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CondeNast Traveler consumer news editor Wendy Perrin asked for advice a couple weeks ago, to help a friend of hers get Delta SkyMiles properly credited. The friend’s husband had unfortunately passed away, and according to Delta’s rules, the deceased’s miles could be transferred to the spouse. Over a year passed, but Delta didn’t budge.

My advice to Wendy was to go nuclear: Don’t just write or call customer service. Don’t just ask to speak to the manager. Write to the executive in charge of SkyMiles itself.

I’m happy to say it worked. The miles were credited within days.

The nuclear option isn’t for every instance of customer service gone wrong. It’s for those times when you’ve exhausted all options, and you’re not getting the results you know you deserve.

Doing this involves a tiny amount of research, a little guesswork, and a short but pointed letter. You need to:

• Determine whom to contact. Go to the company website and click on the “About” page. Browse the executive biographies. Try to find the executive in charge of the division you’re having trouble with.

• Find or guess their e-mail address. Google their names first, to see if they have an address available. Most executives won’t publicize their e-mails, but corporate systems are amazingly standardized, making it easy to guess. First.Last@company.com is a good bet. Maybe make it @corp.company.com. If it fails, call the company and ask. If that fails, write a snail-mail letter instead.

• Make your case, briefly. If you need other documentation, attach copies of earlier e-mails. Wendy appropriately advises that the letter to the executive be short. Five sentences is the goal, and this is your template:

1. I apologize for interrupting your day, but I’ve received unacceptable treatment by your airline and so far your customer service department has been unable to resolve the problem.
2. Here is what your airline promised me.
3. Here is what your airline delivered instead.
4. Here is what I believe I am owed as compensation.
5. Thank you for your help.

The template works for companies other than airlines, too.

• Again: Don’t abuse this. This is not for small inquiries. This is for resolving major gaffes.

I’ve only gone nuclear once, with United. I stupidly wrote way more than 5 sentences, alas, but I got a phone call response within 24 hours. The “executive services” agent I spoke to was the most helpful person I’ve ever spoken to. She researched and answered my question, made the fix that I had requested, and offered me generous compensation — which I had not requested. I even turned down the compensation, but she literally insisted.

It’s sad that it’s necessary to resort to the nuclear option, but it’s good to know it’s there. Just use it sparingly, or it won’t be an option much longer.

This past weekend, I was a guest on Peter Greenberg’s radio show, talking about Spirit Airlines and their new luggage fees. (Shameless self-promotion alert!)

During the segment, Peter had his producer fire up the Spirit website to see how low their fares went. The answer: $9.

But there was a catch: She found a $9 fare, but only if you joined their “$9 Fare Club.” I had noticed this on their site Friday afternoon, but didn’t think anything of it, really, not realizing at the time that this members-only savings society was anything new. Since then, it has hit the news and blogosphere as something newsworthy.

I’m predictably skeptical. For starters, I’m not a fan of the new Spirit fare structure, so paying a membership fee to maybe — just maybe — have access to limited-availability ultra-low fares doesn’t seem like a good way to spend your cash.

That said, for now the club is relatively cheap to join. A 3-month trial is $9. Thereafter, it’s still pretty cheap, honestly, at $29.95 per year. If (and only if) that really gets you access to ludicrously cheap fares year-round, then it may be worth it. But I have my doubts. Besides, Spirit doesn’t shy away from sales with cutesy names.

I’d wait for the sale.

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Ed Perkins points to the deceitful but unfortunately effective practice of insurance upselling by front-desk employees at car rental agencies.

Agents told [customers] that although their [credit] cards covered damage to the vehicle, they didn’t cover the additional “loss of use” fee the car company would collect for the rental revenue lost while a damaged car was out of service. That statement is a flat-out lie.

Loss of use is included in the CDW (collision damage waiver) provision of credit card coverage. If your card has rental car insurance built in, then you should be fine. (Check your card’s fine print to see if you have the coverage in the first place, of course. If you don’t have the rules governing your card’s benefits, call your bank and have them send it. If you don’t have the coverage, get a card that does.)

