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SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2010
THE NAVIGATOR
Frequent-flier programs are a one-way ticket
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“win-wins” I’m not even referring to the recent precipitous devaluations in mileage programs. For example, at the beginning of this year, Hilton “updated” its award levels for free stays, increasing the number of points you need. An exasperated reader in Philadelphia sent me the notice with the following advice for his fellow frequent guests: “Use your points — now!” Nor am I talking about the onerous “co-pays” that some airlines recently added for mileage redemption, like the one Perry Bird had to shell out when he recently tried to book an upgrade on a flight from Dulles International Airport to St. Martin. It used to cost 60,000 miles for a bump to business class on United Airlines. “Now, United wants my 60,000 miles and an additional $1,400 for the same upgrade,” he told me. “Puhleese!” I don’t even have a problem with the maddening terms and conditions that stipulate that the points and miles don’t belong to you and that companies reserve the right to change the rules anytime without notice. I’m not making this up. Here’s an excerpt from American Airlines’ terms and conditions: “Accrued mileage credit and award tickets do not constitute property of the member. . . . American Airlines may, in its discretion, change the AAdvantage program rules, regulations, travel awards and special offers at any time with or without notice.” No, in my view, the winners obviously are the travel companies that have seduced their best customers with creature comforts that they probably ought to be giving everyone, and the losers are the elite-level lemmings, who have become blindly brand-loyal. Don’t bother sending me hate mail. When word got around that I — a loyalty-program atheist — was working on a story about the value of reward programs, it didn’t take long for the true believers to offer me a piece of their mind. “Of course they’re worth it,” snapped Charles Owen, a college professor in East Lansing, Mich. “You look at the costs and the benefits. The only cost associated with collecting miles is our decision to have a SkyMiles American Express with the associated fee. Other than that, they just accumulate, and every now and then we use them.”
And use them he has, to visit Europe and the Caribbean. Owen said he takes two “free” flights a year, thanks to a credit card that allows him to collect miles, which is also known as an
affinity card. Apart from the annual fee on a card, these programs appear to have no downside. Sure, there are blackout dates and restrictions, and award seats aren’t always available. But it’s a free ticket, right? Not right. There’s more to
loyalty programs than meets the eye, according to consumer advocate Jo Anne Shumard. “Cards that offer perks to consumers often do so at a premium interest rate,” she warned. “I even have one for
(other terms also apply). Christina Pappas, a Boston-based marketing consultant and frequent traveler, thinks it’s important that you control the miles, not the other way around. “All things being equal, I’ll try to remain loyal when possible,” she told me. “But there are times when it doesn’t make sense for me to make two connections just to get my points.” If you’re an unmanaged frequent business traveler, and you want to collect points, you’re
most carriers expire after one to three years of inactivity.” In other words, your miles would expire before you could use them, obviously negating any benefit. If you’re a frequent leisure
traveler, then sure, go for it, but with the same caveat I offered the unmanaged business travelers: Don’t get addicted and don’t let it control you. Look, I could spend a couple
of paragraphs talking up loyalty programs in an effort to convince you that I can be balanced on this subject. And while it’s true that these schemes aren’t without benefit, I figure that they have enough apologists already. Besides, that’s not my department; I handle the complaints. Speaking of complaints, here’s a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of offering their loyalty to a travel company. It comes to us by way of Robin Forman, a retired librarian in Miami and a frequent leisure traveler. She used some of the American Airlines miles that she’d collected by flying and making purchases with a Citibank MasterCard to upgrade on a flight from Brussels to Chicago. But when the flight was canceled after the recent volcanic eruption, the carrier pocketed a $350 “service charge” for using the miles. Forman asked for a refund.
LUCI GUTIERREZ FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
airline miles, but it’s almost three times the interest rate of my lowest credit card interest rate.”
Who should participate in a
loyalty program? If you’re a managed frequent business traveler, you have my blessing. By “managed” I mean that your company works with preferred vendors, and you fly, drive and stay with a set of companies whether you want to or not. Your loyalty isn’t for sale. Your points are just a byproduct of your business trips, and you’re far less likely to participate in irrational point-collecting or making silly mileage runs at the end of the year to qualify for coveted elite status, which entitles you to extra-special treatment when you’re on the road. For instance, “Chairman’s Preferred”-level frequent fliers on US Airways get priority check-in, security lanes and early boarding, unlimited free upgrades in the United States, up to three free checked bags and complimentary airport club membership. Alas, to reach that level, you have to fly 100,000 miles within a calendar year
playing a dangerous game. Falling in with the wrong crowd on FlyerTalk, a popular hangout for frequent travelers, isn’t the biggest risk to you. It is, instead, making purchasing decisions that are in the interests of your program, but not you. Bernard Pollack, a frequent
traveler and loyalty program member who lives in Dakar, Senegal, and is an elite-level frequent traveler with US Airways, United, Hilton and Starwood, thinks that programs warp your perspective, often enticing you to spend more on travel or ignore better prices with a competitor. “I don’t believe people should choose, and certainly not pay more for, certain airlines, hotels and cars because of the loyalty programs,” he said. What if you’re traveling for pleasure? If your trips are infrequent, you should stay on the sidelines, says Allison Danziger, director of TripAdvisor Flights. “One specific case is where a traveler would fly less often than the frequent-flier mile expiration window for their program,” she added. “Frequent-flier miles on
“Service charges are necessary to help offset the costs associated with these transactions,” an airline representative told her in an e-mail rejecting her request. “I’m sorry my response couldn’t be more positive.” Yeah, me too. Mileage addicts may argue
that people like Forman should double down and focus their loyalty on a single company. After all, top-tier elites don’t have to pay a lot of the fees that garden-variety frequent travelers do. But I see her story as a reason to reconsider loyalty programs entirely. Not to pick on American Airlines — a lot of the legacy airlines have these annoying fees for ticket awards — but if this is loyalty, what’s the point?
