Dealing with / advising family and amateurs :/

[Berlin]

In this case, I'm on your friend's side. You offered advice that did not take account of her preferences and circumstances - and raised her expectations that she could get an upgrade when she couldn't. Hopefully that's a learning point for both of you.

It was a work colleague asking me if using points for a Webber was good value and I told her that, no, wasting points on stuff like this is never good value.

I don’t have take into account anything, I’m a friendly work colleague and not her shrink

 

[harvyk]

It was a work colleague asking me if using points for a Webber was good value and I told her that, no, wasting points on stuff like this is never good value.

I don’t have take into account anything, I’m a friendly work colleague and not her shrink

See, you simply told a story when it didn't work out, and it's again all your fault

 

[Berlin]

See, you simply told a story when it didn't work out, and it's again all your fault

It sure is!

 

[Mr H]

It was a work colleague asking me if using points for a Webber was good value and I told her that, no, wasting points on stuff like this is never good value.

The Webber grill might have been good value for your colleague. Saving the points for the dream upgrade or reward flight might work for you, but it clearly isn't working for your colleague. If you get the same question again, you could suggest different things you could do with the points and be clear about the restrictions/limitations that come with each option. Then your colleague could make an informed choice.

Years ago I had a stack of Jersey European points that I never redeemed because I thought there would always have been a better way to use them. The scheme changed and my points were just pretty stickers in a pile of booklets. Should have got a toaster!

 

[Julesmac]

I have a happy story! A friend's husband flies o/s dozens of times a year and almost weekly within Aus/NZ.Years ago I recommended he join AFF & Q club. I then told him he could check out the AFF website and learn all kinds of trips and tricks. He took my little bit of info and ran with it, he'd now be the biggest P in the A, boring anyone he meets about absolutely anything to do with bookings. He and my friend have had some really special trips as a result I, of course, am his number one favourite person. Note: that has not translated so far into a freebie RTW in Suites as a thanks but I keep hoping....

 

[Saab34]

I’ve given up on assisting my parents booking a lot of travel now they have retired.

They have this mentality of needing to have the entire trip booked minimum 12 months out. The sweet spot for booking is 3-6 months out. $2k economy return to London is about $500-$800 off what the best price is as I told them to wait. Big arguments pursued and they decided to book it all themselves.

I forgot to turn of the Google Price watch so 6 months later they got a alert that the SQ fare price dropped to $1200. They nearly divorced lol.

 

[coriander]

Not only family.......

One of my locums who worked for me over the years when we travelled to USA and EU on FF points or upgrades ("how do you get to sit up the front all the time, fly for free etc") purchased their own practice with a turnover well up in the seven figures. I sat down with her to go through paying EVERYTHING on cards (back-of-envelope I figured credit-cardable expenses at least $120k per month) as I have been doing. Great idea, she said, but "my accountant says he doesn't like the 2-step accounts payment (ie bill -> cc -> pay cc bill) so I better not use your system! Besides I'd have to have a few credit cards and keep track of points and look for flights so far ahead".

Weeping to think there's a J SQ redemption (advantage even, so easier to find seats) to EU being wasted every month.

 

[Berlin]

If you get the same question again, you could suggest different things you could do with the points and be clear about the restrictions/limitations that come with each option. Then your colleague could make an informed choice.

Or I could just learn my lesson here and not waste any time anymore trying to help some ungrateful work colleagues.

Let them buy their damn toaster ovens and leave the few premium award seats to someone who really cares

 

[Flying mermaid]

I have a happy story! A friend's husband flies o/s dozens of times a year and almost weekly within Aus/NZ.Years ago I recommended he join AFF & Q club. I then told him he could check out the AFF website and learn all kinds of trips and tricks. He took my little bit of info and ran with it, he'd now be the biggest P in the A, boring anyone he meets about absolutely anything to do with bookings. He and my friend have had some really special trips as a result I, of course, am his number one favourite person. Note: that has not translated so far into a freebie RTW in Suites as a thanks but I keep hoping....

mine was the other way round - the friend who I used to do all the award bookings for was the one who made me join the FF program. Master FM and I were flying F to Europe and the friend said I should join. I said I couldn’t be bothered filling in the forms. So he got 5 forms, filled them in, got us all to sign and then posted them in. Having then discovered that points were actually quite nice and having learnt a lot from this board, I felt the least I could do was do all his award bookings for him, as a thank-you, until he learnt his way around

 

[kpro]

Working for a company where we all travel frequently, I concur that there are many that will happily spend all their points on bags, headphones and coffee machines. Some of them are of the type who understand from my stories of F class on Emirates and RTW J trip's that this isn't the best way to use the points. However, they prefer to have a more tangible, longer lasting product and fly on holiday with Jetstar. Others "don't understand" how i have so many points to fly J everywhere, but will continue to waste points on headphones.
In either case, not too worried as it means more flight availability.

My retired parents on the other hand, book paid J or W flights 3 months in advance and always say there's no award availability. When I tell them to be flexible with dates and book much earlier, they ignore this advice and always go for a specific date. The only time they have recently used points was for a DOM Y flight.
Recently they booked a return, paid J flight to Europe on BA. This was a 3 stop flight, and a good 25% more expensive then EK or QR. My mums reasoning was that BA is safer then the Middle Eastern airlines, and that she doesn't trust EK/QR's track record. She had nothing to say when i told her they were just as safe.

 

[VPS]

Not only family.......

One of my locums who worked for me over the years when we travelled to USA and EU on FF points or upgrades ("how do you get to sit up the front all the time, fly for free etc") purchased their own practice with a turnover well up in the seven figures. I sat down with her to go through paying EVERYTHING on cards (back-of-envelope I figured credit-cardable expenses at least $120k per month) as I have been doing. Great idea, she said, but "my accountant says he doesn't like the 2-step accounts payment (ie bill -> cc -> pay cc bill) so I better not use your system! Besides I'd have to have a few credit cards and keep track of points and look for flights so far ahead".

