Do frequent flier mileage programs make you dishonest?

I’ve been taking the predictable flack from the Flyertalk crowd after my recent tirade against loyalty programs. I don’t mind; I’m well-protected here in Orlando’s Green Zone.

Since we talk about right and wrong on this site frequently (see this morning’s post about the ethics of double-dipping on an insurance claim) I thought I’d share one reader email about loyalty programs that got me thinking.

It comes to us by way of David Rubenstein, who works for a nonprofit foundation in Washington:

If I leased office space for my company and the real estate agent gave me $20,000 under the table as a “thank you,” it would be an illegal kickback.

If I purchased a dozen computers for my office, and the sales agent gave me a digital camera as a gift, that would be a small, illegal kickback.

If I purchased travel services and an airline gave me a portion of a free flight, it would also be a kickback.

If we made the best possible purchase decisions, the airlines wouldn’t waste money on offering frequent flyer miles. They do offer them because they know we will make uneconomic decisions for our employers in order to gain personal benefits.

Frequent flyer mileage programs result in dishonest behavior.

Interesting.

Do loyalty programs make you dishonest? Is there a line between rewarding your customers — and bribing them? And if so, where is it?

The other issue is this one: How can these kinds of loyalty programs, which obviously influence purchasing decisions in a way that benefits the company, continue to be virtually unregulated?

Like many readers of this site, I believe in a free market. But a completely unregulated market is rarely good for the consumer.

  • http://bidontravel.com/blog/ Don Nadeau

    You are presuming that because frequent flyer programs open a door to dishonesty we will all walk through it. I never have and never will.

    You can easily benefit from frequent flyer programs without ripping off anyone.

  • Pam

    I think airlines have shot themselves in the foot in this one. Schedule and price weigh into my decision far more than frequent flier miles – and a large part of that is probably because I know that by the time I have enough frequent flier miles to go on a trip, they’ll have expired, or I won’t be able to get a seat with them. Frequent flier miles are pretty much useless for the average user.

    I was thinking, is this the case for more frequent travelers? My brother in law flies all the time for work, and he doesn’t take miles into consideration either. He too is concerned with schedule, and his company is concerned with price.

    So, I think flier miles are pretty much useless for 99% of fliers out there. Those who have figured out how to work the system to their advantage, do so (and more power to them), but I’m guessing the rest of us don’t even think about them too much anymore; we just accumulate them, knowing they’ll expire or be unusable.

  • Jesse

    David does have a point.It is true that we sometimes would rather make our employer pay more and reap those benefits of miles, nights at hotels etc.

    The other side of the coin comes in when we ahve to stop and think for a second about this as a tradeoff. We give up part of our life (nights and weekends with no pay) and in return we get to pick our loyalty programs so when we stay at a hotel we get the better room, or when we fly to any destination (business or personal) we can get a better seat assignment or boarding the plane faster.

    Just like anything else, this argument does have two sides.

  • Steve

    David’s comment has a point, but only in a minority of situations. To make a blanket statement like “frequent flyer mileage programs result in dishonest behavior” is ridiculous.

    It’s ridiculous because many, if not most, of us who travel for business have limited control (or none at all) of which carrier we fly on. My company’s travel department books all of our flights, and while we can contact them to request a change (that may or may not be approved), we certainly can’t tell them “put me on this flight that’s $100 more because I want to earn miles on that carrier.” (Interestingly enough, my only experience with that kind of thing was a situation that ultimately *benefited* my employer. I prefer to get hotel points from Priority Club when possible, and once I noticed they’d put me in a Marriott when there was a Holiday Inn across the street that was cheaper. I negotiated a change that made me happy *and* saved my employer money. Without loyalty programs, I never would have bothered to see if there was a cheaper hotel in the area…what would have been the point?)

    Moreover, plenty of people fly for personal travel and as such any decision they make involving frequent flyer miles could not be immoral. Foolish, maybe, if they pay more for a flight just to collect some miles…but not dishonest, since it’s their money.