This “loss of use” story is a sales pitch I’ve gotten before at the time of rental, most memorably and insistently from a desk agent at Advantage Rent-a-Car at the Phoenix airport. I’ll never forget that guy. He kept telling me over and over again how much Advantage charges for “loss of use,” and how neither my own auto insurance nor my credit card would cover it. It was his aggressive hard-sell, and the snotty attitude he copped after I declined his coverage again and again, which cemented my policy to never rent from Advantage ever again.

Bottom line: Never trust a car rental agent to tell you what your existing insurance covers. Not when they try to tell you about the insurance provided by a credit card, and not when they try to tell you about your own policy.

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Reader Larry H. writes:

I know I’m heading to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in September. How far in advance should I reserve my rental car?

Larry, it’s never too soon to start. Find the lowest rate you can, make a reservation now, and keep checking back for lower rates. I’m assuming you don’t have a preference as to rental car provider.

Unlike buying airline tickets, you’re generally not paying any money up front when you reserve a rental car. And if prices go down, you can always make a new reservation and then cancel the old one. (Note, on some airlines, you can get a refund on your airfare when the price drops, too, but unless you’re buying higher-priced refundable fares, you can’t just cancel your old reservations and make fresh ones willy-nilly without paying fees.)

So you should always revisit your old reservations and try to whittle that price down. As the date creeps closer, you’d also do well to check with Hotwire or Priceline, to try to beat the rate you’ve got reserved. Remember, though, that Hotwire and Priceline reservations are fully prepaid and nonrefundable. They don’t earn any points, either.

Related:
- Hotwire rental cars (affiliate)
- Priceline rental cars (affiliate)

Reader Raul S. asks:

You’ve mentioned paid upgrades at check in, but how much does that actually cost?

The price depends on a variety of factors, such as the route, how full the plane is, and possibly other, secret factors. It’s impossible to accurately predict an offer of a paid upgrade, but it can never hurt to ask. Not all airlines offer upgrades for sale at check-in, either; in fact, I’d say the number that DO sell them is in the minority.

U.S. carriers are far and away the most likely to try to squeeze out some extra revenue if business or first class seats remain available.

Alaska Airlines is the most explicit in describing their paid-upgrade policy, and they’re also the cheapest. As outlined in their chart, upgrades only cost $50 for every 1250 miles flown. US Airways charges a little more. United has lately been selling domestic upgrades at check-in at a rate of $65 for every 500 miles (or portion thereof) flown. I’ve seen higher, too, but $65/500 is the normal rate.

Internationally, it seems to vary more. On United, I recall being offered an upgrade from coach to business for $550 on the Washington-Amsterdam route — on award tickets — and $450 on paid tickets from Chicago to Frankfurt. $550 is a seemingly magic number that comes up a lot for trans-Pacific routes. American’s upgrades are similarly priced — and considering they charge a fee to use miles for upgrades, the all-cash upgrades are a decent deal. British Airways also occasionally offers upgrades for sale — even on board. I’ve heard of upgrades from regular economy to premium economy for about $250, but that was several years ago.

All these upgrades are one-way, of course. If it’s available on the return flight, you can expect to pay up again. And it may not be the same price. Crapshoot!

Note also that you don’t earn any class-of-service bonus miles for sitting in the bigger seats, even if you’re paying money for it. It’s still an upgrade from a lower booking class, not a purchase of a premium-class ticket.

Is it worth it? Depends on you. But at least you’ll be sitting up front.

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Reader Bill writes:

I need help! I accidentally booked flights for the wrong weekend via Air Tran. The flight is from Chicago to Sarasota, and it was a promotional fare that ended last night. Not only are they charging me to switch the flight (it’s in APRIL!), but they are also charging me the difference in fare because the promotion is over. Anything you can suggest?

Sorry to give you bad news, but you may be out of luck. AirTran has a pretty standard set of rules — published here — and requires a $60 fee plus any difference in the fare if you want to change a ticket.

I don’t see any way you’re going to get out of that policy, unless you can sweet talk the call center into making an exception.

Alternatively, instead of rebooking the tickets, you could pay $60 to cancel these tickets, and have the value of the tickets put into a credit voucher, for you to use within one year. (I assume they’d just deduct $60 in value from each ticket, rather than making you actually pay $60.)