Weeping to think there's a J SQ redemption (advantage even, so easier to find seats) to EU being wasted every month.

You just want to go WTF are you thinking

 

[travelguy]

Hi all,

just a late night thread posted in defeat.

many of us try to help others (I am talking here about family / friends - not AFF'ers) with travel matters. Because we have learnt many lessons and want to really help. But such attempts to help the ignorant almost invariably end up as a loss.

My sister has to travel to Colombia next month to attend a wedding. She has traveled overseas a couple of times, but that was a while ago so is effectively a novice. I get that, I understand that travel is not a usual beast for most people. And so I tried to help. I have what could be said to be a "solid" level of experience in this travel destination. (for those that do not know me I have done sth america a zillion times)

She needs to get from Brisbane to Medellin, Colombia. I gave her endless advice and support. I instantly halved her travel costs by suggesting such things as getting a ticket to Bogota, and a second ticket to hop from there to Medellin, rather than the extreme pricing that a single ticket all the way would get. . I told her online airfares are a complex thing, and that they often defy logic. I explained how in the modern era it was as cheap now on this route to book via the actual airline as via third parties, and that this was much safer if things went awry. I spent hours looking (as any decent AFF person does ) and handed her the best way to do this - book direct with QF to get to BOG, and get a separate ticket within Colombia for the BOG-MDE.

She was all set up to do this, but I had to disappear for a few days. When I got back online, I saw an email from her. She has decided to book through Flight Centre.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHH

I hope her flights are without drama, but on that route there are a million pitfalls. Maybe she will be lucky. I hope so. But OI swear that is the last time I try to help someone.

Flying is a complex game. We have all learnt much - through personal travel or from the great knowledge base here. But infrequent travelers just simply do not get it. Not their fault, but IMHO it is a very perilous thing to attempt to help these people.

She booked through Flight Centre!! AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Flight Centre are so happy with their status as the "go to" for people who do not know they will not even price match any more. I use them for CBA Awards prices sometimes. However, I only do so for hotels. For airfares they cannot come close.

 

[travelguy]

Working for a company where we all travel frequently, I concur that there are many that will happily spend all their points on bags, headphones and coffee machines. Some of them are of the type who understand from my stories of F class on Emirates and RTW J trip's that this isn't the best way to use the points. However, they prefer to have a more tangible, longer lasting product and fly on holiday with Jetstar. Others "don't understand" how i have so many points to fly J everywhere, but will continue to waste points on headphones.
In either case, not too worried as it means more flight availability.

My retired parents on the other hand, book paid J or W flights 3 months in advance and always say there's no award availability. When I tell them to be flexible with dates and book much earlier, they ignore this advice and always go for a specific date. The only time they have recently used points was for a DOM Y flight.
Recently they booked a return, paid J flight to Europe on BA. This was a 3 stop flight, and a good 25% more expensive then EK or QR. My mums reasoning was that BA is safer then the Middle Eastern airlines, and that she doesn't trust EK/QR's track record. She had nothing to say when i told her they were just as safe.

Safer, better quality and better customer service.

 

[Kevin Chan]

My sister's ego is so fragile that she can't tolerate advice from anyone. So I just let her make mistakes.

I don't even bother any more.

 

[waltervp]

I fell everyone's pain. I try not to give advice anymore because it either backfires or they ignore your advice. Still it pains me to hear of people wasting 35000 QFF points on a points and pay Sydney Melbourne flight, or squandering 40k points on a business class upgrade on some domestic route, or fail to get a credit card that provides miles because they like to use cash with their 100k income.

I'm on a pension and love to get some of their points or cash!

We take great pride in our tactics and value each other's advice, but friends and family often have their own ways. Luckily my family is pretty savvy mostly.

 

[JohnM]

After some of these stories, no wonder QF FF was the biggest profit centre in the group for a while.

 

[potm]

I can't even get my partner to churn credit cards for the bonus points. "I don't feel comfortable ringing up to cancel the card"

All credit cards can be cancelled online now. It is the law that the option must be provided.

 

[henleybeach]

My parents did a similar thing a couple years ago.
They wanted flights , a couple nights accommodation in Europe and a cruise. I did it all online and spent hours coming up with different options. All up came to 17k.
A week later I rang dad and he said they went with FC because if something went wrong they would fix it
They paid 19k instead of 17k and when I checked their itinerary about a month later I noticed FC had stuffed up their flight connection with Emirates, they had a 11 hour connection in Dubai instead of the 2 hour connection. I went down and seen them and they tried saying that flight was fully booked even know we were talking 9 months away. After showing her a dummy booking for the earlier flight connection and it was the same price, FC then preceded to say , “ ok when can change it , it’s only 150pp!”
Then after about 3 months my parents got a letter in the mail stating that FC had miscalculated their price and they owed FC $2.20! This was after they had spent and fully paid $19k with them !
Needless to say after that my parents have learnt their lesson and trusted me ever since !

 

[2infinity]

All credit cards can be cancelled online now. It is the law that the option must be provided.

Great to know. Knew it was coming, but hadn't heard it was in.

 

[harvyk]

Arg, this scenario is playing out for me right now. In the next office over one of my colleagues is having a whinge about flying stuff to my boss (including how he knows better than the safety video), and I made the mistake of interjecting on some misinformation he just sprouted.

His comment to me "You obviously never fly then". Whilst I corrected what he just said I've had to put my headphones with music on otherwise I just know I'm going to be getting into some sort of argument.

His source? He did a trip to MEL on the weekend and now he's an expert at this flying business.