  • http://www.traveldither.com Debbie Ferm

    I’m not in the position you mention, although I can see the temptation that people would have to book a more expensive flight to get the miles, etc. I’m assuming that kind of thing goes on with expense accounts for other things also, but it seems it would be less these days with expense accounts being cut due to the recession.

    I’m a skeptic of “loyalty” programs also. We had a ton of Marriott points a few years ago and when Marriott devalued the points and tried to spin it as some kind of benefit, I used them all up and won’t bother with it again.

    I’m with you on the old saying, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.

  • erwan

    Here is a data point to support your story:

    Holiday Inn has special pricing for rooms that offer you additional bonus points. IOW, if you (or, more likely, your employer) will pay more for the room, then you get more bonus points.

  • Carver

    With all due respect to Mr. Rubenstein, his analysis is fundamentally flawed, regardless of whether you believe in frequent flier programs or not

    In each of his hypotheticals, the decision maker is receiving something of value UNBEKNOWNST to his or her employer. In a frequent flier program, the employer knows that the employee is receiving something of value from the travel provider. In fact, many employers encourage the receipt of frequent flyer miles because it makes traveling less burdensome for the employee and thus better for the business.

    The ethical issue is very easy to solve. Employees are generally given certain parameters when making any purchase decision, including travel. It is not axiomatic that the cheapest hotel or the cheapest flight is consistent with the employers goals. For example, I would be very upset of one of my employee-attorneys booked a Motel 6 to meet one of my clients.

    Mr. Rubenstein analysis is suffers from a lack of understanding of the true nature of loyalty programs. At best, they serve a shared goal of maximizing one’s return on the investment of travel dollars. A loyalty program which does not do that should be jettisoned. Thus, one should always make prudent travel decisions.

  • Rich

    One needs to opt-in to these loyalty programs.
    It’s one thing for a company to offer you an “illegal” gift. It’s quite another to accept one.

  • Josh

    I have a few issues with Mr. Rubenstein’s examples. He is correct that a real estate agent giving the person negotiating the lease $20,000 would be an illegal kickback. On the other hand the real estate agent giving the company a rebate of $20,000 for taking a lease and the company forwarding some or all of that money to the person doing the negotiating is perfectly legal (as long as the taxes are paid). The same is true of this example with computer purchases.

    The company I work for specifically states that I as a traveling employee of the company am entitled to receive (and use for my own purposes) any frequent flier miles (or other travel related rewards) that are earned on company travel. This is considered a perk of the job. When I book tickets I book the cheapest fare the meets my needs and the corporate travel policy. if it is on the airline of my choice that is great and if not then that is the way it is. There are various policies in place through the travel agency we use and the finance department that keeps people from getting away with too much.

    And as a side point, by the company agreeing to use one specific airline as the preferred airline for all corporate travel they receive a percentage rebate based on the total dollars spent. Just another sort of kickback.

  • Cassivella

    At my company, frequent flyer miles and hotel points and such are discussed in my employment contract. According to my contract, I am entitled to these benefits for my own personal use provided I don’t make travel decisions based on rewards program alone.

    This is usually not a problem since our travel department makes most of my reservations for me. But, in the interest of employee happiness, no one minds if we take a flight that is $20 more expensive but is on my “preferred” airline.

    It is pretty hard to find qualified technical employees who are willing to travel 100% of the time. That $20 is simply the cost of doing business. It costs a lot more to continually have to hire new employees due to burnout.

    Thanks to my business travel, I recently spent a week in Washington DC with my husband, stayed in a $300/night hotel a block from the White House, and the only thing I paid for us (besides food) is the copay on the airline tickets. Free vacations keep me working happy!

  • Mark F

    I certainly make air and hotel decisions based on kickbacks. BUT.
    Our travel rules set caps on hotel based on market except that we can exceed hotel caps if we are staying at a conference hotel. I routinely choose to stay at non-conference properties that are cheaper because of loyalty plans if they are in walking distance or there is good accessibility. The kickbacks for hotels never cost my employer more but sometimes save money.

