Travel Agent Booked Biz Class - turns out he used his points and took cash for himself

[funnymummy]

Recently on a cruise we were told a similar story by a lady that had bought a business class fare from a Physical TA shop in a state that you can’t drive to- and after flight when queried no show of points to airlines she was advised the ticket she’d flown was an award flight so not eligible. She had paid advertised market price.

 

[Jack_OC]

Recently on a cruise we were told a similar story by a lady that had bought a business class fare from a Physical TA shop in a state that you can’t drive to- and after flight when queried no show of points to airlines she was advised the ticket she’d flown was an award flight so not eligible. She had paid advertised market price.

What does "advertised market price" mean? It could simply mean the price advertised by that specific TA, in which case it doesn't really mean anything.

Since fares fluctuate wildly depending on specifically where/when someone is going and when they book, the only way she could know that she paid the actual going rate is if she checked the fare available directly from the airline for exactly the same flights at the time of booking. If she went to the trouble to do that, and found it was the same as the fare advertised by the TA, I'd be curious to know why she didn't just book directly with the airline. If that is what happened, then I guess it's a lesson learned - book directly with the airline unless you have a very good reason to do otherwise.

 

[RoMambai]

I say good luck to him

I do too. It's a win win situation. It's not something I would partake in but I admire the chap's entrepreneurial spirit. I understand it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

 

[SOPOOR]

I do too. It's a win win situation. It's not something I would partake in but I admire the chap's entrepreneurial spirit. I understand it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

exactly, if you do decide to make a awards redemption for a relative years down the track, this could trigger an investigation (unlikely) but still possible, if you do get your account suspended and you lose your points, youre in deep poo with no recourse

 

[drron]

I do too. It's a win win situation. It's not something I would partake in but I admire the chap's entrepreneurial spirit. I understand it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

No it's a lose situation for those playing the game by the rules as there are premium awards being taken out of the market.
Only time before someone gets really annoyed and reports what's going on and then it becomes a lose=lose situation.

 

[RoMambai]

That's where I beg to differ. There are periods in every ones life where travel opportunities are not at the forefront (kids, ill health, work) so rather than lose points (for those programs where there is a time limit to use them) or suffer points devaluations, it makes better sense to at least recoup something for them than lose them for nothing. The person gets cash and the person purchasing them gets a discounted fare. Oh and the middle man takes a handsome cut.

I wouldn't say it's a victimless crime but others may .

 

[drron]

That's where I beg to differ. There are periods in every ones life where travel opportunities are not at the forefront (kids, ill health, work) so rather than lose points (for those programs where there is a time limit to use them) or suffer points devaluations, it makes better sense to at least recoup something for them than lose them for nothing. The person gets cash and the person purchasing them gets a discounted fare. Oh and the middle man takes a handsome cut.

I wouldn't say it's a victimless crime but others may .

Definitely not victimless.Read all the threads on how hard it is to get QF premium cabin rewards here on AFF.This cuts others out of being able to get their redemptions.
And of course against the T&Cs of the program.Just as well QF doesn't have a presence here anymore.

 

[RoMambai]

Hmmmm. Many would argue that our 'gaming' of the system is what is helping contribute to the lack of premium award space.

I'm not in any way arguing that what we do in legitimately churning cards equates to the arbitrage that this chap on ozbargain is exploiting, but we are hardly exemplars in this endeavour. A spade should be called a spade.

 

[The Flying Brick]

Definitely not victimless.Read all the threads on how hard it is to get QF premium cabin rewards here on AFF.This cuts others out of being able to get their redemptions.
And of course against the T&Cs of the program.Just as well QF doesn't have a presence here anymore.

I couldn’t agree more with drron.
The availability of J and F redemptions on most overseas routes on QF is poor to say the least and quite often non existent as the small pool of available seat is sucked by these leeches who pose as ‘travel agents’.

It is time that QF acts exactly as AA have done for many years and shut down these dodgy operators and the accounts of the people who feed them.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Definitely not victimless.Read all the threads on how hard it is to get QF premium cabin rewards here on AFF.This cuts others out of being able to get their redemptions.
And of course against the T&Cs of the program.Just as well QF doesn't have a presence here anymore.

