Frequent flyer miles - useless?

homeOwner

Not sure if this is the right place to post this.

I have had frequent flyer miles with an airline for more than 10 years, accumulating points every time i travel. I have a considerable number of points accumulated, enough for a transatlantic free return flight or enough for 2 sets of round trip upgrades to Business or First class.

I have never been able to use them. For the past 8 years I have tried to book free flights and every time I call up they say that the alloted number for that date is already used up, so I ask about the next day and the next day and the next week and they say the same thing. You can only call up within 6 weeks of travelling so eventually you get to a date where they say its outside the 6 weeks so you have to call back closer to the time. I do that and the same thing over again.

So I decided to forget that, and book a flight and try for an upgrade. I called ahead to check what class of flight I need to get in order to be eligible for an upgrade with miles, worked out all the details, they checked i had the points, everything was fine. Then she says that it costs a "fee" of E450 each way in addition to the miles and the original price of the flight in order to get the upgrade. It doesnt mention this "fee" anywhere on their web site when it details the upgrade points.

So basically unless I am willing to pay over E1300 for a return flight I cant get the upgrade. I think they are making bogus claims about their milage plan. It is not clear at all that you have to pay a huge fee to upgrade.
The business class seat is going to be empty for both legs of the journey and it costs them nothing to allow a loyal customer a treat of upgrading considering the thousands of miles I have accumulated over the years.

Am I being naieve thinking that for miles alone one could get an upgrade? Has anyone come across this before?

tallaghtoutlaws

I use frequent flyer miles all the time with AA and never have problems using them. In fact Im using them to fly to Chicago next week. One thing I do find is finding flights out of Dublin with AA using points that are good value i.e not using double the standard amount of points. But Flying out of Heathrow solves this they have 4 times the amount of flights going to the US.

I also have used my points with Qantas easily enough.

jhegarty

Which airline is it ?

homeOwner

Its continental airlines. AA sounds much better.

jhegarty

This site should help you out :

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/continental-onepass/626679-faq-continental-onepass-lifes-greater-mysteries.html

di2772

homeOwner wrote: »

Not sure if this is the right place to post this.

I have had frequent flyer miles with an airline for more than 10 years, accumulating points every time i travel. I have a considerable number of points accumulated, enough for a transatlantic free return flight or enough for 2 sets of round trip upgrades to Business or First class.

I have never been able to use them. For the past 8 years I have tried to book free flights and every time I call up they say that the alloted number for that date is already used up, so I ask about the next day and the next day and the next week and they say the same thing. You can only call up within 6 weeks of travelling so eventually you get to a date where they say its outside the 6 weeks so you have to call back closer to the time. I do that and the same thing over again.

So I decided to forget that, and book a flight and try for an upgrade. I called ahead to check what class of flight I need to get in order to be eligible for an upgrade with miles, worked out all the details, they checked i had the points, everything was fine. Then she says that it costs a "fee" of E450 each way in addition to the miles and the original price of the flight in order to get the upgrade. It doesnt mention this "fee" anywhere on their web site when it details the upgrade points.

So basically unless I am willing to pay over E1300 for a return flight I cant get the upgrade. I think they are making bogus claims about their milage plan. It is not clear at all that you have to pay a huge fee to upgrade.
The business class seat is going to be empty for both legs of the journey and it costs them nothing to allow a loyal customer a treat of upgrading considering the thousands of miles I have accumulated over the years.

Am I being naieve thinking that for miles alone one could get an upgrade? Has anyone come across this before?

I have had exactly the same experience with continental. Dont waste anymore time with them

brettmirl

The only one that seems to be any good, in my opinion, is the BMI Diamond Club.
Which you can use towards other Star Alliance flights too.

UpstateEMS

homeOwner wrote: »

You can only call up within 6 weeks of travelling so eventually you get to a date where they say its outside the 6 weeks so you have to call back closer to the time. I do that and the same thing over again.

Use CO.com and search for reward availability. You should be able to find an "EasyPass" reward without much difficulty (50,000 miles transatlantic one-way), finding a "SaverPass" award (25,000 miles transatlantic one-way) is a bit more tricky. You may have better success out of LHR (similar to AA rewards), BFS, or SNN. The reward flights are loaded into the system somewhere between 9 and 12 months ahead of time (not 6 weeks), but SaverPass awards may not become available until closer in.

It doesnt mention this "fee" anywhere on their web site when it details the upgrade points.

Yes it does, in multiple places.
http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/onepass/rewards/upgrade/default.aspx
"Service fees will be assessed at the time of booking."

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/onepass/rewards/upgrade/charts/chart_6.aspx
"BusinessFirst Select Economy Fares Upgrade Policy: Members who purchase a non-Y fare can pay a non-refundable service fee* in addition to the miles in order to upgrade to BusinessFirst. See complete details and fee schedule."

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/onepass/rewards/upgrade/fees.aspx

Just a couple of other points.....
FlyerTalk reports that the CO agents are paid by the number of calls they take per period of time/shift. Therefore, the quicker they get you off the phone, the better. If you're not satisfied with what they've told you, call back and talk to a different agent.

The other thing that I have found for some reason, and I cannot explain why this is, talking to someone in the States rather than someone answering in Ireland or the UK seems to lead to better results for me. Try calling outside of business hours in Ireland so you get transferred to the States or dial direct using Skype.

The advantage to CO OnePass miles over most other carriers is that your miles do not expire if you do not travel.

Even if you use miles for the flight, you are still liable for the taxes and some fees on the ticket, that's the law.

Also, CO will be switching to the Star Alliance on October 27th, so you will be able to use your miles on BMI, Lufthansa, Swiss, etc.