    Our air rules have changed. Used to be I booked and couldn’t book anything more than 5% of the lowest fare for the dates based on rates available on Expedia. Any variance required justification (ie cheapest rate arrives after meeting starts or required a layover of more than 3 hours). I normally booked either Southwest (usually cheapest) or Delta (most flexibility in my market). All things equal I went with my loyalty programs.

    Now we use a travel agency so no more SW and the travel agent asks if I have an airline preference. I’m given flight options for that airline, pick the one I want and I’m done if it is acceptable. Only rarely do I hear that another airline is cheaper from the agent even though I suspect there are potential savings.

  • Beverly

    I don’t think it’s a bribe, I think a lot of companies offer loyalty programs these days. I think the point of the letter, and something I have said before as an internal auditor, is that people often make decisions on which carrier to fly – for business – based on where they have more miles, rather than on which is the lowest priced fare. I don’t know that the same is true of personal travel, the point being with business travel, you aren’t paying out of your own pocket, so you feel you have the luxury of booking on any carrier you want to. It’s something I struggle with every day, on how to enforce a policy to prevent it.

    The same thing goes for sites like ebates, where customers book travel and receive a rebate check later. It is almost impossible to detect, or prevent, though we do have a policy that if you are submitting a travel expense for full reimbursement, you may not collect any reimbursements or rebates from any other entity for the same expense. But how do you find it? You can’t force people to be ethical, you can only hope to find them if they aren’t.

  • Jesse

    The analogy is poor.

    Are punch cards where if you buy 10 sandwiches you get 1 free also an illegal kickback?

    Come on. There’s a difference between an “under the table” kickback and an incentive offered by a business to encourage return customers.

  • Sice

    Let’s spin this another way…rewards programs are like the lottery. You buy in hoping to get the big benefit. Any reading on FlyerTalk will show you this; the travelers that are serious about their programs do so and are so interested in the because they get premiere benefit out of their results. It becomes the motivating factor, rather than a nice side benefit of forced business travel. But the travel companies are not dummies, they know that people will go out of their way to stay at their hotel or fly their airline just to earn rewards points. The travel companies don’t have to necessarily overcharge for rooms or flights, they’re just interested in keeping customers.

    Now, some decisions that companies make might seem strange, putting so much on the table to attract customers. Take the current promotion for a Chase United Airlines Visa Signature card, sign up for the credit card, they waive the first annual fee, after your first purchase they’ll credit your Mileage Plus account 50k miles…enough for 2 saver tickets. It seems that I, as an informed consumer, should use my good credit to gain rewards like this.

  • http://AmateurTraveler.com Chris (Amateur Traveler)

    I don’t buy it.

    1) I don’t have to fly to earn frequent flier miles. I can earn miles on my credit card.
    2) Not all travel is business travel. My daughter just flew to her brother’s graduation for $5 each way and miles. She is a student who does not even have a job. She flew back and forth to school on the best options available and earned miles while she did.
    3) Sometimes there are two flights that would work equally well. The airlines want me to make a decision at that time out of loyalty and offer me miles to encourage that.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    The incentive program (i.e. frequent flyer program, frequent guest program, a punch card at a sandwich store, frequent renter program, etc.) are public knowledge; is available to everyone and typically the terms and conditions for these incentive programs are published. Therefore, I have issues with the examples that Mr. Rubenstein used since there is a BIG difference between an “under the table” kickback and an incentive program offered by a business to encourage return customers.

  • Carver

    To drive one more nail in Mr.Rubestein ill-conceived hypethesis.Many loyalty programs have additional incentives for the employer. For example, Starwood gives your employer one point for every dollar that you spend on room reservations. You also get a negotiated rate depending on your volume of travel

    Many car rental companies have incentives in which the employer also gets compensated when the employee uses the service

    The one place that I am concerned is meeting planners compensation. Unlike regular travel, the company may not know that the meeting planner gets compensated.

  • Brian

    As a frequent business traveller I know I’ve chosen more expensive flights (within reason) if they’re on my preferred carrier. I do so because as an elite member I get better seating, preferred boarding and upgrades. My company also benefits from this because I don’t have to pay fees to check bags or pay for premium seating options, and I get to my meetings faster and more rested.