This voucher option may be the way to go. If AirTran has another fare sale, you could potentially get better bang for your buck than you could right now. But it’s a gamble, and you may not be able to use the voucher for the Sarasota trip as planned.

UPDATE: Looks like Bill is quite the sweet-talker after all!

Thanks Mark! I ended up speaking with a supervisor who waived the $60 change of ticket fee, meaning I only had to pay for the difference in fare (around $65). Not too bad.

Not too bad, indeed. That supervisor was a good soul, since you didn’t have a legal leg to stand on. But it proves that a friendly request can go a long way.

Many frequent travelers swear by ExpertFlyer, which lets you see the availability of each booking class, including some award seat booking classes. It’s a useful tool, but it’s not free.

Enter SeatCounter.

Admittedly, SeatCounter doesn’t have all the features of ExpertFlyer, such as actual fare rule information, but it DOES offer an overview of how many tickets are available for sale in each booking class. You don’t get price information, but you can see how many seats are actually for sale in each fare booking code.

For those looking to grab frequent flyer award seats or check the availability of upgrades, this is a particularly helpful site. You just need to know the letter to look for. That varies by airline, but SeatCounter offers some keys at the bottom of their results pages.

Tip: If you’re looking for a single airline’s availability, especially if looking for award seats, enter that airline’s two letter code TWICE in the “favorite airlines” boxes.

Reader Julie writes:

I read this problem-solver article in the Washington Post last week but I’m not satisfied with the answer the newspaper gave.

Why would a person with a $711 [airline] credit not be allowed to use that voucher on a $500 ticket? Isn’t there anything the woman could have done?

Yes, Julie, there is.

Here’s the background:

After canceling a trip on United Airlines, Sarah Anderson of the District was left with a $711 credit. An agent told her she couldn’t use the credit for a $500 ticket, even though she was willing to forfeit the difference. “This seems crazy to me, since it would be my loss,” Anderson wrote […] Many international nonrefundable tickets state that any value of an unused ticket must be applied toward the purchase of a new ticket at an equal or greater fare, said United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski. She added, “This tends to be common throughout the industry.”

A stupid rule, indeed. If Ms. Anderson had wanted to put that credit to use, she should have requested a ticket in a higher (more expensive) fare class for the same flight. The phone agent was pricing out the itinerary as cheaply as possible, but that most certainly wasn’t the only fare for sale.

Idiotic, I know, but United won’t give partial refunds of unused vouchers, so you might as well get SOMETHING for the voucher rather than letting it expire. (It’s a crappy policy. American’s policy of issuing vouchers for any leftover balance is far better.)

Note also that you might end up paying a small sum of cash in order to use the voucher, since the total fare has to exceed the certificate’s value, and you’re responsible for the difference.

It’s dumb to have to buy a more expensive ticket in order to get any value from a voucher, but if that’s the only way to use hundreds of dollars of credit that will otherwise expire worthless, it’s still worth doing.

Related:
- Reader mail: Why is a $75 airline voucher only worth $30?

Reader Joe H. writes:

In your link to Bob Rosner’s column, I think you missed a point that’s just as big as the 3 versus 3.5 oz. debate. Fourth paragraph:

For example, on my most recent flight I had my baggie full of gels and liquids out and ready to show anyone who wanted to know the secret for my youthful appearance. A TSA staffer scrutinized the bag. She informed me that she’d have to empty one of my bottles because, she explained, they only allowed gels and liquids in their original containers — no camping-style plain plastic bottles are allowed. She methodically emptied out my soap from its container. Apparently terrorists have not figured out how to empty shampoo bottles to put something more dangerous inside.

There’s no regulation anywhere on the TSA Web site that says this. Never heard of it, never seen it. So here’s my question: how would you handle a situation where a TSA agent isn’t acting sans common sense (e.g., you have one two-ounce container, but it’s not in the plastic bag), but is flat out, no-doubt-about-it *wrong*?

I asked my mom (a more frequent traveler than I) what she’d do, and she said she wouldn’t argue. I said I now carry the TSA PDF printouts with me, and I’d immediately ask for a supervisor (nicely, of course).

