Alpha flight guru

[pootle]

Ok, not wishing to open up a can of worms here, but have just had a spanner thrown in the works with a last min trip to Europe - nice spanner to have - trouble is there is 4 of us, (2couples) nowhere near enough points to do anything, looking around at a nice way to get to Basel and back from Amsterdam or even a ams return and we will add on an extra flight here and there, and of course alpha flight guru pops up - quick search of the site here says they are dodgy as, this was waay back in 2013 - on the afg sight it says they have an affiliation with flight centre - anyone travelled recently with them ??

 

[MEL_Traveller]

AFG says that they can't offer discounts on all flights so it may be that some flights are booked in the 'traditional' manner - via the airlines direct for $$. It might be however that other flights are booked using miles (either purchased on your behalf or from another passenger).

It's not a company I would personally book through. If they are getting a mileage deal I can do it better myself. If they are booking direct with an airline I'd rather do that myself as well.

 

[marki]

I have used them twice flights to Europe. No issues but from memory they were not cheap as they advertised.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have used them twice flights to Europe. No issues but from memory they were not cheap as they advertised.

Out of interest, what sort of fares were they? You earned full miles and status with them? In that case they would have been regular revenue fares. It would be interesting to know how they source their ultra-cheapies.

 

[marki]

from my memory the tickets were points so earned no points (nil status nil miles)(not regular fares)....

 

[MEL_Traveller]

from my memory the tickets were points so earned no points (nil status nil miles)(not regular fares)....

Thanks for the update!

This means one of a couple of things*. Either AFG is opening a FF account under the passenger's own name, buying the miles, then charging the cost (plus premium) to the passenger. Or, AFG is brokering miles, which is almost certainly against the terms and conditions of most (all?) FFPs. Or it might be a combination of both depending on the ticket and destination.

If it's option (a) it will be cheaper for the passenger to buy the miles themselves. If option (b) it could land the passenger stranded.

On either case i would be doing it myself and not using AFG's service.


*if there's another method AFG isn't readily disclosing that!

 

[pootle]

Thanks for the update!

This means one of a couple of things*. Either AFG is opening a FF account under the passenger's own name, buying the miles, then charging the cost (plus premium) to the passenger. Or, AFG is brokering miles, which is almost certainly against the terms and conditions of most (all?) FFPs. Or it might be a combination of both depending on the ticket and destination.

If it's option (a) it will be cheaper for the passenger to buy the miles themselves. If option (b) it could land the passenger stranded.

On either case i would be doing it myself and not using AFG's service.


*if there's another method AFG isn't readily disclosing that!

thanks! This was my fear too - I think I'll steer clear of them.