Black & Decker offered a "free companion" air
ticket when buying tools from April 15 through June 30, 2007. All
tickets must be purchased through LVI (Lifestyle Vacation Incentives)
and the usual blackout dates, fees, taxes, etc. apply. They also state
that seats may be limited, lower fares may be available elsewhere and to
check with their travel counselors for more detail, Saturday stay may be
required, tickets must be purchased at least 14 days prior to departure,
30 day maximum stay and the usual warnings.
http://promotion.blackanddecker.com/Default.aspx
All tickets must be purchased through LVI
(Lifestyle Vacation Incentives) and the usual blackout dates, fees,
taxes, etc. apply. They also state that seats may be limited, lower
fares may be available elsewhere and to check with their travel
counselors for more detail, Saturday stay may be required, tickets must
be purchased at least 14 days prior to departure, 30 day maximum stay
and the usual warnings.
I did a test of 10 destinations comparing the
TOTAL cost for two people from Detroit for two different dates. In both
cases, the dates were for mid-week travel (Wednesday to Wednesday) and
to the most popular destinations. I did not check for lower fares from
Flint or to near-by cities at the destination (Oakland rather than San
Francisco, Long Beach rather than Los Angeles, Ft. Lauderdale rather
than Miami).
Without actually buying a tool and waiting the 3
to 4 weeks to get the voucher, I was unable to see if seats were
available on the dates I selected. I was able to speak with an agent of
LVI who told me that the fees are $10 per ticket ($20 total for two) and
taxes were about $50 per ticket ($100 total). I then used the fare
listing from the Black & Decker/LVI web site (http://promotion.blackanddecker.com/traveldestinations.aspx)
to get the prices and added $240 to the price (to cover fees & taxes for
two passengers). I then compared the TOTAL price for two with what I
could easily and quickly find on the Internet. I used
www.Kayak.com and Southwest (they
don't go to all of the cities I tested).
The results were not surprising. In 75% of the
20 test trips, the total price for two people from the Black & Decker
promotion was higher than could be easily found on the Internet. This
did NOT check to see if seats were even offered for the dates. The
total price averaged $90.50 more per trip!
The lesson: don't buy a Black & Decker product
just because you are offered a "free" companion air ticket. In most
cases, it's not worth paying the price of a stamp to mail the form to
request the "free companion" voucher
In June of 2006, I purchased a $200 product that
also included an offer for a “free companion airline ticket.” I mailed
the required form but it contained very little detail. A "buy one, get
one" coupon quickly arrived with the detailed restrictions (limited
availability, reserve at the CompanionFare web site or call them, book
at least two weeks ahead, a Saturday night stay is required, etc.).
It listed the specific fares to various zones and cities in the
country. A $9.95 processing fee is also charged for each ticket. The
coupon had a unique certificate number allowing access to the
“CompanionFare.com” web site. Companion Fare is run by PROPCO
(Promotions in Travel Marketing) and their web site lists the following
companies as their clients: Kroger, Chase Bank, Discover Card, National
City Bank, US Bank, American Express, General Mills, Walgreen, Wells
Fargo and Verizon. PROPCO offers other products and services and no
mention is made whether these companies offer or offered the "free
companion airline ticket."
What is the value of the “free” companion airline ticket? I attempted
to reserve flights to 10 different cities from Detroit (Phoenix, Las
Vegas, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, San
Diego and Washington, DC) for two mid-week trips; one in mid August and
one in late September. CompanionFare was unable to find flights at the
fares listed on the coupon 65% of the time but did offer to make
reservations at a higher fare. I included those fares in my comparison
of fares for comperable travel from another public web
site. The result: CompanionFare prices had only 35% availablity and
were higher 80% of the time! Two lessons to be learned: don't use the
offer of a "free ticket" in deciding to buy something; if your company
is considering offering this type of promotion to help sell your
products, check-out the real value to your customers. In this case, 80%
of the customers will be disappointed (if my testing is typical). Is
this what you want your customers to think of your company? On June 25,
2006, I sent the results of my testing to AeroBed (the product I
purchased that included a mail-in form) and Promotions In Travel asking
for their comments but have not received a reply as of this publication
date.
