www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Attention CRT'ers - here's your chance to really save on your next trip to CR. I currently have over 103,000 accumulated Distancia miles on Taca - and with Costa Rica not figuring into my future plans, I would like to make the following special offer to the membership...

If slots are open to use Distancia miles for your next trip, I will buy your ticket using my miles. You then pay me between 75% - 85% of the purchase price of the ticket, depending on the following factors:

If flying to CR or anywhere else in Central America during the following "low season" months:

February, March, April, May, October, November (note: excludes "Easter season" 3/2 to 4/6)...

You would pay me 75% of the purchase price. So if the total ticket value is $400, you pay me $300 - a savings of $100!

If flying to Central American during any of the remaining "high season" periods:

January, June, July, August, September, December, and Easter season (3/2 - 4/6)...

OR

to South America during low season, you would pay me 80% of the total ticket value.

Finally, if flying to South America during high season, you would pay me 85% of the total ticket value.

The reason for the variation is due to the number of miles I would have to use in each circumstance to purchase the ticket.

Taca flights originate out of the following North American cities:

Chicago (ORD)
Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
Houston (IAH)
Los Angeles (LAX)
New York (JFK)
Oakland
San Francisco
Toronto
Washington D.C. (IAD)

Direct flights to San Jose are available from some of these locations, including LAX and JFK.

Taca has received consistently good reviews here on the board for their newer fleet of planes, great service, and reliable on-time record. Not only that - FREE BOOZE!

You can check itineraries on line at http://www.taca.com/index.asp. If there's an itinerary you are interested in, please call Taca in advance at 800-400-8222 to check if there is Distancia availability. If it's a go, have them put a hold on it, PM me with the itinerary, and we will arrange payment via Paypal - after which I will proceed to purchase the ticket in your name here at the local Taca office and have them email you the itinerary.

Since there are potentially no more than three slots available to do this, please let me know ASAP if you have any interest.

Thanks,
GR

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Check out http://weluvlatinas.com/ for the web's best info on the latin american monger lifestyle...

GR, Thanks for the generous offer, Unfortunaley I am sitting on 90,000 miles with Taca as well, Have not used them because all of my flights over the past year have priced out at $249.42 to 309.42 RT out of Chicago. At those prices, I have been waiting for the prices to go up a little use up to a $500 ticket for 30 to 35000 miles. One of these days I will use them up.

Just a quick question I have been debating, I am now Plata level onTaca and was wondering if i could use a mileage ticket to upgrade to 1st/Business Class, I have been bumped up now on 8 of my last 9 trips for the economy ticket prices I mentioned earlier.

Thanks and see you in Rio soon

Okay - time to bump this baby up - c'mon guys - you can save BIG BUCKS here flying to that mongering paradise we all know as COSTA RICA!!!

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Check out http://weluvlatinas.com/ for the web's best info on the latin american monger lifestyle...

GR$, Did you get my PM last night. ?

tuanis

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not as good as I once was, but as good once as I ever was

I cannot seem to get the PM thing working so I will post it here. I offered to purchase 70,000 miles for 600.00. If this will work, let me know.

THX
tuanis

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not as good as I once was, but as good once as I ever was

I think what Getrythym meant to say was that he will sell you travel advice and offer his services as a travel agent for you for cash, and that he will gift you the miles for free. It's not illegal to sell the miles directly (I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice) but it is against the rules of TACA's frequent flyer program (see rule 2. quoted below). If caught, GR could lose all his miles and the purchaser could be denied boarding. So its important that the purchaser knows the miles were a gift from their friend GR and not to characterize it any other way to employees of the airline.

Actually, all of the machinations involving acting as a "travel agent" and "gifting" the miles, etc., as mentioned by Senordos are not necessary - it's completely legal and within Taca's rules for me to purchase a ticket for another individual using my miles - in fact, I just did so today for another member on the board.

But he is correct here in that a mechanism doesn't exist for me to "sell" my miles directly to another individual. So if you have any interest in the remaining 68,000 miles, please follow the instructions outlined in the initial post and find an itinerary you are interested in, call Taca to check if there is Distancia availability, and then put the reservation on hold and PM me.

Thanks,
GR

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Check out http://weluvlatinas.com/ for the web's best info on the latin american monger lifestyle...

GR replied:


Yes and no. Everything you did is obviously doable, however it is very much against TACA's rules if you receive payment for doing it. It may be a small point and you are unlikely to get caught, it's even arguably against their interest to "catch" you. However, it could come back to bite you and your purchaser in the ass if you are not aware of the rules.

For example, if your purchaser had an experience similar to Don Gordo's recent AA experience, unhappy about how he was treated, he complains to the gate agent that he paid X dollars for his flight and he deserves better treatment. At this point the agent would be in their right to deny your purchaser boarding, and to put a note in your file to remove any remaining miles in your account.