Air Travel shop

Are there shops for Air Travel (ticket, travel experience with airline, etc.) - and not only the in-flight shop?

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Check SQM. They offer 50% reimbursement for a major airline.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2019 08:58PM by azncollege.

Thanks. Is it only in Canada?

@azncollege wrote:

Check SQM. They offer 50% reimbursement for a major airline.

@KV Nope. SQM is based in Canada, but American shoppers can join. The airline that they shop is a major American airline carrier that doesn't fly to Canada.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2019 01:04AM by azncollege.

Yeah, I did that shop for SQM once. It sucks that you have to pay them first upfront for the entire flight, and don't get to buy your flight yourself and then have to wait to get 1/2 the money back later. And you don't get to accrue any rewards points (can't enter your own rewards number for the flight).

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Yeah, I did that shop for SQM once. It sucks that you have to pay them first upfront for the entire flight, and don't get to buy your flight yourself and then have to wait to get 1/2 the money back later. And you don't get to accrue any rewards points (can't enter your own rewards number for the flight).

Definitely not worth it...

You cannot take advantage of rewards accrual, trip delay benefits, baggage insurance, etc. You can only take advantage of this typically as long as the full amount of the flight is paid by the credit card offering the benefits.

If you want to risk waiving trip delay benefits and other credit card flight benefits, you're better off buying the flight using gift cards that can be bought often at least with a minimum 10% discount, or in many cases, around 20-30% discounts or more with virtually no work aside from tracking down the deals.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Off topic a bit..
.Are there any gift card reselling sites you had good experiences with? I am worried about getting burned....

Thanks

I have their credit card and I fly with that airline regularly. I LUV them! I am a notorious overpacker (gotta have matching handbags and shoes for various clothing ensembles, plus makeup and hair products) so the bags flying free is an awesome thing. And, I went on a trip recently and was able to pay for my and my husband's flights to Texas and then to Mexico using points with a minimal fee of airport taxes.

Huh? Why would anyone want to resell gift cards, and how can it burn you to just spend them?

@MMMM wrote:

Off topic a bit..
.Are there any gift card reselling sites you had good experiences with? I am worried about getting burned....

Thanks

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Huh? Why would anyone want to resell gift cards, and how can it burn you to just spend them?

@MMMM wrote:

Off topic a bit..
.Are there any gift card reselling sites you had good experiences with? I am worried about getting burned....

Thanks

My guess would be to maximize savings for mystery shops and non-mystery shopping purchases, in general.

Personally, I stay away from any reselling and aim for purchasing from reputable sources. I maximize gift card purchases at a minimum 5-6% discount via my AMEX SimplyCash Business card (5% off office supply stores aka Staples), my AMEX Blue Preferred (6% off grocery stores), etc. AMEX is great, as you can stack on AMEX offers for optimal discounts on gift cards.

For example:

1. One of my offers was $15 off $67 at grocery stores, so I purchased whatever gift cards I wanted at a ~22% discount, plus an additional 1% back on my AMEX Everyday card.

2. Another offer I had was using the standard 6% grocery store discount while Safeway had a $10 off $100 (plus $5.95 activation fee) for their universal Visa gift card. In the end after cash back, it was an effective 9.81% saved for use anywhere that accepts Visa card.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Yes. I have those cards too, among others. I buy gift cards often enough (and get them from points traded with other CCs) but I generally just spend them or give them as "gifts" as they were intended, LOL.

Double Post.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2019 04:03AM by Tarantado.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Yes. I have those cards too, among others. I buy gift cards often enough (and get them from points traded with other CCs) but I generally just spend them or give them as "gifts" as they were intended, LOL.

Think of it this way, maximizing your spending via credit cards including gift cards, AMEX offers, etc. can, for example, yield ~10-15% in savings over the course of the year. Let's also say that with card purchases, I'd average around $30k spending. That alone would yield ~$3-4.5k in tax-free savings / income. Crazy, right?

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Understood. My point was always about the resale. You reselll your gift cards?

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Understood. My point was always about the resale. You reselll your gift cards?

No reselling on my end. I load up on gift cards and use them for normal purchasing, both mystery shops and non-mystery shops.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Yes. Me too.

There are sites where people sell gift cards. I think the person who asked is interested in BUYING gift cards at a discounted rate.
Not all, but many of the gift cards on those sites are actually merchandise credits where items were stolen and then returned to the store without a receipt for store credit. The thieves then sell the store credit for less than face value to turn it into cash.