I’d love to hear your thoughts, and perhaps those of other readers.

There are two, or maybe even three, issues here. The first is about TSA policy, i.e., are the mini-bottles required to be in original packaging, or are empty 3 oz. bottles, refilled with mouthwash, lotion, or whatever, legal?

As you say, Joe, I can’t find anything on the TSA site that suggests that you need to have shampoo in its original package. The only category of items that specifically requires a labeled container is medication:

Please make sure your medications are properly labeled with a professionally printed label identifying the medication and manufacturer’s name or pharmaceutical label. The prescription medicine must match the name on the passenger’s ticket.

So according to the publicly available rules, no one should have to dump out shampoo, soap, or mouthwash, just because it’s in an unlabeled bottle.

(By the way, the New York Times’ Roger Collis got some very similar e-mail this week. He couldn’t find any requirement for labeled bottles in either U.S. or E.U. rules, either.)

Joe’s second question is more about passenger behavior when you face an agent who makes up rules like this, or misinterprets the rules to apply more broadly than they’re published.

Carrying a printout of the rules for permitted/prohibited items, and politely requesting that the agent or a supervisor consider the published rules before confiscating the goods is a good idea. I’m a fan of having the facts on paper (or at least saved as an online PDF on the laptop). That goes for airline contracts-of-carriage, too, but that’s another point…

But honestly, as much as I support civil liberties, I probably wouldn’t fight every fight. So how would I respond to a TSA agent inventing rules? It depends on how much hardship the agent’s inventiveness is actually imposing on me. How much does the item cost? How easily will I be able to replace it? How much time do I have before my flight? Do I feel lucky? If you do fight it, always remain calm, polite, and follow the agents’ instructions if asked to step aside, etc.

But what if YOU screw up and accidentally leave one small (legal-sized) bottle out of the one-quart plastic bag? If the agent gives you a hard time, I’d ask to have the item put back in the bag and rescanned, if necessary. If that didn’t work, then I’d try to speak to a supervisor, taking into account the calculus above (will I miss my flight if I ask for a supervisor… how much is this item worth to me…)

Finally, don’t hesitate to make a mental note of the agent’s name if they disregard the published rules or don’t offer you a common-sense chance to rectify a minor, non-dangerous mistake. Then write a letter to the TSA, and cc: your local Congressperson and Senator.

Reader Steven writes in:

I know that so called y-up fares can be a good way to sit in first class for cheap, but I can’t find them for flights to Europe or Asia. Can you help?

The reason you can’t find them, Steven, is because there are none by that name. International long-haul discount first (and business) class fares go by different names than their domestic equivalents.

Y-UP fares and their ilk are limited to North American flights, and generally refer to an upgrade from coach to first on two-class planes. See here for background on Y-UP fares, and see FareCompare’s Y-UP search tool to find these fares on routes you travel.

For Europe or Asia, you’re generally going to be looking for Z-fares. But there’s no handy-dandy search tool (yet) for Z-fares like there is for Y-UPs. (Neil and Rick, consider this a challenge!…)

Z-fares crop up from time to time, but aren’t available on every route. Traveling in summer or the December holiday season maximizes your chances of finding such a fare.

For international premium class travel, be sure to also consider the startup airlines like Maxjet, Silverjet, Eos Airlines, MiMa, and L’Avion. These offer all-business class flights to London, Milan, or Paris.

Related:
- First class for less than coach?
- More tips on finding discounted first class fares (Y-UP, Q-UP, etc.)
- Update/Correction re: discounted first class fares (Y-UP, Q-UP, etc.)
- Y-UP and Q-UP first class fares apparently not enough: Welcome M-UP and B-UP fares
- More trans-Atlantic flights, but lower prices?

Reader Tyler, aka Dr. Vino, writes in:

One of my friends told me that he subscribes to the Financial Times using some orphan miles. Do you know the details? I couldn’t find anything on line about it.

Indeed, some U.S.-based airlines’ programs let you cash in miles for magazine or newspaper subscriptions. Some do it directly through their websites, usually through a relationship with Magazines for Miles. (NOTE: This link doesn’t let you buy any magazines, though it may appear to do so. But keep reading for links that DO work…)

Magazines for Miles doesn’t generate a lot of faith in their viability as a business, if you look closely at their website. They misspell “Hawaiian” in the airline of the same name, and they still list America West and US Airways as separate airlines. But the company is, in fact, legit.

