes to pay up time (you said it was cheap and easy, Jeff!)

BUT what I try to do is set a value to it. Example: Trip to Maui is 35k but it is also often priced at up to $700 RT when flying from BOS. If I have a friend who shows me he can get it for say $600 when flying in May and I offer him my miles and we agree on $500, then he owes me $500. Plain and simple. He's a friend, he got a deal, and no matter how it goes down, a deal's a deal! If he gives me 35k miles instead that is fine too, but we agreed on the price and that's that.

In another case, I recently offered miles in leiu of cash. Someone I know is trying to sell kitchen cabinets valued at about $1000 to them. The whole family flies to London together every year and will soon need tix. I explained that one way I could help would be to get them all on the plain and give them $1200 worth of what their tickets would be but in miles. Example: if the tix are $400 each, I take care of 3 people's trips and they can handle the rest to match--or I could gladly help to be sure they all do match!...In that sense, I become a free travel agent to them as well, in order to make my plan work in return. I made the value higher for them in order to make it more attractive. I then said, for their assurance, if something goes crazy with the mile use and award availability, I will get their tickets at the normal price and that way they are not out the money. Either way, therefore, they get what they want and do not feel screwed just because miles may fail on my end. You gotta do all the right things and be communicative and thorough too. Everyone simply has to understand how it will all work going in!

But right now I have a few irons in the fire... I currently owe someone 65+k on AA and am waiting for them to ask me for it, as it is sitting there now. It will not expire but gee, I hope they take them before the airline changes its rules or FF program, or something bad like that! As well, I have yet another friend who right now is balking at one of our already agreed upon schemes, but I recently reminded him of how nice that trip was, and then I asked him what he'll do for next year... It'll all work out--you just gotta keep good records and be cool about it. He knows who his candy man is...

;)MM

PS for family, it's free. They hook me up too.

No.......these are my IN-laws :(

I think, in fact, they used some of them for my sister-in-law to go to PHX.

However, OT, my BROTHER won 2 Delta tix in a contest and he gave them to me :)

I used my AA VIPs to fly two recent (at that point in time) new friends with my partner and I to London. The VIPs upgraded their cheap tickets to Business Class. What a big mistake.

Once we arrived in London, they *****ed and moaned and stayed in the hotel room for most of the weekend - they had no desire to see any shows, didn't want to try any different foods (i.e. Indian), didn't want to go to museums, etc.

In the end, they were such a pain - and showed no appreciation for the gift. I would have accepted a nice card that just said thanks. Unfortunately, it turned my partner and my weekend London trip to a hellish mess with those two twits. To this day, I frankly can't stand them.

It was so bad in London, that we had to dumb down our eating and go to McDonalds.. pathetic. One night my partner and I went to an Indian restaurant, and one of them refused to even go into the restaurant and just have a drink. The nerve of those twits.

Anyway, I"m glad to gift to our inlaws, etc. - but not to people like that anymore.

I treat miles like cash, plain and simple. Would I give 800 bucks to my brother in-law if he said he's going on a trip? Probably not. Would I give him 40,000 DL miles? Probably not.

My wife has little appreciation for the collection of frequent flyer miles but usually is impressed when we use them. The problem is that collecting them takes a long time (like a year) and spending them takes a week.

Mike

I told my brother (who lives in England) that I would help him out with ff tickets for his family (5 of them) so that he could afford to go on a carribbean cruise with us, our kids and grandkids, my parents and sister.
I told him I had enough miles for 3 tickets and he would have to buy 2.
He was able to go based on that agreement. However I could not get the tickets so my husband and I ended up buying the 3 tickets. But what a GREAT family cruise we had! He works very hard and enjoyed it so much and my little nieces were so cute. I've also got our son who lives in Colorado free tickets to join us on vacations, it's always great to see him and I feel so lucky we can do this.
Pam

You guys are all too generous. I have just over 100,000 WP miles sitting in the bank. I ditched my WP visa card awhile back, but am trying to get it back again. Soo... all of my miles are earned by pleasure flying, and it hasn't been until the last year or so that I've been really piling on the miles.