    To I think this is unethical? No, in fact it’s pretty much SOP in most corporations. There is the potential for abuse, but if someone is looking for a way to abuse the system they can always find a loophole.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Carver – “Mr. Rubenstein analysis is suffers from a lack of understanding of the true nature of loyalty programs.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

    I agreed but it doesn’t surprise me since he works for a non-profit foundation. I would have been surprised if he was working in the private sector.
    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    @ Steve – “David’s comment has a point, but only in a minority of situations. To make a blanket statement like “frequent flyer mileage programs result in dishonest behavior” is ridiculous.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
    I agreed…it would be like me making a blanket statment like “everyone who works for a non-profit foundation think that they are morally superior to people that doesn’t work for a non-profit organization.”

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    At my previous employer, Delta and American Airlines were the preferred airline carriers but the employees were free to choose another airline. However, I never took a single flight with Delta or American Airlines for nine years. I selected to fly on America West then US Airways. If America West didn’t have a flight to a destination then I booked a flight on CO, an airline partner of America West at the time. I will book a flight on a Star Alliance partner if US Airways didn’t have a flight to a destination.

    The reasons why I selected America West\US Airways are:

    Direct Flights: I can have direct flights on America West\US Airways for 90% of my travels. Does it make sense for me to fly from PHX to SLC to SEA on Delta when I can fly directly from PHX to SEA?

    Elite Benefit – First Class Upgrades: I have been upgraded over 80% of time to First Class on America West\US Airways. I can get more work done on my flight (increased productivity) when I am sitting in FC. When I sit in Coach, I usually arrived tired but when I am in FC, I arrived fresh (again, increased productivity).

    Elite Benefit – Security Checkpoints: Instead of spending time waiting in at the security checkpoints, I can take advantage of the special lanes for the elite travelers.

    Elite Benefit – No Fees to check luggage: As an elite FF with US Airways, I can check up to three bags at no costs thus saving my employer money.

    Elite Benefit – Priority Boarding: As an elite FF, I can board early thus making sure that I can put my carry-on luggage in the overhead instead of gate-checking and spending time waiting for it (again, increased productivity).
    Elite Benefit – Problems: If there is a problem like a cancelled flight, missed a flight due to weather or etc, as an elite FF, I am usually will be taken care of first…again, increased productivity instead of missing meetings, spending a night at the airport or hotel, etc.

    There are other benefits as well. To me, it make sense to make one airline your primary airline and use the other alliance airlines in the FF program to build your status to the highest level with one airline (unless you fly 200 flights a year and you can split 100 flights between two airlines).

    If I am going to on the road for 100+ nights a year, I am not going to stay at a ‘one-star’ hotel or budget hotel. I stick to two hotel chains (Marriott & Hilton) and one brand (Holiday Inn Express) from another chain. I think that staying at hotels like Courtyards, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inns, Hilton Garden Inns, Hampton Inns and Holiday Inn Express are not living high on the hog. Even if I stay at a full service Marriott, it is usually cheaper since I don’t have to spend money for breakfasts and dinners (thus saving at least $ 40 a day).

    I can’t tell you the benefits that I have received for being top level elite flyer\guest\customer with US Airways, Marriott, Hertz, Hilton, etc. Last week, I was staying at a Courtyard and received free breakfast coupons upon check-in for being a Platinum member (saving $ 12 a day for breakfast).
    I have not accepted job offers in the past based upon the company’s travel policy.

  • Ed

    I guess it all depends on the loyalty program.
    While I do belong to several frequent flyer clubs, I rarely utilize them because I am not loyal to any single airline. I fly whatever one gives me the best value for the flight I’m taking. For that reason, I use a credit card points program While the points are available for many different things, I use the points primarily for flights. The pros, no blackout periods, no specific airline and a quite good travel agent. I call an 800#, tell the person where I’m going, and they book the tickets for me and deduct the points from my loyalty program. Simple. Plus, if I use the person to book a hotel, I usually have a bottle of champagne waiting for me when I get there.

