Has anyone used services from points.com - seems kinda cool site but wanted to know if anyone has used and taken advantage of this site. Now a days every site consolidates bank accounts, miles etc but does this site have an edge over the other ?

Thanx

Try doing a sample mile conversion... You get ripped off like there's no tommorow. And, well, today's Sunday.

If you're looking at exchanging miles, the HHonors program wins hands down for air --> hotel, while I would argue that the Starwood Preferred Guest is bets for hotel --> air (5000 bonus if you transfer 20000).

Hope this helps.

Don't use it. The conversion rate sucks like you know what, and the miles were incorrectly posted to my FF account upon the transfer -- I cannot use them. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Very, very bad conversion rates and they charge you a transaction fee. I'll only consider using it when I really see no alternative.

Don't know if this is still the case, but when points.com first appeared on the scene you could do your first transaction for free. However, the exchange rate isn't worth it. I used it to get an extra partner for the AA 20 partner promo (turned 5 AS points into 1 AA point), otherwise I wouldn't have gone near it.

jk

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"Hang up my haishirt, put my scourge in place, and pray, Laurent, for Heaven's perpetual grace."

Moliere, "Tartuffe"

I couldn't find any conversions that were even possible. And no, I don't want to convert airline miles to "merchandise coupons/gift certificates".

I will admit that the conversion ratio at around 10:1 is poor but it works in some cases. Recently I received 4,000 AS miles for enrollment bonus, e-mail bonus, etc and knew they would expire if I had no flight activity within 1 year. So, I exchanged for approx 450 AC Aeroplan miles which have no real expiry date. With the 500 AC bonus for a 1year Points.com membership for CAD 15.00, I was able to add almost 1,000 AC miles to my account.

So my advice is to run the numbers and see if makes sense for you. It won't if you want to move 100,000 Delta to Alaskan because after the conversion you'll only wind up with around 10,000 AS miles.

[This message has been edited by tcook052 (edited 10-21-2002).]

If you had that many "orphaned" miles in a program I'm sure someone would take them off your hands for a value greatly exceeding 10k AS miles...

That was just an example, Tino

Why would these miles expire without flight activity in one year?

Here's a quote from the Alaska Airlines Milage Plan Terms and Conditions:
"If no mileage is credited to an account during the first nine months after it is opened, or if an account is inactive for longer than three years, the account may be deleted from the member files and the number reassigned. Once mileage has been deleted from an account, it will not be reinstated."

Note that it says "may" be deleted, not "will". Also, flight activity is never once mentioned; any mileage accrued keeps the account active.

I believe that you would have been better off keeping these orphan miles. You never know an opportunity might arise to "grow" your miles, or to trade them in for somthing of higher value - such as a partner in the AA 20/20!

PS I too recommend avoiding points.com!


[This message has been edited by CutStyle (edited 10-21-2002).]

I had a very bad experience with points.com. Bought AA miles through them but they put it through as a debit instead of a regular charge. I was then charged a fee and interest on the entire purchase. When I contacted points.com they told me it was a mistake and that they would reverse it. When I contacted them the 2nd time they told me the same thing. When I contacted them the 3rd time they told me the same thing. When I contacted them for the 4th time it was getting ridiculous.

I finally wrote an angry letter to American Airlines advising them to drop points.com as their point peddler. The credit was then put through. Bad company that points.com.

Very bad. Very very bad. I agree with you all the way.