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Post by plane2catch on Mar 18, 2016 21:49:10 GMT
I have been trying to think when the last time I used frequent flyer miles to obtain free airfare? I guess it was back in 2012 or 2013 when I flew to Egypt and on the way back stopped in Athens to spend a few days with second cousins.
I have about 80,000 miles on the books. I use to fly to Europe sometimes between Oct. 15th and May 15th for only 35,000 miles with Air France a partner with American Airlines. I tried to use my miles on my upcoming July trip to Calgary but the available flights arrived after the welcome reception by Globus. I am considering adding a trip to Alaska in September but am frustrated as it doesn't seem convenient for me to use my miles as American has no direct flights from Chicago to Anchorage. Their partner Alaska airlines does have a six and half nonstop flight but they are not shown as an option when I go to AA.Com and try using my miles.
I hate it when you call American and they say stuff like Alaska Airlines doesn't off that flight as an option or maybe Alaska Airlines will open up more seats when it gets closer to the departure date. The good old days are gone. I use to count the 331 days out and call Quantas and was virtually guaranteed that any flight on that day would be available for use of miles.
I think American is stingy and prefers that you take up space on a partner airline then one of their own flights. I of course don't have anything to back this up. It is just a gut feeling of mine. Even when you try throwing more miles at them hoping to get on designated flights they just won't allow it. I am tired of needless connections in order to use my miles. Hope others aren't as frustrated as I am today!  Anybody got any good news about freebie tickets that they have managed to snag lately?? I need my faith restored in the airlines.
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Post by purvis on Mar 19, 2016 14:12:19 GMT
plane2catch: I never have had any faith in airlines. The one and only time I bought flight insurance Air Canada refused to honour when I had to cancel. Due to the fact that my original flight from a Hawaiian Island to Maui to catch my Air Canada flt. home was by Hawaiian Airlines. Since the my return home was not begun on one of Air Canada's flights they would not honour the insurance. Have never purchased any type of insurance since except fire insurance on my condo. Purvis |
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Post by plane2catch on Mar 19, 2016 21:43:21 GMT
plane2catch: I never have had any faith in airlines. The one and only time I bought flight insurance Air Canada refused to honour when I had to cancel. Due to the fact that my original flight from a Hawaiian Island to Maui to catch my Air Canada flt. home was by Hawaiian Airlines. Since the my return home was not begun on one of Air Canada's flights they would not honour the insurance. Have never purchased any type of insurance since except fire insurance on my condo. Purvis That seems like a raw deal. I've never flown with Air Canada. Forget the airline name I am taking between Toronto and Calgary in July. Thought for sure it would be Air Canada but it has another name. Purvis, do you purchase trip insurance from Trafalgar when you travel with them? |
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Post by purvis on Mar 20, 2016 3:17:06 GMT
plane2catch: I have never bought travel insurance for any Trafalgar tour and I have taken 15. The reason I'm uncertain about booking a tour to Ireland this May is that at age 81 anything can happen between the booking date and the tour date. At my age the travel insurance is very expensive and it seems travel insurance companies have many outs for not paying when you do make a claim. I guess I'm just not too trusting of travel insurance companies. Purvis |
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Pauline
Full Member
Normandy, Brittany & the Loire Valley, WW1 Battlefields and Northern Spain in Sep 2023 with Insight
Posts: 210
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Post by Pauline on Mar 20, 2016 4:42:37 GMT
plane2catch: I never have had any faith in airlines. The one and only time I bought flight insurance Air Canada refused to honour when I had to cancel. Due to the fact that my original flight from a Hawaiian Island to Maui to catch my Air Canada flt. home was by Hawaiian Airlines. Since the my return home was not begun on one of Air Canada's flights they would not honour the insurance. Have never purchased any type of insurance since except fire insurance on my condo. Purvis That seems like a raw deal. I've never flown with Air Canada. Forget the airline name I am taking between Toronto and Calgary in July. Thought for sure it would be Air Canada but it has another name. Purvis, do you purchase trip insurance from Trafalgar when you travel with them? Westjet fly between Calgary and Toronto. |
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Post by plane2catch on Mar 20, 2016 6:54:35 GMT
Thanks Pauline. Yes, that is the airline I am on. And as they don't pre assign seats I have paid a little extra and reserved window seats hoping to get a nice air view of Toronto and Calgary.