  • MeanMeosh

    There are two problems with the premise of this article. First, most company travel policies (mine included) expressly ALLOW employees to keep frequent flyer miles/hotel points earned during business travel. It can’t be considered unethical behavior when your employer knows about it, and furthermore, knowingly allows you to do so (it would be a different story if your employer had a policy forbidding you from keeping FF miles).

    Second, I don’t know of too many employers that look kindly on submitting inflated expenses just to get frequent flyer miles. Most employers, mine included, either have a policy that requires that the cheapest fare be used, or there is a ceiling provided to be considered “in policy” (the rest is a non-reimburseable personal expense). I guess I could theoretically book a flight on my preferred airline that costs $300 more, but if that were to occur, expense compliance would be on me in a heartbeat, telling me they’re disallowing the $300. You may have dishonest employees that might try to sneak this through – but I would argue, if an employee is dishonest enough to do that, it’s not the FF miles that are causing them to be dishonest. Clearly they have other ethics issues.

  • Carver

    @Arizona

    lol. I resisted the temptation to point out the Mr. Rubenstein worked for a nonprofit. I figure I kicked him enough. lol

    @Mean

    You are absolutely correct. Any employee who would cause his company more money just to get some miles is very dishonest through and through. At one enterprise that I am familiar with, one employee would book travel at higher fares just to get more miles. Turns out he was also stealing money.

  • MVFlyer

    To take the company rules one step further–my former company was big enough to negotiate very favorable fares, particularly on overseas flights, directly with certain airlines. These were as much as 35-45% off the fares available online. By the terms of the posting, this is an illegal kickback, but of course, it isn’t–it’s just good business rewarding a loyal customer with the guarantee of bringing in more business. The in-house booking system would question you if you took a fare that was significantly higher than lowest, preventing serious abuse of the system, although I’m sure there was still some abuse going on in the interest of getting more miles.

  • Steve

    Cassivella, Brian, and Arizona Road Warrior all make good points about how in some cases, booking a preferred carrier even if it costs a bit more can be acceptable to the employer. The more important and highly-compensated the employee, the more valuable a first-class upgrade (thanks to loyalty to a particular airline) can be. And the more an employee travels, the more likely it is that the employer knows that accumulating significant frequent flyer miles on a particular airline is a fringe benefit of the job.

    And I still question how often an employee is going to have free reign to pick a flight that’s desirable to him but not to the employer, even if he’s inclined to. My company isn’t particularly draconian, I don’t think, but my experience is that the travel department questions any proposed change to the itinerary they select. They’ll allow it if it’s sensible (like my example of switching hotels and getting a cheaper rate), and there might be gray areas where you could argue the employee is getting away with switching airlines to collect miles (say, if he lobbies for a flight on a different carrier that’s $100 more but argues on the basis of a significantly shorter layover, direct flight compared to a connection, etc), but they’re certainly not just accepting whatever the employee proposes without careful consideration.

  • B

    Frequent flier miles programs are more or less like a rebate program (except the rebate is in the form of a coupon good for next purchase). You need to look at the cost after the rebate to compare values/brands/sources.

  • Bradley

    ALl I ask is that my employees spend my money as they would there own. If they would pay $100 more for flight with their money to earn points then I have no probelem with them doing so with my money. If I have employees I MUST trust them. If I don’t they should not be my employees. Will their be abuses? Yes. Always will be. We will find those thta abuse the system and they will loose their jobs.

    We let all our employees keep their “points” earned as a thank your for their additional sacrifice for the company of traveling. We, as employers, know this so it is not a kick-back or illegal bribe. If someone got a camera as a thank you and there was not a quid pro quo then it is OK. Same with the cash incentive but based upon the amount there probably was a quid pro quo, very definitely NOT in the companies best interest and probably an illegal kick-back bribe. Of course if the employer knew about it and was Ok with it then no harm, no foul.