I NEVER discuss the miles I have with people, and I don't talk about all of the free flying I do (well, to date, I have not redeemed miles for an award seat, just upgrades). What I do talk about is all of the F flying I do, courtesy of NW. My parents have never asked me for tix, and I'll probably be off the hook... my mom HATES making connections, so I'm sure she's happy to buy a cheap ticket out of ORD on UA/AA as opposed to flying for "free" on a cx out of MKE.

Frankly, I'm saving up for an F/WBC ticket to Europe or India hopefully next summer. After that I'm hanging on to enough miles to use for a Rulebuster award (you know, the have-to-go-and-can't-afford-it trip).

In all fareness, I did upgrade my friend on a trip to Hawaii that we took, the only thing I charged him was the cost to "top off" my account to make the 70,000 miles total that we needed.

In the wake of the Jackson trial, with its exposure of cancer victim scams, I have one question: Is he dead yet?

You now have an object lesson in the art of giving. Doing good is not a transaction. I haven't weaned myself from the need for some kind of recompense, if only a Thank You, but I'm working on it, and now and then I succeeed, and Wow! it's a great feeling. Of course, in your case, she didn't let you just walk away from your good deed, did she?

Dear Mr. Rice !!!

I promise not only a heartfelt Thank You, but a truly exquisite letter should you feel the need to relive the experience. I will even phone you to Thank You in person, or if itinerary allows a stopover, will drop by in person to Thank You for the miles you may wish to dotate for my travel.

I do not expect spending money, nor money for a hotel, and while FC would be nice, I'd be more than willing to slum it in coach.

You see, I'm a bit down, because my five year old central air has developed problems, and it's just outside the warranty period. And while I could probably deal with the Texas heat, it's very humid here on the Gulf Coast, and the moisture does bad things to household furnishings.

Thanking you for your miles donation in advance so that you may relive that great feeling, EmailKid

No

me neither

took an ex-boyfriend to CA from MD for birthday...used miles for flights & cashed in hotel points for free room and he commented that I didn't even "Buy him a gift" when I caluculated I spent over $1,000 in points...

Sorry to say it...
 

...but some of these people you gifted these miles/points to are absolute morons. :mad:

I have approx 120k on NW, saving for something, Hawaii, Europe or India maybe.
I am more then willing to share with family members information about FlyerTalk, how to earn miles (sometimes w/o flying) and how much fun it can be. Heck, I have even signed up my father in law for some promos that earned him almost free miles. And I have signed co-workers up for hotel loyalty programs as well.
On the other hand, I have also shared that it has taken me about 4 years to get the 120k miles. So it is not like I can rack these up overnight so I will not be giving them away.

Does anyone here think it is cheeky to request "cash only" as a wedding gift?

If so, then what do you do when the charming soon-to-be married couple have a gift list, and the ONLY items on the list to choose from are frequent flier miles or loyalty points for specific airlines/hotels?

Just been invited to a wedding in the UK, and along with the invitation was this gift list, as noted above (they want to fly First around the world for their honeymoon!) - - no toasters and silver trays, please! :rolleyes:

people dont know what they are doing but we can help them!
 

hmmm, you actually have to like this couple! Never give vouchers or restricted gifts from airlines, and never buy miles from the airline sites, rather, offer them an award you can book with your miles to their liking. For example, their plans may take them from UK to Boston, for example and you may have a bunch of those old British Airways Jaguar miles still laying around with no intention of using them. You have them fill out the form saying their address is at your home (as far as the airline is concerned, a newly married couple could have moved into a temp apartment or community housing place) and then you add them to your household account and let them have the award! they could even book it on their own that way, and by the way, my BA plan DOES work, since I have just recently done it with a friend from a forum, and have used the miles we collectively had in the HH account!

OR, gift them some other award that makes their plans happen, like a stray Delta 25k ticket or two you may have from Chicago to SFO or something...

Cash may be cheesy to some but miles are good--if done right! See if they are into--and able to understand the best ways to use them and stuff like that. Asking to have someone gift you miles like on the airline sites would be a bad move on their part. You should feel obligated to inform them that this is both a waste of your money and a waste of how much value they can obtain from you and the other guests! This could be your chance to educate other guests and do some sort of group gift resulting in travel! It coudl work if well-planned, but if not, it will stink anyway. If they get restricted stuff or something like that, they will hate their gift-- and you, in the end.


I can hope this is partly why he is your EX! that sucks. Hope he figures it out one day when flying around trying to figure what went wrong in life.

;)MM