I've always wondered what it'd be like to win contests that the airlines run from time to time. Sometimes they offer unlimited travel for a year or a lifetime. Sometimes it's consistent upgrades no matter what. I came across an account of someone who won the Why You Fly contest from American Airlines. It's not pretty.

The Why You Fly contest was run by American Airlines as a way to solicit stories from people on why they fly. The stories were assembled and people voted on the top stories. Jack McCall was a winner, but his prize has been less than satisfactory.

According to Jack, his prize consisted of twelve flights for two people from any city in the United States to any destination that American Airlines flies to. This could be international flights as well.

When Jack received his prize he was shocked to learn that American Airlines had put the total value of the prize at $52.800. That's $4400 per flight, which is $2200.00 per person.

The rub in the Why You Fly contest is that the tickets are valued the same regardless of where you fly.

Jack asked if he could receive cash instead and the answer was no. This left him looking at a tax bill anywhere from $15,000 to $23,000 if he took the prize.

Does this make sense? American Airlines wants to promote people flying, but turns around and does this.

American Airlines has refused to move on the issue, but here are three things they could do:

• Make the tickets reflect market costs when used.
• Offer a cash prize instead.
• Quit using a contest to dupe loyal customers.

Bookmark/Search this post with:
delicious | digg | reddit | furl | google | yahoo | technorati | icerocket