I got the same Points.com e-mail as many did just recently. What I can't figure out is how a company can go from charging $19.95 a year to $99.95. A five-fold markup smacks of a company that is on the ropes and making a last ditch effort to stay viable.

Well, you probably planned ahead or something like that. That's cheating.

We're FlyerTalkers, fer cryin' out loud! Don't they know how important we are? We want availability right now.

Upgrademe, you apparently disagree, but given the relative "weight" of the two previous posters before me (mileking and gleff), who I hold in very high regard w/ respect to opinions on ff programs, you are fighting a fight that's long been over. When these two posted agree and make the comment they both do about Continental's program, its a slam-dunk.

Nonepass is known to be what it is. A super, award-winning (Randy can't stop awarding them Freddys it seems) program FOR TOP-TIER elites only...they do, clearly, take care of their own.

This said - they also treat the non-elite would-be award traveler like a dog. Any travelers/credit card user who collects Nonepass miles, and has no TOP TIER ONLY elite status w/ them, is making a B I G mistake.

You have not discussed: a) number of seats you obtained an award for (try a family of 4-5 on Nonepass, again as a non-top-tier elite, then post your experiences), or b) your own elite level w/ Continental.

Until these full details are divulged, your post has no standing with me.

Again, this fight has long since been over - Nonepass is known to be the worst affinity program for anyone *except* top-tier Onepass elites, who have special inventory, waivers and favors. You know - this is where AA apparently is headed w/ their milesaaver program.

In general, I see most of the legacy airline's affinity programs as loading up w/ gotchas and fine print rules, etc, and massive inflation of miles sold versus awards allocated. It only gets worse year by year as the airlines' whore out their affinity program scrounging for real today-dollars, knowing there is no federal oversight of their programs. They do *just enough* to get by and keep the hounds at bay.

So...no small wonder why Capital One's "generic" points programs, and other similar programs, are make strong inroads these days, and, I note with chagrin, I get Citibank solicitations DAILY for cash-back cards and their own internally-designed affinity program...seems to be the Citibank/AAdvantage *trendlines* for new cards issued, as well for, I suspect, total charges per day, is on the decline. IOW - the dirty secret of the legacy airline's affinity programs is slowly seeping out.

Question about CO: it's the most universally-bashed program here on FT, unless you've reached top-tier. But...doesn't the NW/DL partnership provide a good outlet for your miles?

Seems like you have the greatest raw number of award seats to choose from (even if the CO seats are near-nonexistent). Don't DL and NW give you a bunch of alternate flights/routes to pick from?

CO is the one major US airline on which I've never even had an FF account simply because business has never taken me to Houston or Cleveland. But I do have a few NW and DL miles, and they seem similar to the other three majors that I'm most familiar with. Sometimes tough to get exactly what you want, but not that tough to get something, if you have some flexibility.

My most recent FF redemptions have been several MCI-DTW tickets for 25k each and tickets to Belize on DL over New Year's for 35k each. 3 seats, same flights. MCI-DTW is a brutally expensive route, so it's a good place to burn 25k a ticket. None of UA, US, or AA had tickets to BZE for less than 70k each.

In my purely-anecdotal experience, AA has always been the "loosest" to Hawaii, with UA being rather tight. But I've found that to be flip-flopped to Europe, getting J award tix through Chicago to Paris and London on dates I've wanted. (AA would frequently have awards with 2 stops through the East Coast, but ORD would be unavailable.)

Bingo. I'm sorry, but I don't particularly enjoy being treated like a hobo begging for change just because I'm not Triple Ultra Platinum Status in a program. This is the way that CO, DL, UA, and some other programs tend to operate. Worse than that is the fact that their service operates on the same principles. You pay $500-$800 for a coach seat somewhere overseas and they treat you like a vagrant for whom they're doing a favor just because you didn't shell out $2500 to sit up front.

This problem - with both their service and their FF programs - is the best argument as to why the legacy carriers are struggling. Yes, you get fantastic service if you're 1K or Premier or whatever and are buying 1st Class tickets. Those folks are always kept happy, as they should be. But they honestly turn around and treat their other customers like a burden. That's how OnePass operates, and surely they're not the only guilty ones. LCCs, on the other hand, don't do anything to treat FFs better than the other passengers - which stinks if you're a "Premier 1K" person but much nicer if you're not.

I'm not a big fan of points.com, but they did send me a reminder email about a week before my paid membership was about to expire. I agree, though, that the new prices are a complete joke...

In my opinion, "long been over" strikes me as cavalier, given the Freddy award ranking and the loyalty of the fliers. When I booked two standard BF awards in May for travel over the Christmas / New Year period I made a point to look at availabilty without enterring my Platinum account and there were dates from both EWR and IAH to AMS that I considered prime. As the one poster wrote, and you discounted completely, there is award availability. Additionally, isn't the idea of reaching the highest level of elite to be rewarded?

Actually, your a) is addressed in my initial post. As for your b), I am presently Gold, formerly Plat.

But in addition to the trips cited above we also used my wife's NW miles (no status at the time) for another Hawaii trip in 2002 in BF. So there goes your theory that you can't score BF without being top tier on CO.

So does CO systematically change award availability based on status levels? Do any of the Big Six do this?

I think we've all heard anecdotal evidence of busting a phone call to a helpful agent at the top-tier desk and getting awards when the website showed no availability. But that's different from what's being suggested here: that CO uses different parameters (if not fare buckets) to allocate elite award seats.

seems to me that the common thread is that some companies love to do an ultra twist on marketing whereas the thing they are offering requires so much time or money, it ends up costing you more in the end, but you are already stuck in with them in ways that make it hard to get out without some sort of hostage-held loss!

keep it going... I am thinking of writing a book, offering it at a discount if you do this and that, and then not following thru on your promotional offer code unless and until you call my CSRs about 200 times a day!
MM

Best Western Rewards. I'm a Diamond Member (spent 50+ nights in a Best Western last year). Got a laundry bag and a new Diamond card. That's it!

Amongst all my memberships, the one that makes me cringe is Radisson Goldpoints. I stayed for two years at a Radisson (when 4 goldpoints = 1 mile) and they suddenly changed the ration to 8:1. (wasn't on flyertalk then, otherwise could've still salvaged some miles at 4:1) There was a Marriott closer to my place of work, but I still went and stayed at the Radisson. That makes me cringe!

Until recently, there was no redemption available globally. and now that it is, all the hotels outside the Americas seem to be ridiculously priced (for goldpoint awards, that is).

I hate it - just want to finish off my balance by redeeming some nights in the US and then throw the card away!!!

Just venting...

-RG

UGH I can not STAND mypoints, what a utter and complete waste of time!! I only earned about 25 points a week, so it took me about a year to get enough miles to cash out and be rid of the program(1,000 Hilton Points) I will stick with e-rewards, where I get $25-75 dollar surveys regularly and my points don't expire(they like me )

But your points do expire on ERewards? Dont they? Erewards has a terrible selection for redemption. Hey that Omaha Steak off is a really sweet deal

Ken

I do not understand Omaha Steaks at all. If there is some reason why I would pay 2x-3x the cost of USDA Prime beef from my local butcher to have frozen meat shipped to me via mail, their website doesn't explain it at all.

I get the fact that Omaha Steaks are probably really, really good. But their prices are absolutely hilarious.

Are they claiming that their steaks are "uber-prime" or something? I think they should, if for no other reason than to use the word "uber" on their website.