One of my favorite air views is the decent into LAX at night with all the lights and the sea. I also like to view the Mountains whenever I fly in and out of LAX during the day time. Back in the 1980's I felt like I lived at that airport while working for the Defense Department. |
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Post by Boop on Apr 2, 2016 19:44:00 GMT
Thanks Pauline. Yes, that is the airline I am on. And as they don't pre assign seats I have paid a little extra and reserved window seats hoping to get a nice air view of Toronto and Calgary.
One of my favorite air views is the decent into LAX at night with all the lights and the sea. I also like to view the Mountains whenever I fly in and out of LAX during the day time. Back in the 1980's I felt like I lived at that airport while working for the Defense Department. plane2catch, just a little tip regarding West Jet. If you check in for your West Jet flight exactly 24 hours to the minute before departure, you will be able to upgrade to their "Plus" (business class) section of the plane for $50. This is worth every penny spent as the comfort of the seats is worth it not to mention all drinks and any menu food is complimentary. I just did this on both my flights from Victoria to Vegas in February and will definitely choose West Jet whenever possible. All the staff and service were superior quality! |
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Post by plane2catch on Apr 2, 2016 21:18:38 GMT
Thanks for the tip Boop! That sounds like fun.
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joyb
Junior Member
Posts: 59 
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Post by joyb on Apr 13, 2016 21:29:41 GMT
I'm not really impressed with Air Canada's aeroplan right now. Had been collecting points for about the past 5 years and had quite a few accumulated as I had been travelling 2 or 3 times per year with 1 flight per year being international. Was ill last year so didn't travel at all and then booked an Air Canada flight to Ottawa last month for a visit with family and noticed that all my wonderful aeroplan points were gone...poof...back down to zero and starting all over again. Didn't get so much as a notice saying that this was going to happen. Not impressed!
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Post by Boop on Apr 13, 2016 21:52:07 GMT
I'm not really impressed with Air Canada's aeroplan right now. Had been collecting points for about the past 5 years and had quite a few accumulated as I had been travelling 2 or 3 times per year with 1 flight per year being international. Was ill last year so didn't travel at all and then booked an Air Canada flight to Ottawa last month for a visit with family and noticed that all my wonderful aeroplan points were gone...poof...back down to zero and starting all over again. Didn't get so much as a notice saying that this was going to happen. Not impressed! That is very bizzare joyb. I had some Aeroplan miles, not many, and they were deleted as well....but I do know that they gave me quite a bit of notice. Maybe you should try sending a letter, that just isn't right if they overlooked some sort of notification to you. |
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Post by plane2catch on Apr 14, 2016 8:14:41 GMT
I'm not really impressed with Air Canada's aeroplan right now. Had been collecting points for about the past 5 years and had quite a few accumulated as I had been travelling 2 or 3 times per year with 1 flight per year being international. Was ill last year so didn't travel at all and then booked an Air Canada flight to Ottawa last month for a visit with family and noticed that all my wonderful aeroplan points were gone...poof...back down to zero and starting all over again. Didn't get so much as a notice saying that this was going to happen. Not impressed! Frequent Flyer plans are not what they were back in 1982 when they were introduced. I remember the disappointment I felt when American Airlines imposed the 18 month time limitation to use your miles if your account with them didn't show any activity. That's when I got a credit card with them and started accumulating miles through purchases so that they didn't delete my air miles.
I'm not as impressed with the Frequent Flyer programs as I once was. The availability of qualified flights to use your miles just isn't what it use to be. Now they make you take dreadful early flights with at least one annoying connection to use their minimum reward. It's like the airlines don't really want you to use the airmiles that you have accumulated and they always seem more than willing to book you on one of their partners instead of their own airline.
I have been wondering lately if in fact your odds of getting your desired free flight are better by calling them and paying the $25 phone booking fee instead of using the computer to purchase a flight. Wonder if their representatives have a different list of flights available for frequent flyer use then those listed on their website for any given day??
Would love to hear from any BB members who have had better luck with using American Airlines Frequent Flyer miles of late.
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Post by Boop on Apr 14, 2016 17:26:21 GMT
I'm not really impressed with Air Canada's aeroplan right now. Had been collecting points for about the past 5 years and had quite a few accumulated as I had been travelling 2 or 3 times per year with 1 flight per year being international. Was ill last year so didn't travel at all and then booked an Air Canada flight to Ottawa last month for a visit with family and noticed that all my wonderful aeroplan points were gone...poof...back down to zero and starting all over again. Didn't get so much as a notice saying that this was going to happen. Not impressed! Frequent Flyer plans are not what they were back in 1982 when they were introduced. I remember the disappointment I felt when American Airlines imposed the 18 month time limitation to use your miles if your account with them didn't show any activity. That's when I got a credit card with them and started accumulating miles through purchases so that they didn't delete my air miles.
