Tag Archives: airline points

Buying Airline Tickets For Flight That’ll Never Fly

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On a scale of 1 to 10, how choked would you be if you ordered and pre-paid something you really wanted and were later told it wouldn’t be available?

OK, how choked would you be if you couldn’t get it AND wouldn’t get a refund – just a credit for something else – sometime later – maybe?

That’s what it’s like when you take the chance of purchasing an airline ticket these days. You’re purchasing a specific flight on a specific day for a reason. But the odds are high that your flight will be cancelled. To add insult to injury, the airlines probably knew your flight would never take off even before you bought your ticket. There isn’t a person named Susan at Westjet in Calgary deciding that, or a Marcel at Air Canada in Montreal. It’s all done by computer projections. But while their system has long decided the flight will be cancelled – they still keep selling tickets for a flight that won’t take off. Between the two airlines, according to a CBC story, there were 39,000 flight cancellations in November alone. (12,000 Westjet and 27,000 Air Canada).

When that happens, you’ll be issued a credit instead of a refund. With both airlines you may be able to apply for a refund – but it’s hit and miss, and may take some time – if at all. According to CTV, Air Canada has quietly allowed some customers to apply for refunds. And according to Westjet’s website, stranded passengers can apply, but it may be six to nine months to work through the eligibility requirements. If you took the chance of booking through Sunwing, it’s travel vouchers only, good for two years.

A McGill University lecturer called it “bait and switch” and “deceptive” in a CBC story. All the Minister of Transport could come up with is “the situation is complicated.” No it’s not. You paid, they didn’t deliver – you get your money back to try again another time if you so choose. That wouldn’t be any different for any other retailers.

I had two flights I should have taken since November. I didn’t, and had to make the long drives, instead. I can’t trust either airlines, and I would have been out hundreds of extra dollars with a non-refundable hotel and car rental, in addition to the airfare. No way – no chance.

Before you play Russian roulette with buying any tickets, you should call your credit card company and ask if they will refund you if you dispute the charges for a cancelled flight within the 60-days required by law. And you should really get that in writing. You also need to spend some time on the airline website to get their exact credit or refund rules for your specific flight and print it out. You may also want to book through a travel agent who will know the refund rules if you make it clear in writing that it must be a refundable ticked not an IOU refund. Fourth, you’ll have to pay a lot extra for any car rental or hotel at your destination. You certainly can’t take the chance you won’t actually get there to use them. Lastly, if you have them, try to book your flight on mileage or airline points. Call your credit card issuer to first confirm that a cancelled flight will get your points refunded where you won’t be out anything.

If you don’t, just remember that you will have a credit voucher to use. But when you do want to fly again, it’ll have to be with that airline. If the other airline has a great seat sale, it won’t matter because you’ll be stuck with the other airline’s voucher and paying whatever they’re charging.

BIG $$$ Savings On Travel

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Next week I’m off to Phoenix to escape the horrible Edmonton weather and for another appointment with my Mexico dentist (search the radio stories for ‘dentist’).

Since most of this happened by 6 AM this morning, and it’s fresh in my mind, I wanted to share some big savings insights. But heads up that my definition of savings is where you have to buy something and get it cheaper, such as a flight or hotel (because you do need to sleep somewhere). Savings is  not for golf. Yes, I’m going to golf but it’s spending less and not savings because I don’t have to golf!

Flight: I needed to go on a specific day. But the cheapest flight was $500 – which is insane and double what it should be. So I used 12,500 of my Aeroplan points and just paid $120 taxes. That’s a real saving of $380 and THE best way to use your points. The return flight was $140 and that I paid myself as it wouldn’t make sense to use up points on a flight that cheap.

Hotel: I found a 3 star for $38 in Tempe and a 3 star for $40 in Scottsdale. So I clicked at hotwire.com on the Tempe one and great news: Hotwire has now started showing any so-called resort fees before you book! This hotel has a $10 rip-off fee per night! So changed to the Scottsdale one and saved myself $56.

Purchases: I need three things from the U.S. for my business. One order for seminar supplies was going to cost $46 Fedex to Canada plus brokerage fee plus customs and duty for $70 total. Instead, I’m having it sent to my Phoenix hotel with free shipping. The same for two Amazon orders. One was going to be $14 and the other $22 shipping to Canada. Again, shipping it to the hotel is free and saving me $36. That’s $128 US

Car rental: Every city in Canada and the U.S. has big fees added to a car rental at the airport. In Edmonton it’s some kind of improvement levy, in Phoenix is a stadium tax and two other ones. That way politicians can get free money from tourists who don’t complain and not tax locals who might not vote for them anymore. So I rent from the closest city location that is not at the airport. For this trip, I’ve reserved a compact car for $202 total – yes, it’s way too expensive. But an airport rental right now is $280. I’m ahead $78 less an Uber of $10 to get the few miles to the location. I also keep checking for price reductions every day before I leave. If it drops, I re-book it – and have done it twice to get from $240 down to the current $202.

That’s a $380 Can$ saving plus $252 US$ in real savings for a total of $715. THAT is some real big money for maybe two hours of internet searches.

Reward & Frequent Flyer Points: Think of Them as Bananas

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The deal with any reward program was always that you spend literally tens of thousands of dollars on airline tickets, or charges on your credit card. In return, you would get some free flights, or other kind of rewards, way down the road when you finally accumulated enough points.

You kept your part of the deal. You charged away, and kept flying and staying loyal to a specific airline. But right now, you’re being played, as the airlines and many other reward programs are not keeping their part of the bargain. According to the Wall Street Journal, overall reward perks dropped by 29% last year and an IBM Global survey reports that less than 48% of us are satisfied with our airline reward program.

Should you go in arrears on your credit card, cancel it or the company goes under, your reward points will be gone. To assure you receive at least some of the benefits of what you signed up for, forget collecting points for the super expensive and cool reward. Take your points and redeem them. At least you will get something, which is a whole lot more than nothing. Read the fine print for changes, redemption fees, and watch for increased points thresholds with fewer rewards.

In the airline industry, the shrinkage of points and the growth of restrictions are even more noticeable. Start to take the convenient schedule, the direct flight and cheapest ticket. Never mind any loyalty to a particular airline that will most assuredly change the goalposts on you, way before you ever get close to a free flight.

The sharp drop in frequent flyer point values has also started to erode loyalty from customers – and rightly so. The percentage of people who are loyal to an airline is down to 25%, according to Forrester Research. And airlines have done it to themselves. The programs used to be about 2 cents per mile in these programs. Now it’s down to barely 1 cent, that’s a 50% drop in what you’re getting, and in what you’re holding in points values!

At the same time, there can now be fees to redeem, to call them, to book a flight, to check a suitcase, massive last minute surcharges in points, and the likes, which drastically erode the value of these so-called “free” points even more.

The other big killer is that airlines make a pile of money selling their points to car rental companies, flower and hardware stores and, well – anyone that wants to pay cash up front. Last year, United Airlines made over $800 million just by selling points. At American Airlines, it was more than a billion dollars! Those are cash for an airline but it’s a staggering amounts of points dumped into the world, and now there are literally billions of points chasing the same few seats. It’s supply and demand.

Right now, it’s heads they win, tails you lose. Do not let your points get eaten up, wiped out, or shrink away. Make it a point to redeem what you can and think of them more like bananas instead of an asset! Something sort of free today is better than nothing down the road.