GAAAH!!!!

[MSUDAWG]

Here comes the rant....
So I have an interview next Tuesday and have been trying to find a somewhat cheap ticket up there to the interview. The other day when I looked it was 800 something now its down to 700, woo hoo big savings there..
So I try to use miles, they want 50k miles for a roundtrip...Since when, I thought itwas only 25k. This sucks so bad, dont know how ill swing this one!! O well, I guess they have to pay these darn CEO's bonuses and stock packages somehow.....

/rant

[Andrew_VT]

ok...I'll bite. Why don't you interview at a place that will 'SA1' you out there?

It better be a good job for $700!!

Edit: maybe you could ask around for a buddy pass to borrow? If you are interviewing with regionals I'd be willing to bet you'd get a job at some point, so you would be able to pay back the buddy pass at some point.

[GalaxyIFE]

Since you have started a good rant, let me add. So I am on hold with a carrier with a "cool new widget ". I attempted to redeem some miles for a family member...well, the site said "just change the name if it isn't yours". OK, so I try this and I keep getting "invalid data". Right, so I call customer service (whateva!!!) and after being on hold for 28 minutes, I get it changed. All good, right? NOPE!!! They cancelled the reservation!!! Good God man, is this really that hard?!? So again, I am on hold and have been for another 22 minutes...and they wonder why airlines get such RAVE reviews...Oh yes, and to add insult to injury, while on hold I was given a website where customers can "suggest changes", well the site is down...go figure.

[NotCoolEnufToFly]

Originally Posted by GalaxyIFE

...and to add insult to injury, while on hold I was given a website where customers can "suggest changes", well the site is down...go figure.

That's really funny!

[MSUDAWG]

Originally Posted by Andrew_VT

ok...I'll bite. Why don't you interview at a place that will 'SA1' you out there?

It better be a good job for $700!!

Edit: maybe you could ask around for a buddy pass to borrow? If you are interviewing with regionals I'd be willing to bet you'd get a job at some point, so you would be able to pay back the buddy pass at some point.

Wel I would if they were a 121 carrier...My old instructor works for a regional and is on OE right now and wasnt sure if he was going to be off on the date I need. If he is, he is going to take me out there on buddy pass since he cant just give me one....If not, well option #2 comes in effect....

Dont know what option 2 is yet....

[Murdoughnut]

Mileage programs have gone to ####. I'm not sure where in the course of airline management it became a good idea to dick around your most loyal customers, but that seems to be the way it's going.

Were you on AA by chance? I've had problems with them lately - used to be able to fly for 25k miles, now I can't unless it's at 6:00am on a Wednesday.

[MSUDAWG]

no it wasnt AA althought they were about 800 something to buy one....NWA wanted 7something or 50k miles

[BobDDuck]

At the airline I work for (well, the parent airline) the CEO has stated multiple times that their market is NOT their frequent fliers. It is the "travel twice a year" vacation market. Great, so we could fill a plane with 20 REALLY high fares and the rest vacation fares or we could fill a plane with all low paying vacation fares. I guess the benefit of having all leisure travel is that you don't have to provide any service or worry about customer loyalty. And this from what used to be the number one business airline on the eastern seaboard. It's ok though, it's 90 and sunny out in the south west.

[Murdoughnut]

Originally Posted by BobDDuck

At the airline I work for (well, the parent airline) the CEO has stated multiple times that their market is NOT their frequent fliers. It is the "travel twice a year" vacation market. Great, so we could fill a plane with 20 REALLY high fares and the rest vacation fares or we could fill a plane with all low paying vacation fares. I guess the benefit of having all leisure travel is that you don't have to provide any service or worry about customer loyalty. And this from what used to be the number one business airline on the eastern seaboard. It's ok though, it's 90 and sunny out in the south west.

That makes no sense to me - corporate contracts are where the money has always been. The law firm a friends works for recently backed out of their contract with United. Their attorneys flew first class and were tired of being bumped to coach or off their flight completely. In the one office (San Diego) they spent nearly 250,000 per month in air travel. They now have a policy of not flying United unless absolutely necessary.

Company's are the only customers that don't search around for the lowest price (usually). I'm surprised at this attitude.

You know what it really reminds me of - the fast food business. I do a lot of research work in that sector, and it's amazing how poorly these restaurants did when they catered to what the majority of people said they wanted (healthy options, salads, etc.). Burger King's CEO got it right - he realized that the 25% of people who wanted the greasy burgers, accounted for 75% of their sales.

[av8sean]

Welcome to the summer travel season. My East Coast - West Coast tickets have gone from $350 to about $550+++ depending on what day I leave. And redeeming my DELTA miles is becoming totally futile... try going on the website and getting any flight to Asia (ICN/NRT/DXB) for the next 3 months... not a single day has any availability to any city in business class. Same problem for almost any European city, maybe 1 day per month there'll be something available with a few 5 hour layovers.

[GalaxyIFE]

I don't think that there is a such thing as "customer loyalty" anymore. Companies are going quarter to quarter. Shoot, it seems like CEOs aren't hanging around very long either...they bring revenues up for 2 quarters, take the bonus and punch out...

[eagledriver101]

Hey, where, and from where are you going to? My Mother In Law works for JetBlue Airways, and I can she if she can hook you up with something, I know she gets buddy passes for Southwest, and Delta I think. And JetBlue of course. I think it may be some stand by, but if you want to give me the details, I'll see what I can do for you.

[ASpilot2be]

I have had good luck with Alaskas mileage plan program.