    Brad

  • Aaron

    A good point – I travel on the company’s dime and usually specify the legacy airline with which I have status, even if doing so costs a bit more money. I do it mainly because flying has become such a miserable experience that elite status seems to be the only way to insulate myself from all the problems (baggage fees, cramped seats, overstuffed baggage bins, etc.). Status gets me quickly though the security lines, into a roomy exit-row seat, and on the plane first (before everyone can ignore the flight attendants and stuff two bags and their outerwear into the bins). The miles? Yes, I suppose they are a form of kick-back. I justify it as a well-deserved reward for the misery of business travel.

    The funny thing is that when I travel for personal reasons (and am paying out of pocket), I fly JetBlue… not because of the loyalty program, but because they offer everything I need my loyalty program to achieve (roomy planes, no surprise fees, plus bonuses like flight attendants that aren’t angry at the world). If JetBlue flew to all the places my business travel requires, I’d cash in my accrued miles and drop my legacy airline like a hot potato.

  • Dang

    The IRS had already thought FF awards and perks as a kick-back and try hard to tax its but unsuccessfully.

  • OldDan

    FF perks and other incentives provided to me when I travel on business BELONG to my employer. When I collect the requisite “points”, “miles”, or whatever, these are used for business travel. Period. Anything else is theft.

  • Dang

    When we travel for company or business, we sacrifice our precious valuable time, health risks, security risks, internal biological disturbance, family presence…. so the FF miles awards and perks are a tiny small compensation compare to our sacrifice (that’s the case if we still can make a award reservation as we like). That’s why I always ask to travel on Business or First to minimize my losses, otherwise, I decline to travel.

  • Abhi

    Chris, I do see the attempt in your analogy that frequent flyer miles are a kick back, or bribe so to say affecting future travel choices. What I do not see clearly is how an airline is same as a sales agent or real estate agent. If this deal was being offered by a travel agent (without consent of the airline), I may have seen this as an equivalent scenario.

    Airline itself is the sole owner of the services/products it is offering to its customers. In two other examples that you have mentioned, neither the real estate agent nor camera sales person are actual owners of the product they are selling. The legality of the kickback can only be determined by the owner of the product/service offering it. Would it be illegal to opt for deals like ‘buy one get one free’ or ‘buy three tires and get fourth tire free’?

    I am not a big fan of miles myself, but just for the sake of comparison of scenario, if I were selling a product in a competitive marker, I would want to get a larger portion of market by offering some incentives to the customers. It seems to be a very basic fact in capitalistic market and almost every business including specialty stores (BabiesRus etc), grocery marts (Publix etc) and online sellers, payment services (Google/PayPal etc) use similar tactics in the form of customer loyalty programs/cards.

  • Linda Snow

    Plenty of other posters have presented evidence that the programs are not illegal or unethical kickbacks. But some have commented that they’re useless, and I have to disagree. While it’s true that the airlines have made the miles more and more difficult to use, I haven’t given up on them yet. I’m not even a true “Frequent Flyer”, with a history of flying maybe 3-4 times a year on average, yet over the last 20-odd years I’ve managed to score probably 10-12 free trips, some with multiple destinations and one to Hawaii. Yes I didn’t always get the most convenient connections, but free is free. And I do use credit cards to increase those miles, but I pay my bill in full every month so I don’t rack up finance charges, and I’ve never taken a flight or made a purchase “just” to get miles, nor have I chosen a much higher fare just to get miles. I participate in 4 or 5 different programs and none of my miles have ever expired. It just takes a little planning.

  • Carver

    @oldDan

    “Anything else is theft
    ===========================

    That really depends on your relationship with your employer. As many of the employers have stated, we consider miles and other standard loyalty programs perks to belong to the employee, even if we paid for the underlying travel expenses.

    I was discussing this thread with a client of mine. At his company, they are issued American Express cards. The written employment agreement specifies that the employees are allowed to sign up for the AMEX loyalty program and kept all of the perks so long as they pay any additional feees associated with the loyalty program.