The Magazines for Miles main site only offers a very limited number of magazines to choose from, but lets you pick one of several airlines’ miles to pay for the subscription: American, America West (now US Airways), Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, Midwest, Northwest, United, and US Airways.

Some airlines’ own websites have a wider selection of magazines — though the actual redemption is typically processed by the very same Magazines for Miles company. (The Financial Times subscription you asked for in the original question is available through Delta, Midwest, or Northwest.) Rates will vary between programs, though, so one magazine might cost more miles on one airline than another. If you have multiple orphaned-mile accounts, shop around.

Click for American, Continental, Delta, Hawaiian, Midwest, Northwest, and United (newspapers only on UA, though), and US Airways. AirTran, jetBlue, and Southwest don’t have a magazine option of any kind.

It used to be even easier, when a company called MilePoint ran a clearinghouse of sorts for converting miles to magazines. The really nice thing was that you could combine miles from multiple separate accounts to complete your order. MilePoint was bought by points.com, and that option has disappeared, alas.

If you’ve got some orphaned miles, this is a pretty good way to cash them in. And nothing says holiday cheer like unloading some miles onto your friends and relatives in the form of a magazine subscription.

UPDATE: Using miles for a Financial Times subscription is terrific value, by the way. A one-year subscription to the paper costs $99.00 on Amazon.com, or 2000 Delta or Northwest miles. That comes to 4.95 cents per mile. Fantastic value! (Not all subscriptions come in at such a good rate. Compare the cash subscription rate first…)

Reader NPM writes in:

A few months ago, my wife and I received two United Airlines paper vouchers for $75 each to make up for an awful flight experience we had, with a delay of several hours for mechanical reasons and a non-working in-flight entertainment system.

Last month I decided to redeem these vouchers to buy two tickets from Chicago to NY City. I went on the United website and found two (ORD-LGA) tickets for $168.61 each. The fare was eligible/covered by the vouchers — I checked the fine print. Since you can’t finalize the reservation online and use the vouchers to pay for part of the tickets, I placed the tickets on hold and called United reservation service.

The representative told me I couldn’t use the vouchers with that fare and proposed instead I buy two tickets for the same flights for $198.61, effectively turning my $75 vouchers into $45 vouchers. Ugly. I complained a bit but since there was nothing she could do, I ended up buying the tickets…

A few days later, I checked my credit card statement and United charged me a $30 “ticket mailing fee” with my order, despite the fact that the tickets are electronic. This decreased the value of each value to $30. To add insult to injury their online system works so poorly that when I tried to enter my wife’s Mileage Plus number on her reservation, it requested a wheelchair for her instead. Thanks, but no thanks! Bye, bye United!

Ahh, the customer service voucher. A gesture of goodwill that turns around and creates more ill will when people try to redeem it. Sorry to hear you had such trouble.

United’s policy is asinine on so many levels. At the time the certificate is issued, it seems like they’re apologizing, and the voucher feels like a good-faith effort to make things right. Then they piss that goodwill away by making the redemption process a chore — and discounting the value of the voucher.

You say that the ticket was eligible for voucher use according to the terms on the back of the certificate. (Some booking codes are ineligible for voucher use, but those letter codes are outlined on the piece of paper.) At that point, you should have asked to speak with a supervisor when the agent denied your request to use the certificate for an eligible itinerary.

The $15/ticket fee they charged for “ticket by mail” is unfortunately simply their phone center charge. But this is a case where the airline is demanding the impossible: They charge you money for using their call center, instead of booking online. But with a voucher, you have no other booking option EXCEPT on the phone, or at an airport, both of which incur a fee. Frankly, the Federal Trade Commission might be interested…

At this point, I’d advise you to write to United’s customer relations. State that you feel that a refund of $90 is due to you — the value that your vouchers went down in value, thanks to the airline’s games. If they take more than two weeks to respond, or if the answer is not to your satisfaction, call or write again. But be warned: They might just send you more vouchers…