Yes, our travel expenses should be based on loyalty programs & credit cards

If we would all just get credit cards which give us "cash back" each month and use "frequent diner cards" at Starbucks, Subway and Panera Bread, then we could negotiate lower increases to our per diem too.

Come on guys, a little more effort please.😏

Enjoy coach.

I have to agree with Rock on this one. Screw paying for an economy upgrade. Get status on another airline, fly with them or their partners all the time, and fly first class. You don't get free wine in coach, so go for the good seats! Especially if you don't have bank or qualify for the company to pay for FC.

Isn’t the “loyalty Program” upgrades last minute (i.e. 48-24 hours before the flight)? It seem to be more advantagious to be able to book an upgrade much earlier.

Does anyone have experience with my previous question:

"You have a bunch of bank money, and the upgrade is $59 for the first leg and $89 for the second leg. Are we limited to $40/80? Do we pay the difference? I thought this was a screw job in the contract because these upgrade prices are containing to rise but the contract is not protected from inflationary price increases. What say you?”

My two thoughts are:

1. $40/80 is above and beyond and you may expense it no matter if you have bank or not. (This scenario seems unlikely).

2. you can ONLY expense $40/80 no matter how much bank you have.

#2 is a bad deal 57% voted for. We are stuck with those numbers for 6+++ years even though the prices continue to go up and are already in excess of those numbers on a lot of legs.....

The airline loyalty program I'm in upgrades me to economy plus automatically at booking. It upgrades me to first class 96 hours prior (when available). It cost me 0 dollars to join. It also includes higher status with major hotel and rental car chains, which doesn't sound like a big deal until you realize that 1. they are free, 2. there's no way I'd get those status upgrades on my own, 3. they work whether I'm traveling on FedEx's dime or my own. My family has taken several trips to Europe in first class both ways using miles I accumulated on FedEx deadheads. I haven't flown in anything other than first class (when it exists on the airplane I'm on) since I can remember and as a commuter, that is a lot of flying.
Bottomline, for zero dollars, I take advantage of a required part of my life as a FedEx commuter to make my traveling more comfortable. For zero dollars, I don't have to worry about $40/$80 upgrade expenses because they just happen for free. And for zero dollars, the miles that I accumulate flying to work allow me to fly internationally in reserved first class seats with my family and enjoy things like free internet and lounge access when we stay in hotels on our vacation travel. Did I mention that those benefits cost me nothing?
And regarding your previous question, I think option #2 is the correct answer. But I'm not sure why it's a "bad deal". Our 2011 contract did not provide any allowance for that type of upgrade.

I agree with everything you said except the last line. The contract didn't provide for it but crew travel audit allowed it and I always was allowed to expense it if I had the bank money, regardless of the cost. Not it appears to be limited.

Sounds like it is time to give it a test.