January 11, 2011
I’m kicking myself up the road and back right now. I knew that my Rapid Rewards Award flight was going to expire in January but forgot to check on the exact date back in December so that I could do something about it before the expiration.
Logging in, I find that dratted thing’s expired on the second and it’ll cost me $50 to reissue. And reissued awards are “subject to capacity controls, meaning seats for travel on reissued Awards will be limited and not available on all flights.”
*&@*$&(*$!!
Quite. Annoyed.
The kicker here is that there was never any need to even log into my account to check on that. I keep a spreadsheet of all my airline awards specifically to track issue and expiration dates against this very scenario.
*sigh* That’s really aggravating to my penny-pinching soul.
March 5, 2009
Planning
~
What’s your Plan B? asks Free Money Finance. I continue to job hunt, though I’m taking breaks in between resumes now. Going gangbusters is good for staying in motion, but it’s also quite exhausting on top of stressful work and family environments.
~ Play my “How long can you go?” version of limbo: continue to save every penny (Just found this motivational article by PT Money about Saving Like a Madman. I don’t need the extra incentive, but it’s funny.)
~ Use my free plane ticket to treat myself to a short break for the sake of sanity. Anyone want me to come visit? 🙂 I think it has to be within the 48 contiguous.
January 2, 2009
Has anyone tried booking an airline ticket lately?
I’m checking off another item on my list of things to do, having just booked my flight for a meeting in January and, my goodness, United.com is shilling hard for the upsell.
First, I was redirected to the Economy Plus option for $24/way when I was selecting my flights; when I didn’t take the bait and proceeded to purchase the plain vanilla economy itinerary, I was redirected again.
This time, they had a screen offering me a One Time Deal! Good for Five Minutes! to upgrade to the next class. Goodness, people, this plane probably won’t even have a proper First Class! There was even a little doomsday countdown, showing how much time I had left to come to my senses and snatch up the opportunity to pay another $95 for a FC seat on one of the two flights. Pf, not even both ways at that price? Count me out.
June 13, 2008
*sigh* So after my rant about American’s decision, United has decided to follow suit and charge for the first piece of luggage as well.
Kacie has a good point: Southwest just plans to fly a little bit slower and save money that way; I wonder if these other airlines can’t or won’t follow suit because they’re so frequently late anyway that they can’t afford to spend time instead of gas?
And perhaps it’s simply easier and quicker to charge the customer extra than it is to implement gas efficient solutions? It seems to me that it’s smarter to reduce the requirements for gas, since the price-related scarcity is the root of the problem, than it is to simply wring another fifteen to forty bucks out of customers who may be able to choose to fly less frequently as a result of the increased costs. Yes, I sure do have a stake in saying that, but I also like to have more than one solution to a problem, especially such a major one. Sure they’ll have to raise prices to compensate as well, but let’s look at the overall picture, not just the most obvious, glaring issue.
Personally, I’m looking at alternatives to traveling with either of these airlines when I have a choice, though I don’t have a say when it comes to business travel. Since all expenses are paid for business trips, I suppose I don’t have to take it as personally, and continue to be a super-condensed packer.
June 9, 2008
Southwest is running a promotion for a $25 discount when you purchase a $100 southwest gift card.
There are a handful of restrictions, so I would be very careful when deciding whether or not to purchase it.
Purchase dates (for the gift card): June 1st-30th (still have time.)
Requirement: must use Visa. It can be any cobrand as long as it’s US-issued. (Great, I carry one Visa and one Mastercard at all times. It’s not my preferred points rewards card, but it’s still a rewards card.)
Limit: one per Visa cardmember and/or e-mail address. Visa cardmember will earn one $25 fare discount on a $100 or more single card transaction. Shipping and handling fees do not qualify towards the total transaction amount. The $25 fare discount will be sent via e-mail to the Visa cardmember’s account. A valid e-mail address is required to receive the discount. Allow four weeks after the conclusion of the promotion to receive the discount. (Wait, shipping and handling? Just pop the thing into an envelope and throw it in the mail! 42 cents! And BD and I can each buy one, if I have need of two round trip tickets in the near future.)
Discount Valid: Purchase must be made between July 1, 2008 and August 30, 2008 for travel August 18, 2008 through November 19, 2008.
This promotion does not include Business Select, Anytime, or Senior Fares. (Does that mean it’s only good for the Wanna Get Away fares?)
Despite the numerous caveats, I think that I will pick one up because as I look at upcoming travel, I was unexpectedly invited to a wedding in August, and have got a sporting event to attend in October. It’s only good for the event in October, and I’m looking at paying $100 for $125 purchasing power. As long as the flight prices hold until July 1st, or whenever I get that discount, I’ll be able to purchase a $149 ticket for $75 now, and an additional $24 later. Not bad, I say!
May 21, 2008
This is a bit more outrageous than the skyrocketing ticket prices, and the charge for an additional checked bag: American Airlines plans to start charging $15 for the first checked bag on June 15th. The free preview blurb on WSJ states that the fee applies to “some fliers” but as I can’t read the whole article, I don’t know which statement is more accurate. Now, I can understand limiting the additional checked bag: reducing that much extra weight, or receiving some compensation for it to offset the costs of gas makes sense. They’ve got to be able to do business, after all.
But, charging for the first checked bag? What’s next, carry-ons? They should understand that their cost-cutting measures will soon reach the point of diminishing returns. In an informal poll, more than half of the poll takers indicate they’d rather stop checking bags than pay the fee. And in a lot of cases, that’d be my reaction. But for long distance flights where not checking a bag isn’t an option? I just won’t even fly American. And if they start losing passengers, if they’re flying more seats than people because it’s not worth it to pay an extra $40 ($15 for the first, $25 for the second) for checking two bags, that rather defeats the purpose of cutting costs and increasing revenue, doesn’t it?
Perhaps my reaction is a little extreme. After all, if the ticket prices are low enough to stay competitive, even taking the checked bag fee into consideration, perhaps this isn’t a bad move on American’s part. It is in line with the trend towards a la carte services that most airlines have taken with food and other amenities.
What do you think? Will you continue to fly this airline, and if so, would you pay to check your bags or will you become a super-carry-on packer?