This practice was going on even when QF was monitoring the boards. It probably goes on with most airlines. But points availability isn’t only affected by people buying and selling points... you can buy AA miles to redeem QF premium, or Avios. So you can legitimately buy points, for a hefty discount, and still take what’s available.

A person could either buy a business class to europe for $5000 through a points broker, or through AA. what’s the difference?

 

[funnymummy]

Well our take on the discussion with the lady was that it seemed strange that when you pay $ for an air ticket with a TA you would reasonably expect to be sold a ticket that gave you the ability to cancel , change and earn points etc. she reported that she’d never been told she was paying $ for anyone’s FF points and thought she was actually purchasing a revenue ticket

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Just to note a slight correction to the article in the AFF Gazette... the OP in this case did not pay ‘full price’. They got a very cheap (but not insanely cheap) deal.

That somewhat changes the scenario... at least opens the potential that the OP may have known some special arrangement applied, but perhaps not that it excluded points earning.

 

[SOPOOR]

I couldn’t agree more with drron.
The availability of J and F redemptions on most overseas routes on QF is poor to say the least and quite often non existent as the small pool of available seat is sucked by these leeches who pose as ‘travel agents’.

It is time that QF acts exactly as AA have done for many years and shut down these dodgy operators and the accounts of the people who feed them.

I havent been in teh game for as long as you guys, has avaiaibity gone down?
it may have gone down because the airlines release less,

do we have any hard evidence or tables that show how many are released ?

 

[TomVexille]

Just to note a slight correction to the article in the AFF Gazette... the OP in this case did not pay ‘full price’. They got a very cheap (but not insanely cheap) deal.

That somewhat changes the scenario... at least opens the potential that the OP may have known some special arrangement applied, but perhaps not that it excluded points earning.

But without knowing what the price was, we can't actually know if it was cheap or not

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But without knowing what the price was, we can't actually know if it was cheap or not

True. But the tone of the OP's post suggests it was a 'good deal'. Anyway, they seem to have gone for the moment. Perhaps we'll never know.

 

[williamsf1]

I would at least be expecting the SQ/VA points to be credited to your account. Or the equivalent in value.

How would that happen? the airline is not at fault they won't pay and can't be a " family transfer"

 

[JessicaTam]

How would that happen? the airline is not at fault they won't pay and can't be a " family transfer"

Hence my second sentence: "Or the equivalent in value".

 

[Jack_OC]

Hence my second sentence: "Or the equivalent in value".

IMHO, the lack of SCs (or KF Elite Miles) is more of an issue than points/miles. Obviously points have value, but the fare may have been sufficiently reduced to compensate for the lack of points. For example, MEL-SIN-LHR rtn in J earns around 26,000 KF miles, which would be worth ~$520 if you value the miles at 2c each. As others have pointed out, we don't know how much the OP paid for his fare, but he said it was "cheap", so it's reasonable to speculate that the "discount" was at least $520 ($520 would represent a discount of ~6-8% off a typical fare).

As it happens, a similar situation presents itself all the time when booking with SQ, or VA flights operated by SQ. They have fares that earn only 0.1 point per mile flown, which is virtually nothing, but people still select those fares because they are cheap.

SCs/Elite Miles are a different story - there is pretty much no alternative way of earning them, and the flight in question might have been the difference between getting/retaining status or not. It would be very hard to determine what appropriate compensation would be for missing out on status, as it's hard to put a tangible value on status in the first place.

This may not be important to the OP, or indeed to many people, but if it is relevant, it's a major issue.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hence my second sentence: "Or the equivalent in value".

Maybe the difference in the fare between what the OP paid and the retail already compensated for the lack of miles?

I guess one of a couple of things might have happened to the OP. Either they're still in negotiations with the TA, they've decided to pursue the matter with consumer affairs, or the TA has reminded them that the $4000 (or whatever) they paid was a great deal for a return SQ fare to Europe and they should pipe down!

 

[TomVexille]

True. But the tone of the OP's post suggests it was a 'good deal'. Anyway, they seem to have gone for the moment. Perhaps we'll never know.

We probably won't ever know. I was reading some comments about AFG on another website the other day and there were posters who seemed to think that $7700 return to Europe in J was a "good deal".