Rewards miles from work.... wwyd?

[bookgirl]

I think he is the owner of the company - so the "company" credit card is his.

OP, I would ask him to have a corporate credit card issued in your name for future travel purchases, as well as other items you've paid for and been reimbursed for later.

You using your personal means to pay these expenses has given the company float time, and until he asked you transfer them to him, the miles should have been considered a "perk" for using your personal funds to pay company expenses.

The points aren't from a cc. They are from a ff program the actual airline has, she gets points that are used to give her a 'level' of service. Like 50 points for ever flight and 2000 points means you get free upgrades or a free drink, or early boarding. Those are perks of actual flying not points for spending money on the flight.

 

[SandrA9810]

Kinda like Airtran, any one can purchase the flights, but the credits stay with the person.
So even though my aunt purchases the flights, she couldn't use the flights I've flown on for her ticket. And to transfer the credits, it's 20$ each.

 

[hambirg]

I asked on a legal forum I post on, and basically learned that:

it's not illegal for him to ask you to transfer them,
it's not illegal for you to refuse to transfer them,
and it's not illegal for him to fire you for refusing to transfer them.



So I guess your best option is to convince him that they are useless to him. . .he can't use them to upgrade his status and they are too expensive to transfer to make using them cost effective. Good luck.

Btw. . .everyone there thought he was being a jacka*ss too.

 

[melancholywings]

I'm just curious. Wouldn't it be illegal to fire her if it violated the programs TOS?

I'd go with the option that makes your work life happiest.

 

[01spirit750]

I wonder if your boss just saw the movie "Up in the Air" with George Clooney. This movie fictionalized all the benefits of airmiles and made George Clooney's character look like a King just for being executive platinum.

I was executive platinum once and it didn't do much for me.

The only real benefit is not having to pay for checked bags.

Chris

 

[rockundergirl]

I wonder if your boss just saw the movie "Up in the Air" with George Clooney. This movie fictionalized all the benefits of airmiles and made George Clooney's character look like a King just for being executive platinum.

I was executive platinum once and it didn't do much for me.

The only real benefit is not having to pay for checked bags.

Chris

Ha, I haven't seen that yet.. maybe I should. Well i think the biggest deal is the VIP area.. it has free food and drink while your waiting.. and if you take off hours flights you often get first class for free ,, which is nice, for flights to cali, I'm on the east coast.

 

[01spirit750]

I am pretty sure that the VIP lounge access is only acquired by actual miles flown, which in turn ups your status. Once you reach Executive platinum status then you can access the VIP lounges.

So transfering points will not get "by itself" lounge access.

I know this because I had used an American Airlines credit card during our remodel. Charged everything for the remodel to the card and then pay it off from the construction loan. None of these miles were applied to my status.

I only made executive status by flying to Hong Kong 6 times a year for 3 years.
(90k miles per year).

It sounds to me that your boss does not understand all the ins and outs of frequent flyer miles.

So in the end the joke is sorta on him. You will still get the elite status and access to the lounges.

Chris

 

[Vacation Lover]

Even though he told you to use the company credit card to do the transfer, I would still prepare a document so he knows exactly how much it's costing him. Make it seem like you're looking out for him and the company because it was going to be so much money for such a small return. When you give it to him say off-handedly "I'm just glad I'm not losing my elite status. I was worried about it and when I looked it up the CO website says that the status stays with the person who flew and doesn't go with the miles.". You may end of keeping your miles after all.

Perfect--I like this idea!

Does your boss have any idea how you feel about this? If you have a good relationship with him and feel comfortable doing so, I'd tell him you feel frustrated with the situation (in a professional way, of course--don't come off as whiny). "I have to admit, I wasn't aware that I was required to hand over my miles to the company. I was really looking forward to using them on my next vacation."

 

[beansmom]

oh, dear...the life lessons to be gleaned from this:

#1--first and foremost...keep your personal business PERSONAL. It is never a good idea to discuss your private life at work. That's what the internet is for. Seriously, it's never good to let the people you work with know too much about you other than your work.

#2--never mix company money and personal money. Never use a personal card to purchase for business and vice versa. Keep 'em separated like church and state.

#3--the Golden Rule--'he who has the gold rules'. He's the boss and if you need your job, you can not like it but you sorta have to do what he says. I don't think you want #15 to be replacement for #6 or whatever # you were.

#4--Life isn't fair. Deal with it...learn from it...go forth into the universe.

(And I know all these are good rules --ask me how I learned them.) Good luck.

 

[Calliaz]

Did I read correctly that you use an airline credit card and therefore get bonus miles for each flight above and beyond the typical FF miles someone would normally get? If so, I would only give him the number of miles that were earned based on the typical purchase and not any that were "bonus" miles.

 

[01spirit750]

Did I read correctly that you use an airline credit card and therefore get bonus miles for each flight above and beyond the typical FF miles someone would normally get? If so, I would only give him the number of miles that were earned based on the typical purchase and not any that were "bonus" miles.

Not really but here is how to maximize your mileage rewards:

Use american airlines mastercard to purchase tickets: Get miles for the purchase just like if you were buying milk at the store. << Does not count towards elite status

Complete you travel on American Airlines and get the frequent flyer miles for your trip << This does count towards your elite status.

Chris

 

[bettymae1121]

Wow, I work as a travel agent for a non-profit organization, and even they allow their business travelers to keep their miles, and they're a charity where every dime counts!

The other posters are correct, the miles you give him won't count towards his status, staus is based on actual miles and/or segments flown. Miles earns by purchases (like with a credit/debit card progam) or transfered miles don't count. All he can use them for are free tickets or cabin upgrades. Depending on what kind of trip he's planning, buying the miles could still be cheaper than buying a ticket. An international ticket (especially in business or first) could still be cheaper buying the miles rather than just paying for the ticket. I still think it's slimmy, though.