Many stores are now requiring a photo id when returning and matching that photo id when USING the store credit. (I saw signs at Lowe's for this)

Why an honest person might sell a gift card...
Many people receive gift cards from specific places as gifts from friends or relatives. Or it might be some sort of promotion or a bonus from your job etc etc. If you get a gift card for a store, airline or whatever that you do not shop at you might want to sell it or you might want to turn it into cash to spend elsewhere. I have never purchased any of these so I do not know what percentage of them are bad or which sites are safer to use.
As an example my friend has a sister in law who made millions when her company went public. Every holiday for years they sent each of her kids, her husband and her gift cards for a specific store for $100 each. She could not shop that store annually and spend all that on things she wanted as it added up to over $1000 per year. After a few years I finally convinced her to speak up and request a change in gift card stores. I suspect either they were not thinking about my friends likes or the corporation bought those gift cards for that store in bulk to give to their employees at Christmas and just sent her 4 each time. Now she is happier as she gets an assortment of places she actually shops at. But she could have sold all of those online for a discount.

Getting back to the original topic, SQM's air shop is, like every shop, not for everyone, but for those who only fly on that airline a few times a year it can be a great deal. Someone taking four $250 flights a year is not going to qualify for any big loyalty program perks or get a free flight that would offset the $500 savings that could be reached by doing the mystery shop. BTW, it's offline for the start of 2020 but the MSC says it is simply being "retooled." Hopefully it will return soon.

@sandyf wrote:

Why an honest person might sell a gift card...
Many people receive gift cards from specific places as gifts from friends or relatives.

We traded and resold holiday gift cards for years on a children's clothing board that I frequented.
I sold gas cards, movie cards, restaurant cards, clothing cards. Usually, we just swapped cards.
There are places that I don't frequent such as Cracker Barrel, Wal-Mart, TRH, AMC theaters, etc.

JAS, say, for example, one of the gift cards you give your niece, she won't use it. She'll sell it to a reseller for 40% of the value. I contact the reseller and buy that gift card for 80% of the value.

Resellers are out there, but so are scammers.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Yes. I have those cards too, among others. I buy gift cards often enough (and get them from points traded with other CCs) but I generally just spend them or give them as "gifts" as they were intended, LOL.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I know that's hypothetical, but my niece would let me know, and rather than resell it, she would give it back to me and I would give her cash, LOL!!!!

I just joined SQM and I'm in CA, they have jobs here, I applied with a rather long application form and was accepted....looking forward to my first trip after my move.

Live consciously....

Thanks. I applied a couple days ago. See nothing in my area. Hopefully something comes up next year.

@NinS wrote:

Getting back to the original topic, SQM's air shop is, like every shop, not for everyone, but for those who only fly on that airline a few times a year it can be a great deal. Someone taking four $250 flights a year is not going to qualify for any big loyalty program perks or get a free flight that would offset the $500 savings that could be reached by doing the mystery shop. BTW, it's offline for the start of 2020 but the MSC says it is simply being "retooled." Hopefully it will return soon.

@KV I got an email from the scheduler 2 days ago saying they have a few airline shops left if you book/fly before 12/31. It's not on the job board. You need to email travel@sqm.ca if you're interested.

Thank you!

@azncollege wrote:

@KV I got an email from the scheduler 2 days ago saying they have a few airline shops left if you book/fly before 12/31. It's not on the job board. You need to email travel@sqm.ca if you're interested.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Yeah, I did that shop for SQM once. It sucks that you have to pay them first upfront for the entire flight, and don't get to buy your flight yourself and then have to wait to get 1/2 the money back later. And you don't get to accrue any rewards points (can't enter your own rewards number for the flight).

The reason for this is that you make the payment, then the scheduler books the flight using his points. After you submit your report, he is refunded half the flight cost.

This is win-win-win. It's a win for the airline because they're getting their flights shopped for no cost except a discounted flight (the seat may or may not have been sold so they're still making money). It's a win for the MSC because they're getting half your flight cost as their fee. It's a win for the shopper because the flight is half price.

You have to weigh the rewards and the likelihood of getting bump-compensation against the discount. Sometimes it's worth it; other times it's not. This airline used to be a discount airline. No longer. They're often not the least expensive. Still my favorite.

SQM is very easy to deal with. This scheduler is consistently responsive. The company pays on time, and will work with you to make sure the shop is always accepted.

"Let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why?” ~Walter Williams

I am pretty sure she is refunded all of the flight cost and then gives the shopper half.

I have this airline's credit card and also I fly for business purposes from time to time where I get reimbursed for the flight and am allowed to use my own rewards number to accrue points. I usually have an abundance of points to exchange for free flights with only airport taxes, so it comes out really cheap for me to NOT do this shop.

@iShop123 wrote:

The reason for this is that you make the payment, then the scheduler books the flight using his points. After you submit your report, he is refunded half the flight cost.

If you don't fly that often and you don't really accumulate airline miles, this shop is probably worth it for you.

I have way too many airline miles for this airline from credit card churning/sign-up bonuses. I still have about 100K miles left to use. I'd rather redeem points for a free award flight and not worry about doing a shop than pay for a half off flight.

Also not worth it for me if you can't enter your rewards number and not receive elite status benefits. I have elite status with the airline and value being automatically checked-in 36 hours prior to the flight to get a good boarding position and having the flexibility to change to a different flight same-day for free.

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