I'm not as impressed with the Frequent Flyer programs as I once was. The availability of qualified flights to use your miles just isn't what it use to be. Now they make you take dreadful early flights with at least one annoying connection to use their minimum reward. It's like the airlines don't really want you to use the airmiles that you have accumulated and they always seem more than willing to book you on one of their partners instead of their own airline.
I have been wondering lately if in fact your odds of getting your desired free flight are better by calling them and paying the $25 phone booking fee instead of using the computer to purchase a flight. Wonder if their representatives have a different list of flights available for frequent flyer use then those listed on their website for any given day??
Would love to hear from any BB members who have had better luck with using American Airlines Frequent Flyer miles of late.
I don't use American Airlines since I'm in Canada plane2catch, but I do collect BMO air miles which I use to book connecting flights from Victoria to Vancouver and also my trips to Las Vegas. I know on the air miles website it specifically says that booking agents have access to exactly the same flights listed on the website so I don't even bother. |
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Post by chech on Apr 15, 2016 5:45:14 GMT
I'm not really impressed with Air Canada's aeroplan right now. Had been collecting points for about the past 5 years and had quite a few accumulated as I had been travelling 2 or 3 times per year with 1 flight per year being international. Was ill last year so didn't travel at all and then booked an Air Canada flight to Ottawa last month for a visit with family and noticed that all my wonderful aeroplan points were gone...poof...back down to zero and starting all over again. Didn't get so much as a notice saying that this was going to happen. Not impressed! That is unusual, Joy. I thought they had done away with the time limit. I wonder if it's because your card was inactive for a year, but I thought they did away with that as well. If I ever went that much without travel, I'd just make sure I used the card at Esso or somewhere that accepts the Aeroplan card for points. I would contact them if I were you to find out what happened.  |
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joyb
Junior Member
Posts: 59
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Post by joyb on Apr 15, 2016 22:05:26 GMT
I'm not really impressed with Air Canada's aeroplan right now. Had been collecting points for about the past 5 years and had quite a few accumulated as I had been travelling 2 or 3 times per year with 1 flight per year being international. Was ill last year so didn't travel at all and then booked an Air Canada flight to Ottawa last month for a visit with family and noticed that all my wonderful aeroplan points were gone...poof...back down to zero and starting all over again. Didn't get so much as a notice saying that this was going to happen. Not impressed! That is unusual, Joy. I thought they had done away with the time limit. I wonder if it's because your card was inactive for a year, but I thought they did away with that as well. If I ever went that much without travel, I'd just make sure I used the card at Esso or somewhere that accepts the Aeroplan card for points. I would contact them if I were you to find out what happened. Thanks for the advice, Chech. Instead of complaining about it, I sent them an email and will see how compassionate they are. In their terms and conditions, the time limit is there. |
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Post by Tulips on Apr 15, 2016 22:44:36 GMT
With Aeroplan, you do have to do a transaction once a year to keep your account active. So as Chech says, a tank if gas is enough.
They did away with the use your miles within 7 years is earning them lose them.
Air miles did not do away with their expiry and many have points expiring this year if they are not used.
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Post by tiffany on Jun 4, 2016 13:17:30 GMT
A couple of years ago, I got an email from Aeroplan telling my that I would lose my points if I didn't make a transaction by a certain date. I knew I was flying to Zurich with Air Canada in September of that year, so I wasn't worried about it. At least with me, they sent me an email telling me that my points would expire if I didn't make a transaction. I'm surprised you didn't get the same notice Joy. I hope they gave you your points back after you contacted them and told them that you didn't get a notice that your points would expire.
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Post by travelbird on Jun 1, 2018 8:52:26 GMT
Anyone received any free trips lately with their frequent flyer accounts?? It has been a few years since I have done much travel and what an awaking I had to see that I was only credited with less than 3,000 points on an Air Canada Rouge flight between Athens and Toronto in May. Apparently most airlines are basing their points earned on flights based on the price of the air ticket purchased and not the distance flown. I knew these airline frequent flyer programs were to good to be true. Missing the rules of the 1980's for these programs.
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Anybody got any good news about freebie tickets that they have managed to snag lately?? I need my faith restored in the airlines.