Yes, you're being taken advantage of, but unfortunately you'll have to turn over the miles if you want to keep your job. But you ONLY have to turn over the miles earn by flying, NOT miles earned from purchases. You should be able to go into your account on the airlines website and it should tell you the miles you've flown, if it doesn't you can call them and they should be able to look it up. Since the miles flown count towards status and miles earned through purchases don't, the airlines should have sub-totals on what was earned by flying and what wasn't. The good news is that it won't effect your own status with them!

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

He is well aware of the cost, I was told to use the company credit card to pay the fee. I'm starting to think this is about him having enough miles to reach the elite status that gets you all the perks... free upgrades to first class, free food, unlimited access to the vip lounge. I found out he has asked others to do this to. Sadly I'm the only one with any marketable amount of miles to use.. I do most of the travel... Plus this is company of followers, he could prob tell people to go wash his car and they would..... grrr

Haven't read all this, but if that's what he's thinking, he's going to be disappointed!

You can earn miles that give you credit towards elite, but not this way. (For example on Delta if you sign up for the costly credit card you can get 15,000 "Medaillion Qualification" miles that count towards elite.

You do NOT get elite credit for milage transfers. (I transfer my mother's miles to my account routinely... I also "give" her free Business Class tickets to Europe... Trust me she's coming out ahead LOL!)

I will soon be "top tier" on Delta (Diamond) Unlike George Cloony's character I do NOT veiw this as a sign of "success" It's more a sign of the economy. If i could find a job as good as mine that didn't require commuting to California from the east coast several times a month I would be gone!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

If this 'policy' was never spelled out to you and never dealt with in an employee handbook, you may have some leverage in keeping them. Have a talk with the owner. Let him know you're uncomfortable with losing miles that you believed belonged to you. Be pleasant, be firm. Let him know that you'd like to keep the miles you earned flying previously and that you'd be happy to transfer future miles, but you'd feel better about doing so if it was a written company policy. Offer to sign an acknowledgement of having received the new policy. And never talk about your miles again.

Ha, I haven't seen that yet.. maybe I should. Well i think the biggest deal is the VIP area.. it has free food and drink while your waiting.. and if you take off hours flights you often get first class for free ,, which is nice, for flights to cali, I'm on the east coast.

 

[pklein09]

subscribing to see what happens...

 

[rockundergirl]

so the saga continues.. I gave him the miles, then today he "joked" with me about me being the only one who questioned him about it.. he said " I asked you and 2 others, both other girls said sure no problems but you gave me the Jean tude" har har.

Sigh... working for a small company has its ups and downs.. its very informal , I have a lot of freedom, and a lot of perks... but stuff like this gets me so annoyed !

As i think i stated in an earlier post, I'm the only one that doesn't just blindly follow what the man says to do, for every no that i give him he gets 10 yes's!

lots of really inappropriate things go down!

 

[PRmamiDEdos]

Sounds like your boss is a real you-know-what.

 

[aprilgail2]

I'd have to check the Employee Handbook and see if he's within his right to ask for your miles. .

seriously people keep bringing up the "employee handbook" never in any job that I have worked for (and they were not small companies!) have they ever given me any book that was a handbook LOL....

#1--first and foremost...keep your personal business PERSONAL. It is never a good idea to discuss your private life at work. That's what the internet is for. Seriously, it's never good to let the people you work with know too much about you other than your work.

#.

wow that would suck to feel like you have to do this! Many of my friends came from being co-workers....some of us even vacation together! We go to bbq's at each others homes in the summers etc.....can't imagine not socializing out of work with coworkers! We go to wakes for each others relatives, weddings of coworkers etc!

 

[maggiew]

so the saga continues.. I gave him the miles, then today he "joked" with me about me being the only one who questioned him about it.. he said " I asked you and 2 others, both other girls said sure no problems but you gave me the Jean tude" har har.

Sigh... working for a small company has its ups and downs.. its very informal , I have a lot of freedom, and a lot of perks... but stuff like this gets me so annoyed !

As i think i stated in an earlier post, I'm the only one that doesn't just blindly follow what the man says to do, for every no that i give him he gets 10 yes's!

lots of really inappropriate things go down!

Wow! I can't believe that.

Did you point out all the things people mentioned here:
1. The airlines don't want this to be used by corporations . They have set up policies to make that difficult.
2. The cost really doesn't make sense. Purchasing the ticket would probably be cheaper.
3. The transferred miles won't give him status.

Did you ask what he plans to do with the miles? If he takes his family on a trip, I would be mad!!! It sounds to me like he is trying to gather enough points together to make some kind of trip!

I have never heard of anyone having to give up their miles - either by transferring or by having to use the points for business travel. I know lots of people who travel for work and they all get to use their miles for personal use.

Maggie

 

[rockundergirl]

Wow! I can't believe that.

Did you point out all the things people mentioned here:
1. The airlines don't want this to be used by corporations . They have set up policies to make that difficult.
2. The cost really doesn't make sense. Purchasing the ticket would probably be cheaper.
3. The transferred miles won't give him status.

Did you ask what he plans to do with the miles? If he takes his family on a trip, I would be mad!!! It sounds to me like he is trying to gather enough points together to make some kind of trip!

I have never heard of anyone having to give up their miles - either by transferring or by having to use the points for business travel. I know lots of people who travel for work and they all get to use their miles for personal use.

Maggie

I didn't take the time to ,, hes like milking a brick, it wouldn't matter. However these are great tips for if your dealing with a normal person lol