And that’s the thing: The harder you look at so-called “rewards” programs in travel, the harder it is to believe in them. They successfully entice travelers to drive, fly and stay with a particular company, giving them a level of service the companies should offer every customer.
But more often than not, the loyalty goes only one way.
Elliott is National Geographic Traveler magazine’s reader advocate. E-mail him at
celliott@ngs.org.
Miles to go before I reap
by Andrea Sachs
It’s irrational, I know. Frequent flier miles exist for my benefit, to treat me to a well-deserved vaca- tion, a bonus prize for being such a loyal traveler. And yet I still fear them. I don’t fully trust myself with them or them with me. I, dear friends, am a redee-
mophobe.
I am fully aware of this phobia;
I have all the symptoms. Whenev- er an awards program statement arrives in the mail, I quickly toss it, unopened. I prefer floating in a cloud of oblivion to knowing the truth — how many miles I’ve accu- mulated and how many are set to expire. And while I may briefly consider using them to book a trip, this dance is for show only. I know in my head and my heart what I’m really going to do: Pull out my credit card and keep my miles intact. Lest you think I am completely foolhardy, I do always input my mileage number for each reservation. I won’t spend them, but I’ll accrue them. I crept out of my cave of denial last week, around the time my parents returned from Turkey, a trip “paid” fully with miles. (For more tough love, my mother told me that our winter vacation to Ecuador was covered by miles, as will be their upcoming journey to Naples.) As I saw family and friends jetting around the world on the airlines’ purse strings, I re- alized that I was suffering from a condition that fell somewhere be- tween Hummel collectors and clinical hoarders. Help. For some phoned-in analysis, I
contacted Walter Brown, a clinical professor of psychiatry and hu- man behavior at Brown Univer- sity who has written extensively about hoarding. I was heartened to learn that my condition is not pathological, because, unlike true hoarding behavior, squirreling away miles like winter acorns is neither intrusive nor destructive to my life. “Collecting things is an innate element programmed in our brains,” Brown said, pointing to birds that gather string and bright beads and rodents that store food they never eat. He explained how during times of deprivation or famine (see wartime Europe), people cling to clothes and food as symbolic armor against potential hardships. Finally, he compared my problem to investors who don’t sell their stock, even when it’s sinking like a stone in a lake. (According to Tim Winship, guru of
FrequentFlier.com, miles used to be worth 2 cents per mile, but over recent years have depreciat- ed to 1.2 cents.) I beseeched Brown for treat- ment. “Face the phobia,” he coun- seled. “Spend some of those miles, and experience what that feels like.” I thanked him, promising to send a postcard from wherever my miles sent me. Before taking on my demons, I sought out one more voice of guid- ance — Winship, who advises trav-
elers on the intricacies of fre- quent-flier programs and has amassed many hundreds of thou- sands of miles himself. I asked him whether there were others like me, guarding a mountain of miles with no plan to scale it. “I’ve come across a lot of people who are socking away their miles for retirement or think they should wait till fares go up and it’s a better return on their invest- ment,” he said. “The number of outstanding miles sitting in peo- ple’s accounts is in the trillions, and is continually growing.” Then he gave me a you’re-not- alone hug: “I have trouble myself redeeming miles.” One of the biggest risks in stockpiling is that the miles could expire if they remain dormant for too long. Due to a recent policy change, airlines now nullify miles after 18 months to two years of in- activity, compared with three years previously. Aggrieved trav- elers should also note that when you don’t trade in your miles, Team Airlines scores the advan- tage, gaining your dollars and fe- alty without having to reciprocate. “Travel is so loaded psychologi- cally. It’s fraught with signifi- cance,” Winship said. “People are wont to defer [using their miles] because it feels like a big deci- sion.” (In those people’s defense, the difficulties and frustrations of redeeming miles can be emotion- ally scarring.) It was time. I spent most of a day calling all the airlines, inquiring about my balance. It was eye-opening. First, I learned that I have been a mem- ber of some of these programs since 1986, only five years after they were established. My contact information is still listed under my parents’ home address. (Am I secretly funding their wander- lust?) The American Airlines agent told me that I have two ac- counts (news to me) totaling 7,393, a mere crumb compared with the 21,402 that expired last year because I hadn’t flown with the airline for several years. Put head against wall and bang hard. My Delta miles are in the same neighborhood, 8,293. “You can’t use those for anything, flight- wise,” said the patient voice on the other end of the receiver. “But you can purchase something in the SkyMiles Marketplace, like um- brellas, golf clubs or a bike hel- met.” Wish I’d had that headgear before I called American. My mileage with US Airways was much more promising at 58,636, enough to take two trips anywhere within the continental United States, Canada or Alaska (25,000 miles each), or one flight to Hawaii (40,000), with miles to spare. My biggest windfall flew in on United’s wings. In the past 24 years, I have earned a whopping 145,843 miles, enough for a first- class trip to North or South Asia, the Middle East or Northern Afri- ca. Or I could take a trip to Aus- tralia and Europe. Or I could, er, hold on to them for just a little bit longer . . .