  • Steve

    OldDan, collecting hotel points/FF miles is no more theft than collecting my paycheck is. It’s in our employee handbook that we’re entitled, by company policy, to keep whatever loyalty points/miles we earn. This is pretty much standard, as far as I can tell. Moreover, in many programs either the traveler earns benefits or no one does. The FF programs I know of only allow the traveler to earn miles, regardless of who purchased the ticket. I’m not sure if the rules would change if the corporation wanted to earn miles, but it seems to me that in many cases the business couldn’t earn the miles/points anyway, so why not let the employee keep them?

    The bottom line is that if a company’s policy was that they didn’t want me to earn FF miles/hotel points even though they were ineligible to accumulate them and thus lost nothing in letting me do so…well, that would be a pretty good indication of the working conditions there, and I’d pass on them entirely.

  • PauletteB

    He might be a great, honest guy, but I personally would be very nervous about doing any kind of business with someone who thinks like Mr. Rubenstein.

  • Dang

    Completely agree with Steve.
    If Companies want to keep the FF miles, they will set up program to manage and organize travel for their employees. The managing of travels and FF miles equal to operate a travel agency plus the managing of the miles (some Airlines have plan for Corporate like Air France to let the employer keep their miles). Book an award is time consuming and it can be costly and ineffective. I have a friend who is an experienced travel agent and he refuse to make award reservation even he charge for each reservation because he spend much more times on an reward booking and most of the time without successful result upon the date given by the customers.
    Business travel cannot be flexible and FF miles are little help.

  • Tom

    If frequent flyer points earned on company business aren’t a kickback, but rather a form of reimbursement for the time and trouble of traveling, shouldn’t they be taxed? If I get $200 from my employer for the use of my time, I have to pay taxes on that $200. Unless frequent flyers are some under the table secret arrangement, shouldn’t you owe Uncle Sam $100 every time you use your frequent flyers?

  • AKT

    This is fundamentally confused post, sloppy thinking at best. The corruption in the examples cited comes from spending other people’s money and then pocketing some benefit without their knowledge or consent. That’s it. It has nothing to do with travel or frequent flyer miles; why confuse the issue? If you lease office space or purchase computers with your own money, and the other party gave you a “cash-back” or a digital camera, that would be no big deal. Similarly, if you buy air tickets with your own money, any miles or drinks or free hotel nights you receive are fair and square.

  • MeanMeosh

    Tom – you have a good point in theory, but the IRS decreed long ago that FF miles earned from business travel aren’t taxable, because they’re considered a “de minimis” fringe benefit. Just one of the many quirks of the tax code.

  • Jack

    I am precisely in a position to abuse the trust my employer has bestowed upon me to pay more for practically the same flight to benefit my preferred flier miles program. However, I feel this argument is exactly where many people need to have a serious wakeup call. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR DECISIONS. This man says “i believe in a free market…but…there is no regulation”. I have been “tempted” to pay more for my own flier miles benefit. But, my ethics and character (which is far from perfect by i try to do my best and not blame others when i come up short, still i do come up short, sometimes more often than others) have helped me to do what is best for my employer.

    am i the only one that realizes regulation/laws are the opposite of freedom? for every rule we lose a freedom. we need to take responsibility, not say “they made me be dishonest”. there will always be temptations to be dishonest. we can never make a law for every temptation. what a silly thought. what about working on our our character and ethics????
    knock knock anyone home.

    a free market is not regulating when people can make decisions that are dishonest. people need to realize that we have to allow the possibility for bad things to happen to realize real freedom. we also need to realize the serious sacrifice required to gain freedom back when it is lost.

    i never post on these thigns, but this is just the same crap all over our country. a pill if you are unhappy, a law if someone is dishonest about something. lets kindly help eachother work on ourselves…our own issues…not spend all of our energy taking away all of our freedoms because why? oh my…we all make mistakes. lets work on helping eachother not make mistakes instead, being strong together.

    my two cents are in the jar.

  • Barry Graham

    We have a strict policy and cannot chose with whom we fly and can only stay in approved hotels. Is it dishonest, when presented with a list of permitted flights, to favor the one that’s going to allow me to upgrade (at my own expense) and the hotel that’s going to give me the best room for the same price? I don’t think so.