Here are three reader questions from the past week that I have decided to reply here publicly. You can always email me, leave a note or private message on Facebook, or Tweet me with your questions.
Note that I can shorten the emails and edit them for clarity. I always remove the personal information of both the reader and front line employees. If there are managers involved, I may leave their names intact, however.
Question From Andrew Regarding Expedia Best Rate Guarantee Program
John, your recent about your recent Expedia brg. Were the cancellation conditions identical? I have had numerous brg claims denied for a one minute difference in cancellation times. At my usual destination Expedia has perhaps a hundred hotels, but the only sites that have identical cancellation times are Expedia owned sites like hotel.com and Expedia network like travelocity, which tend to have identical prices.
Also, Expedia owes me numerous approved and stayed brg claims , but does not respond to my emails. Is there a next step for me? Do I need to get a lawyer (I am not litigious and do not know any lawyers so this would really be a last resort)? Registered letter? Complaint to my state (California ) attorney general?
On the most recent BRG case, both Expedia and Orbitz prices for this specific hotel were prepaid and non-cancelable.
I have problem with one specific claim that I filed, but which Expedia never replied to. It is now 2 months from the filing date and I did reply to the email, forwarded it to both BRG Review and Elite Plus departments but no replies so far.
You could open a file with the Attorney General of the State that you live in or the state of Washington. I would do this only if your Expedia account is squeaky clean. I know that some filed claims in the past for stays that they later canceled, but used the BRG coupons associated with these stays. I never did this, however. They later closed this loophole.
Marcus Is Relocating To Singapore And Would Like To Know What Frequent Flier Plan To Choose?
I love your website, though funny enough I only came across it after passing 7mill BIS miles. It’s quite entertaining to see some of the posts and madness that miles have grown into. Over the years i’ve held various status, from HON to GS and many other gold’s but less “appealing ones.”
Had one question, am relocating currently to Singapore. With UA’s product just not being competitive to the likes of SQ/CX/ANA, am thinking maybe its time to focus on flying the best products and collect in a program that gives the most miles per flight and has a decent award chart (less devalued than others and actually good availability). I know that probably doesn’t exist, hence i thought i would ask the ultimate expert on his opinion. Here is my read on SQ (please disagree if you have a different POV): I pretty much only fly business so lounge etc comes with the ticket already.
SQ: only good for SQ availability on long haul (Europe/US), not useful for Intra-asian or partners. Doesn’t give a lot of miles (i think max 25%) bonus.
CX: don’t really know
ANA: don’t really know
Asiana: don’t really know
TG: don’t really know
OTHERS….??????
So in a nutshell:
– who would give the most amount of bonus miles (business tickets), the earning piece
– decent (not like UA’s) award chart (for C/Cl only), the value piece
– decent availability on short notice (i can’t plan month in advance), the utilization piece
Any toughest on which credit card to take up in the Sing market?
Have a great holiday season and maybe we meet one day at airport lounge.
Using miles for intra-Asia trips is mostly lose-lose proposition nowadays due to high fuel surcharges on award trips and the prices are getting more competitive especially in economy due to the rise of many low coast carriers in the region.
If the reader plans to use his miles for long-haul business and first class tickets, I would probably credit the earned miles towards KrisFlier. The award availability is usually quite ok for KrisFlier members and the number of miles required at the saver level for business and first are not that bad actually. I have been planning to move some miles into the program for use in long-haul tickets.
I am not familiar with the credit card products offered in Singapore, but I am sure that some of LoyaltyLobby readers are.
Worth Extra 2 Starwood Stays To Hit 50 Nights For The Year To Get The Suite Night Awards?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the exact reader emails (my email inbox is almost unmanageable at this point), but the question was regarding getting 50 qualifying nights this year with SPG.
Are two extra unnecessary nights worth paying or using points for to get the SNA’s (Suite Night Awards)?
My personal opinion is, although many will disagree, that these Suite Night Awards are close to worthless.
They book into the base level suite up to 5 days or less before your intended arrival. They do not have the same availability as the standard suites, however.
My hunch us that most of the time you would have received the upgrade regardless had you applied the SNA’s to the reservation or not. Even when the SNA’s don’t clear, it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t get the upgrade at the time of checking in.
READ MORE: READER QUESTIONS: Accor Day Room, US Airways Downgrade & Merging IHG Accounts
Conclusion
Keep the emails and messages coming. I will have these READER QUESTION pieces at least once a week (sometimes more often) and try to cover issues that would help LoyaltyLobby readers