sachsa@washpost.com
BED CHECK
In Philly: Poor Richard, lucky me
by Nancy Trejos
The Hotel Palomar had me at the chartreuse Ben Franklin. That would be the lime-col- ored pop art bust of the Found- ing Father that rested on a pedes- tal beside the check-in desk. (There was a pink one and a blue one, too.) The last time I’d visited Phila- delphia, I’d stayed at the no-frills Club Quarters. I wish I’d known then that just around the corner, for almost the same price, I could have stayed at the Palomar, a 230-room hotel that’s the Kimp- ton chain’s first foray into the City of Brotherly Love. I felt at home in the Palomar
right away. Maybe because the lobby is designed to look like a living room, with a tan velvet semicircular sofa with blue pil- lows next to the fireplace. Wine and snacks are served there in the evening, coffee and tea in the morning.
section cannot return or acknowledge unsolicited manuscripts, article proposals and photographs.
TRAVEL
Along the way to my room, I admired the modern art collec- tion (I guess the ceramic roller skates on a table near an elevator are part of it). The hotel is in the art deco Architects Building, so the developers clearly paid atten- tion to design and decor. They also made the hotel eco-friendly, earning it LEED certification. My room had a long hallway,
creating the illusion of more space. And an illusion it was. Still, the room was much bigger than my Club Quarters room had been, and much more fabulous. There was an upholstered laven- der headboard set off with orna- mental leather straps. The Frette linens were white, but a black throw with neon green geomet- ric shapes made the bed pop. The bathroom was simple, with white marble sink tops, but its lilac walls added zing. The bath prod- ucts were L’Occitane. Classy. In the closet hung two bathrobes: one zebra print, one leopard. Not classy, but fun.
There were other amenities.
You could fill out a card to have the hotel print out your airplane boarding pass. You could order a goldfish in a bowl if you were feeling lonely. And if you were traveling with a pet, that would be okay, because the hotel is pet- friendly. For dinner, I decided to try Square 1682, the hotel restau- rant. I took the elevator down to the second floor, where I was de- posited in a long, dark hallway. It took me a while to spot the door leading to the restaurant’s sec- ond-floor dining room. There was no host in sight, so I went downstairs, but I couldn’t find a host there, either. The bartender told me to sit anywhere in the lounge, so I grabbed a cushioned seat with a small table. I liked the dimly lit, intimate
decor. And my salad of beets, en- dive and frisee with duck pro- sciutto, a poached egg, cranberry dressing and raisin nut bread was really flavorful, though I
DETAILS
Hotel Palomar
117 S. 17th St., Philadelphia 215-563-5006
www.hotelpalomar-
philadelphia.com
Rates start at $189 but vary widely. Look for special packages, such as Stay More and Save, from $139, or Philly Overnight, from $179 double occupancy.
DAVID PHELPS
Art fills the public areas of the Hotel Palomar in Philadelphia.
wasn’t quite sure whether all those ingredients worked togeth- er.
The next morning, I hit the
gym, which was small but had all the equipment needed for a de- cent workout, plus water and fruit.
Back in my room, I toyed with
the idea of room service but then recalled that I had gotten the room through the Spring on Sale promotion, which included two free continental breakfasts. The voucher didn’t apply to room service, however. And I realized that I hadn’t actually received my voucher. When I went to the
front desk to ask for it, the clerk was overly apologetic. I wish he’d been apologetic enough to let me apply it to room service (and to waive the exorbitant $37 over- night parking fee for my Beetle). Nonetheless, I had a nice breakfast in the restaurant. The waiter brought me a gigantic cup of coffee, orange juice, a small blueberry muffin, a croissant and some fruit. He came back several times to ask whether I needed anything else. I was just fine. Perhaps the only thing missing was another whimsical Ben Franklin bust.
trejosn@washpost.com
Editor: Joe Yonan • Deputy Editor: Zofia Smardz • Art Directors: Marty Barrick, Alla Dreyvitser • Staff Writers: Andrea Sachs, Nancy Trejos • Editorial Assistant: Becky Krystal • Travel Advertising: Joseph E. Teipe Jr., 202-334-6250 • To respond to one of our articles: E-mail
travel@washpost.com, call 202-334-7750 or write us: Washington Post Travel section, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. • Manuscripts: Because of the volume of mail we receive, the Travel
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