Have a FFP pet peeve? The editors of InsideFlyer magazine are doing research for an upcoming article. We would like to know some of your pet peeves. (For example, expiring miles, not getting an upgrade as an elite member, FFP rule changes, award chart changes, etc.) Please include any tips you have found to solve the problem, if you have found any. Names/usernames will not be used in the article.

Starnet blocking

So called "expedite fees" for booking awards close to travel date. Once upon a time, these were to pay for express shipping of paper tickets. In this day and age of online booking and electronic tickets, they are nothing more than an anachronism and a profit grab.

Catering to Gomers and Kettles and, particularly, Gomers and Kettles with children.

My biggest pet peeve is simply this: inconsistent (and often incorrect) information from CSRs, whether they be phone agents, ticketing agents, gate agents, FAs, etc. This is especially a problem with United, but I'm sure it affects every airline to some extent (for example, see this thread regarding TATL in-cabin pets on USAir). Most of the time it's a minor irritation, but (as with the linked thread) it can sometimes cause major problems, and it's really irritating if the airline doesn't hold itself accountable for one of its agents providing incorrect information.

There is no good workaround for this except to ask the same question of 3-10 people and then hope that the most common answer is the correct one... unfortunately, that is both inconvenient and unreliable.

The TRUE solution would be for airlines to ensure that their CSRs are well-versed in all aspects of policy, and to actually look things up when questions arise. I would much rather hear a CSR say, "I don't know, sir, would you mind holding while I do some research?" than get a confident but entirely incorrect answer. We FTers are generally savvy enough to recognize wrong information when we hear it, but most flyers just take an agent's word for it... and I shudder to think at the problems they endure when that word turns out to be wrong.

Having to spend hours on the phone, or sometimes sign up for multiple FFP accounts so you can properly search all of an airlines partners for award availability. Each airline should make it easier to find availability on their own sites for their members.
Also, point transfers between programs that, while allowed, can take weeks to complete. Some tranfers are done by the time I hang up the phone, why can't they all be that way?

WOW, where does one start ?? I will add to this when I have enough time, as this could take awhile...

Those who swear they will never fly a specific airline. Yet who insist on posting on every possible occasion, comments that end with placing the airline in a negative light.

Also, posters who cannot resist referring to a, ("better") competing airline in every post that they make on an airline thread.


ralph

I don't like any of these things, but I understand them based on the need of the airlines and their FFP to make money. What has annoyed me the most, however, is when a couple of the airlines shortened the time for expiring miles, they didn't honor previous expiration dates they had indicated on their web sites.

Charging a phone fee to book award travel but make it impossible to book the reservation on the web site.

Not being able to book partner awards online.

Targetted promotions that reject you if you happen to read about it online and try to register for it.

Dead end programs that let you transfer in but no way to transfer out to a hotel program or something.

starnet blocking

Delta's lack of a worldwide award chart and its ridiculous mileage redemption levels

That, and the Ryanair web check-in fee.

I guess mandatory "resort fees" fall into this category also.

Why tack on a fee if it's mandatory, why not just put it under the umbrella of the price? Marketing!

I wish these companies would have some integrity.

People on airlines that don't get their luggage down until the line ahead of them clears. They get up, step into the aisle (thereby blocking it), and leisurely take their luggage down. Tall strong people often. They could easily have stood in front of the aisle seat to do it, while leaving the aisle free for others behind to keep exiting. A huge gap opens up ahead of them that could have been used by impatient people like me. And usually I'm a very patient person. It is the total lack of consideration for those behind that gets me.

Also people that board, and toss their luggage in the bins way to the front, and then take their assigned rear seats. Then when the people who actually have front seats get on, their logical bins are full and they have to put their luggage back behind them.

People that put the roller bags in sideways, when they clearly would fit "wheels in" and make space for others.

I know - this was supposed to be FFP gripes, but the above have made me a committed FF, so I can get up to the front of the plane more often.

Romele

Wow...you guys hit the top ones fast. My first thought was Starnet blocking. 2nd thought was the archaic late-90's-era websites that all airlines seem to use.

The inability to easily query availability across an alliance and book any award online is a major pain. If the agent has access to the data, why don't I? Heck, all of ANA's travelers can view the information! (Not sure if they can book or not.)

In the hotel world, the inability to query an offer, award, or promotion across an entire metro area is annoying. Why can't I easily look and see exactly which Starwoods have an SPG50 rate for this weekend in Manhattan? Marriott is a bit better in this regard...although they don't have a direct analogy to the SPG50.

In the rental car world, the entire industry is my pet peeve. It seems that it's falling apart at the seams. The major agencies initiated their frequent-renter programs some years ago but none have been truly forced to innovate or provide passable customer service beyond that. Perhaps it's because most of their profits come from large corporate contracts...I don't know. But even previously-good systems like #1 Club Gold and Emerald Aisle seem to be breaking down. It's not just the old cars - which I can kind of understand in 2008-2009's credit market - but the basic functions of the operations are failing everywhere.