Don't Let This Happen To You

[koswalt]

If you are planning on using frequent flier miles, or some equivalent "freebie" program, book your airline reservations as soon as you have accumulated sufficient points/miles/whatever. My DH kept telling me, "I fly all the time, you don't have to call 11 months in advance." Well, when he finally did call, 6 months in advance, all the "free" seats were reserved. The airlines only keep a certain number of free seats available. The plane has plenty of fare-paying seats available, but no freebies. We had to change our vacation date, and all the associated reservations (hotels, rental car, PS, etc.). It was a hassle. He's is only 1/2 way in the doghouse though because we will have to go sooner now.

 

[Lewisc]

The exception is SW, they have very few blackout dates other than that if there is a seat available on the flight it's available for FF.

 

[wackywitch]

And a shameless bump back to the top.

I've been seeing on CNN and reading in magazines how flying is quickly becoming like mass transit. (Think bus) Everyone's out there doing it and what makes things worse is the credit card companys that give out frequent flyer miles for purchases. Someone who may have never even FLOWN before may accumulate miles simply by making purchases with a particular credit card.

What this boils down to is more and more people are gathering these miles and turning them in, forcing the airline to give up seats for "free" when they could have a paying fare in that seat.

The airlines are cutting their losses by limiting these seats. For legality sake, I suppose they are meeting their contractual obligations if they offer 2 seats on a plane. They can then say "We offer frequent flyer seats on every flight" even if it is only 2 or 4.

This affects the "frequent flyer" traveler because the seats offered to them are probably already taken. (unless they booked months in advance like Kos said)

I hear there's a huge uproar over this because people can't cash in their miles on free tickets like they were advertised that they could do. (perfectly understandable) Even upgrading someone to a first class that would fly away empty and taking away those miles, however many it would take, would put the airline ahead because they'd at least be collecting some kind of fare for a coach seat and could fill it with a standby.

Just a little background. I'm neither for nor against frequent flyer programs. This is just something I saw on the news and read about.

 

[gabylin]

I'm not a frequent flyer but.....I wanted to say thank-you for giving the heads up on that issue......I have family that will want to know this.

 

[LI Debbie]

is to check if your airline flies into Tampa or Daytona Beach.

This is what we did when we were closed out of using our frequent flyer miles during the busy President's Week period even though I called 8 months in advance. We were staying offsite and had to rent a car anyway, so we flew into Tampa, picked up our rental car and were at WDW area in a little over an hour. Tampa is a beautiful airport and a lot less busy than Orlando MCO. I'd do this again in a minute.

 

[benebire]

Hope i dont get flamed for this but........

we use frequent flyer miles on American and you can call and have them put the seats on hold for a month at a time before you actually book them, we have had to do this when unsure of actual dates we could go. So its possible that if you keep calling back someone who has a free seat on hold and doesnt book in a month it will cancel and become available again. Just like CRO it pays to call back more than once!

 

[mainey-mouse]

It also happened to our friends...called in Nov for a January FF trip to Florida, and guess what? It became an April trip.

bump bump bump

 

[Candace]

I know this is becoming common with ff miles on Northwest airlines for popular destinations. Northwest is the only airline which flies to Orlando direct from Memphis, so it is the one I usually fly. However, it is getting next to impossible to get a free ticket to Orlando. Unless you can book those tickets exactly 331 days ahead (and who can do that?!), you just can't get the ticket. It's the same with Hawaii on Northwest and also with popular European destinations. I really like the sound of the American Airlines way of doing it, maybe NWA should take a hint!

 

[kilarney]

Just to be clear, frequent flyer seats are not "free" seats that the airline is giving away.
The airlines charge companies that give away frequent flyer miles. The cheapest they charge is about 1.5 cents a mile, and it goes up from there.
So... if you spend 25,000 miles for a free ticket, the airline has already earned at least $375 for that ticket! Frequent flyer miles are actually a major source of revenue for the airlines - to the tune of millions and millions of dollars.
They are not limiting "free" seats, they just want someone to pay $1,000 for the seat versus your $375. This is why a lot of consumer groups are advocating a change in how frequent flyer seats are released.

 

[DawnCt]

Kilarney, You made an excellent point. The seats are indeed worth more than a "free" round trip ticket would be from the east coast. With RT airfare being so affordable in comparison to other destinations, I personally would never waste FF miles on any ticket worth less than $700. (unless one accummulates so many miles that they can't possibly used them up) It takes too long to save those miles to part with them in that way. We use ours for Hawaii because rarely is there airfare available when we can go for less than $700, if EVER. When six of us traveled to Hawaii in 1998, our tickets for that itinerary were valued at $1158 a piece. We are going again this summer and I haven't "priced" out my "free tickets" yet, but I am sure I will get my $$$ worth. We book 11 months ahead.

 

[DawnCt]

Hi, I just priced out my Hawaii itinerery, $1245 per ticket and that doesn't include flying out of HNL instead of OGG where we fly in to. Good use of FF miles!!!

 

[d.kurz]

Originally posted by LI Debbie
is to check if your airline flies into Tampa or Daytona Beach.

This is what we did when we were closed out of using our frequent flyer miles during the busy President's Week period even though I called 8 months in advance. We were staying offsite and had to rent a car anyway, so we flew into Tampa, picked up our rental car and were at WDW area in a little over an hour. Tampa is a beautiful airport and a lot less busy than Orlando MCO. I'd do this again in a minute.

I'm thrilled to hear this! I booked to Tampa because I didn't like the
flight times into Orlando.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

actually you would be surprised and the tiny amount of ftp seats that are allotted per flight. and not only are these classes of seats used for ftp tkts they are also used for the senior coupon booklets and those vouchers for a free roundtrip...these are all bookedin the same class of svc. thats why they go so much faster. and depending on the destination will also say how fast the seats go! vegas, hawaii and orlando are the 1st 3 to book first! (in that order) there are ways around that to get the flight you really want. if you know the loopholes then its easy to accomplish.

 

[Tybug]

what may not be available the first time you call may possibly be available later. For example.... I called at exactly 331 days out and our departure date was not available. I could adjust our trip by 1 day and was just fine(earlier... so that was a good thing!) My parents decided to plan a trip and the flight my father wanted was booked and they settled for a later flight on a smaller plane. They we not satisfied and so my mother called at least once a week to see if seats were avail on the flight my father wanted until she could get it changed. It only took 3 weeks! People cancel... change plans... etc. So don't give up and keep trying. Be flexible and all should work out fine. We only fly using our FFMiles/Amex pts and have never had a problem.. sometimes have to make an adjustment, but heck... it's free!