Hey FT

A company has decided to fly me over to their headquartered city for a fun-filled full day of in-site interviews. They are willing to pay for my flight.

Is collecting frequent flyer points ethical? I know lots of you guys fly on your employer's dime and collect FFPs, but given that I'm not hired yet, is this ethical?

Plus, what is the most tactful way of ... suggesting that the recruiter book me a ticket on a specific airline / alliance. How can I also ensure that my FFP status is reflected on the boarding pass?

Thanks :-:

Nothing wrong with collecting the miles. When you first get the ticket, call the airline and ask to add your FF # to the reservation. Or go to the checkin counter when you first check in, and ask them to add your # to the reservation.

I would NOT ask them to book you on a specific airline. Take what they give you, and work on getting useful miles from that airline, or some airline in its alliance.

Asking the prospective employer to book you on a specific airline gives entirely the wrong impression, IMHO.

They only give the flight credit to the actual passenger so I don't see the problem.
Most recruiting firms have contracted travel agency to handle travels. If you are Aeroplan you can collect if you are flying on Star Alliance (UA CO US). Just give them your number when you are checking in and keep your boarding pass until the miles are credited to your account.

There's nothing wrong with collecting miles. Just add your number to the reservation once it's made.

I would not ask for a specific airline, they may have contracted rates with somebody already. If it's an airline you have ff miles with, better for you, if it's not join and start collecting.

+1

i agree with the above, i would take what you are given. However, if you were to say something, you could mention that you have status with a certain airline and would therefore save them money on baggage fees which might make the trip cheaper.

Probably not a great idea, but since you say that you are in YYZ or SFO, the non-stop options are bound to include AC and UA flights. And if the destination is most convenient to a major hub of any *A airline (AC, UA, CO, US), then that stacks the odds even more in your favor.

If the airline is DL or AA and you are more SFO based, then consider collecting the miles on AS, which has mileage partnerships with both DL and AA (so that you can concentrate your non-*A miles) and has a decent west coast route network, including service to all of SFO/OAK/SJC.

They may not expect you to have checked bags anyway if it's just an overnight or two so I wouldn't bring that up. As the others have said, take what they book for you and then figure out how to get points from it. I lucked out and rescued a bunch of DL points from expiring once when a prospective employer booked me on DL. (Of course, now that I'm on FT, I know other ways to keep accounts active!)

I agree with all of the above: collect the points, but don't request the airline (unless asked).

I will add, if this position would involve travel, then pay attention to how they book this trip for you, as an indicator of what to expect once you're hired. If they give you a 2-connection flight to save $50 over the nonstop, that would be a big warning flag for me.

Many people on FT would tell you it's unethical to NOT collect miles/points on a trip, especially if someone else is paying!

The key point here is that when you collect the miles it doesn't cost the company anything and the miles can't go to the company anyway. The only issue would be if you took a more expensive flight in order to get miles on a specific airline.

There is absolutely no ethical issue with collecting miles on the flight you would have chosen had miles not been a factor. It's not as if you can save money, or obtain any other alternative benefit for you or them, if you forego them.

The only possible ethical issue arises if you let the potential of collecting miles influence your choice of flight or airline to their detriment. I would ask them if they have any travel policies you should conform to, anyone you should use to book your flights through, or anything else you should know before booking. This is a reasonable business question. It can only improve their opinion of you as someone who understands this stuff.

Then, be guided by their answer. If you must use a certain agency, tell them what airline you'd prefer to use. They'll use it if the fares are the same, and probably if they're close. Otherwise, they won't. If there's a policy, do what you can within its constraints.

Once the flight is booked, if it's not on your preferred airline, join its FFP or that of a partner on which you can earn miles for the flight. At least you won't lose all credit. If you take the job and end up on that airline a lot, you'll be off to a good start!

The most tactful way to do this is to first do a search yourself. For intance, if you need to arrive for a dinner at 4:30pm, and you know that a United (or whatever your airline of choice is) arrives at 4:10, ask them, "Can you see anything that arrives around 4:00?" Invariably, they will say, "Yes, the United flight gets in around then. Would you like me to book that for you?

The same can be done for the return. You've done the search on a general website like travelocity, so you know what is around the same time. You ask to leave around the time the next United flight goes, and usually, they will book you on United.

After they book your ticket, just get your record locator number. Then call United or pull up y our reservation on the internet and add your FF#.

Agree, I had a similar situation recently. No problem getting FFP on flight car and hotel. I did a search myself before the company travel agent called. They had a 1 stop itinerary on a career I didn't fly. I suggested a 2 stop itinerary (with about 2x miles) on my career of choice. The travel lady thought I was nuts but I mentioned that it was about $200 cheaper RT...

HR mentioned it during the interview and I solely explained the cheaper portion of the change and that I always did my best to save the company money. They seemed to like it

20 minutes from arrival to dinner is cutting it very close, unless dinner is in an airport restaurant. Even then, there are flight delays, delays getting out of the airplane / airport, time spent figuring out and finding ground transportation, etc..