Christopher Elliott just wrote an interesting piece on LinkedIn titled “Frequent flier programs are a scam – here’s why you should quit yours now.”
Mr. Elliott suggests you “Remove all the frequent flier cards from your pocket. Grab a pair of scissors, cut the plastic into tiny little pieces and toss it in the trash.” I couldn’t disagree more. In fact, I say do the opposite. Travelers should sign up to as many reward programs as possible because it’s basically free money if you play the game right.
I’m not suggesting you stick to one airline or alliance because if you do then Chris has a point that “loyalty programs are the crack cocaine of the travel industry.” I know firsthand as I used to give 98% of my business to United Airlines and their Star Alliance partners. I would fly them even if they cost more money than a competing airline on the same route. Actually, I was so obsessed with my United miles I would check the account balance every day and back then you had to call. Even worse, I would make a connection just to fly United even if another airline was flying where I needed to go without a stop.
Fortunately, I snapped out of it. It happened when I needed to fly from Los Angeles to Albuquerque (ABQ) and United didn’t have a nonstop flight so I went through Denver. When I learned my colleague flew nonstop on Southwest for less money and beat me to ABQ by about four hours I realized it was time to stop drinking United’s Kool-Aid.
I was able to quit cold turkey and you can too. All you have to do is purchase tickets based on the cheapest price and most convenient flight times (be sure to factor in the ancillary fees like baggage, seat assignments, ticket changes…).
I fly over 150,000 miles a year but instead of giving my business to one airline I spread the love which saves me money. So I’m not a super elite on one airline but I’m at least a silver (lowest level) elite frequent flier on three airlines: American, Delta and United. Because each of those airlines are a member the three airline alliances I get perks on all of their partner airlines.
That’s important to me since I fly about 30 different airlines a year. And when I fly I want to be able to get a good seat assignment (preferably exit row aisle), access to cheap or free upgrades, special lines so I don’t have to wait and can board early so my bag will have a spot in the overhead bin.
Chris Elliott does have a point that frequent flier programs are scammy (ahem, Delta) and I admit they can be addicting. But if you buy the cheapest and most convenient ticket then there’s no reason to cut up your frequent flier cards. I’ve taken hundreds of flights all around the world thanks to using my frequent flier miles – including treating my parents first class to Europe on multiple occasions. That never would’ve happened if it wasn’t for taking a few minutes to sign up to airline’s mileage programs and keeping track of my number.
For those who argue they stick to one airline so they can check bags for free… There’s ways of getting around it. First of all, you shouldn’t be checking a bag domestically. I rarely check a bag — even when I flew around the world for weeks at a time. You just don’t need that many clothes. Trust me – if my wife can do it – so can you. However, if you must check a bag, ship it ahead of time using FedEx, UPS or USPS’s ground service. If you do it a week in advance it’s usually cheaper, more dependable and will save you time and money once you land. You won’t have to wait around the baggage carousel and can then take public transportation.
Keep in mind some airline credit cards give you free checked bags. Heck, anytime an airline is offering thousands of bonus miles just to sign up to their credit card I do. The trick is you have to pay your bill off on time and negotiate or cancel it after a year if they won’t waive the annual fee. Here’s a list of the best travel credit cards and yes I do make a small commission on them but it doesn’t cost you anymore money and I would still be recommending them regardless if they paid me or not.
I could go on for hours on why you shouldn’t cut up your frequent flier cards but I’m about to book an award ticket so I can fly home for FREE.
Do you agree with me or Chris Elliott?
I intended to send you a very small observation to say thanks the moment again on the awesome thoughts you’ve featured in this article. It has been so shockingly generous with you to provide publicly what many individuals would’ve sold for an electronic book to end up making some bucks for themselves, particularly considering the fact that you could have tried it if you ever desired. The thoughts likewise served to become a fantastic way to know that other people have the identical zeal the same as mine to see a good deal more when considering this condition. I’m certain there are millions of more pleasant times in the future for individuals that read through your website.
yes they are a scam, idiot
I agree with you — they aren’t a scam at all. However, if you don’t fly frequently, the bulk of the accumulation is on credit cards, which we do use a lot. One thing you don’t address is the fees on credit cards, even if you pay them off every month as we do. $450 a year is a lot of fee, and when you factor in a 2.5% foreign exchange fee, the points do come at a cost. We’ve opted for a card that we collect on Star Alliance (aeroplan) but the annual fee is $175 for two cards.
I am not so sure I agree with your article. We just recently booked three round trip tickets from British Columbia to Zambia and the taxes alone cost us $2550! Trying to book business class or first class was not even an option we were told. The routing was not easy and we really had to change our dates. So you save your air miles and you end up not being able to use them the way you would like to. We have used them for long haul flights before but I would not do that again.
Half of the flights I take are free due to frequent flier miles. I get a lot of them through credit card and other offers, not just flights, but based on how much I get to travel using this I would never opt out of these programs. If you work it right they are well, well worth it!
I don’t fly as often as any of the posters above-so spreading the wealth can’t really work. And most of the time I do fly (3-6x/yr) btwn SAN and either ATL or JFK/LGA (to visit family). My choices are Jetblue (sometimes cheaper), delta, or united (with transfers or into ewr). So I usually fly delta, they have 2 nonstop daily btwn those cities. When I fly overseas I do look for the cheapest.