Dealing with / advising family and amateurs :/

[Toula92122]

I make an effort to refrain from becoming involved in any travel planning for family or friends as it always ends in tears. Final straw for me was nephew was talking about visiting the US. I gave him some suggestions, having lived here for 20+ years I have a fair idea of what should work for him. His response was he would check with my brother because he knows all about the US. Yes, my brother had made 1 visit of 7 days and considered the US expert. Now I leave them all to it. They can overpay, go ridiculous routes, have tantrums because they have to pay to assign seats. Not my problem.

 

[cove]

Don’t do it blue bottle as it can end quite badly.

 

[Denali]

Generally every time I return from a holiday I get asked lots of questions about points ect but people generally do nothing.

One coworker went to UK and France for work (with husband and baby-paid seats) and didnt even sign up for a reward program despite me reminding them a couple of times-she now wants to go to Europe for a holiday and talks about not being able to afford it/asked me about points/rewards.

Edit: I booked niece/boyfriend's flights home/return a couple of months and with a few cheeky upgrade bids, got them in J. Ruined them for life Im sure

 

[Princess Fiona]

I generally don’t bother anymore. It’s often not worth the effort and they end up doing their own thing anyway.
I still love helping people out but it’s much better to do so on here and other social media where they are motivated and actively seeking advice.

 

[DC3]

The craziness is where advice is offered by those in the know, yet some will dismiss that, spend more and end up with a much worse deal.

Flight Centre. AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHH​

 

[Rugby]

We generally stay well out of it, but if we have friends or family flying QF and we have spare lounge invites we offer those, and everyone’s wins.

 

[bertflyer]

Colleagues asking at work: ”so tell how you manage retaining QF SG flying only in Y internationaly 5-6 times a year”
My detailed response includes explanation of choosing QF flights where possible, connecting via SIN or HKG on other OW airlines to Asia (and checking booking class to ensure SCs are earned), double SC promotions etc etc.
Then checking back how they went with the booking:” Yeah na, I ended up choosing VN to get to Vietnam because there was no stopover...” next flight they’ll go with Air India or whatever for the same reason.
Leading a horse to water and all that....

 

[jch]

Sorry if briefly OT, I though it's hard to justify ATO payments via CC these days? My accountant is having IT issues so I have two more weeks before my tax is due. I will pay via CC if it represents value.

 

[I love to travel]

I have the opposite problem juddles. My elderly but young at heart mother gets me to arrange everything hotels, transfers tours flights because "I know best." I whinge and groan but secretly love it and enjoy the fact I can get her the best value and know that she is comfortable in Business Class.

 

[daft009]

Sorry if briefly OT, I though it's hard to justify ATO payments via CC these days? My accountant is having IT issues so I have two more weeks before my tax is due. I will pay via CC if it represents value.

Come to the ATO thread in credit cards

 

[Scarlett]

I tend to think of it as the Yin and the Yang of flying and travel: for me to be able to optimise my travel experiences and reduce costs, there has to be some other sucker paying probably more than they really must. zen-Juddles will understand!

Bummer that it has to be family or friends sometimes.

A bit like pokies I suppose: they're just a tax on stupid people and save others paying more tax. Unfortunately most people actually know one or some said stupid people...

 

[tdimdad]

It's like being called to help with IT. You can fix, guide, show & tell, stand on your head, but they most often continue to do the opposite, anyway. I keep as low profile of my travels as possible in an attempt to avoid the trap of anyone asking about it.
It sure bugs when it's the people close to you, so I do feel for you Juddles. Just have to strengthen the zen-fields and take a deep breath...

 

[vetrade]

Friends had plenty of points but not the knowledge to use them effectively, so a few years ago I started them off by working out a great J award trip to Greece.
Although they travel only about a quarter as much as we do, the wife has turned into a real PITA because she now she thinks she's a points guru and keeps offering me points redemption advice I neither need nor want. LOL

 

[opusman]

Come to the ATO thread in credit cards

And good luck working out the cryptic jargon in play

 

[daft009]

And good luck working out the cryptic jargon in play

A tiny bit of patience is all that is needed

 

[JackMiles]

A little OT, but related and probably quite wide-spread; the family/friends knowing a little about earning points but not so much about using them (no, not talking about spending points on toasters); a friend was well on the way to accumulating a million points, mostly from CC spend, a bit from flights, when I said I was going to Vietnam. Said he might join me, I sent my itinerary, booked with QFF points, flying CX and MH, he responded "Wow. I didn’t know you could use your points on other airlines."

 

[jase05]

A little OT, but related and probably quite wide-spread; the family/friends knowing a little about earning points but not so much about using them (no, not talking about spending points on toasters); a friend was well on the way to accumulating a million points, mostly from CC spend, a bit from flights, when I said I was going to Vietnam. Said he might join me, I sent my itinerary, booked with QFF points, flying CX and MH, he responded "Wow. I didn’t know you could use your points on other airlines."

You sure your friend isn’t my father!
We have just come back from Vietnam again and I mentioned to my parents that we are looking to return sometime in opening months of 2020 to which my father asked if they could possibly tag along as despite being to China a dozen times they haven’t seen much else in Asia. I said I’d look into some pricing and let him know at which point he said he had 791,000 QFF points and would they be any good in helping them get to Vietnam

 

[Forg]

Colleagues asking at work: ”so tell how you manage retaining QF SG flying only in Y internationaly 5-6 times a year”

Heh heh heh ... the people who do my better-half’s bookings (she has no choice) have the exact opposite superpower to you; somehow she managed to go to western Europe a dozen times last year in J and lose Gold membership with the alliances she’s got membership with ...

 

[get me outta here]

I suspect a jealousy perversity from the admin.

Heh heh heh ... the people who do my better-half’s bookings (she has no choice) have the exact opposite superpower to you; somehow she managed to go to western Europe a dozen times last year in J and lose Gold membership with the alliances she’s got membership with ...

 

[jch]

My brother asked me for my VA number this morning, had ~15k points about to expire and thought he would transfer them to someone who knew how to use them...

Luckily it saved him from purchasing this:



Not much FM signal at 38,000ft, would prefer to be in business.