Thumbs Up Or Pants Down

I made the mistake in "believing" that flyer miles were a great "reward" for spening money. Four years ago, I started two Alaskan Airline credit cards and an Alakan Airline debit card. I was determined to go as far across the globe as possible, when the time came. Well, the time came and my miles are worthless.

I called the Alaskan Airline desk three weeks ago and spoke with the reservation desk. My quest was simple, I need to get to the Bahamas any time this summer and I need to come back home 10 to 14 days later.

You would have thought I asked for housing market to improve over night because after four hours of searching, the reservation agent could not get me anywhere in the Caribbean. At one point we found a route that may have worked, although it took 3 days of travel, but the agent couldn't get me back home.

The agent suggested that I call back in a week to see if new seats opened up. So, after two weeks, I called the Alaskan Airline reservation desk once more. I wasted another two hours of my day trying every partner desk.  

After some searching,I found an all-inclusive resort in Cancun that was close to what was being offered at Sandals resort. Unfortunately, it was the same price! Gees.

I called AA again and requested that the agent find two seats, any two seats, any time of the day, any day of the month of July or August. Her response, "oh, you should have called 11 months ago."

We spent an hour on the phone trying different routes with no luck in finding a flight. The agent suggested that I fly to Vegas instead. Oh, okay.. Because Vegas is so close in comparison to Cancun and Antigua.

So, my lesson is this. Flyer miles are worth as much as the dog crap on your shoe, that you don't know is there and you track through your newly cleaned carpet on a hot and sunny day, five minutes before your in-laws are due to arrive for dinner.