There can be quite a thrill to redeeming miles for a first or business class ticket that would cost many thousands of dollars if paying cash, though it’s how many of us have gotten used to traveling.
Along those lines, I know many people redeeming miles might wonder if the crew is aware of what they paid for their ticket, and if they should feel sheepish about that. So I’d like to address that in this post. The short answer is that on some airlines flight attendants know, while on other airlines they don’t. Regardless, it absolutely shouldn’t make a difference in terms of how you’re treated.
There are many different “categories” of passengers
It’s easy to feel like you scored a deal when you redeemed miles for a first or business class ticket, and are worried about whether that ticket makes you “worthy” of the full service. The important thing to understand is that it’s not as binary as there being full fare first and business class passengers and then award passengers.
Rather, when you look at the people seated in premium cabins, you have a combination of full fare passengers, passengers who purchased discounted tickets, passengers who booked award tickets, passengers who redeemed miles, instruments, or cash to upgrade, passengers who were operationally upgraded, and then employees or other people traveling on some sort of benefit.
In terms of hierarchy, generally speaking paid first and business class passengers are prioritized first, then award passengers, then those who upgraded, then operational upgrades and employees. So the point is, you’re not as far down the totem pole as you might think when redeeming miles, since an award ticket is generally considered a form of a “paid” ticket.
Can flight attendants see if you redeemed miles?
Not only does every airline have a different system for what information they show their flight attendants, but often there are differences in terms of what each crew member can see. For example, a cabin manager or purser’s tablet might show more detailed information about passengers than the tablets of the rest of the crew. It all depends on the airline.
As an example, on Emirates, a crew can see if you upgraded (either with miles or if you received an operational upgrade), while the crew can’t see if you redeemed miles. Instead, an award ticket on Emirates shows the same as if you outright paid cash for your ticket. So if you redeem miles for an award ticket, you’d actually be viewed the same as a full fare customer once onboard.
Don’t feel sheepish when redeeming miles
I’ve probably flown well over a million miles on award tickets, and not once have I felt like I was treated differently for having redeemed miles once onboard the aircraft.
Now, I think it’s important to acknowledge that sometimes airlines have systems in place for how they handle passenger priority for things like meal orders. Again, every airline has a different policy:
- On some airlines, they might take meal orders front to back, with no consideration for status or ticket type
- On other airlines, they might first come around to take meal orders for some elite passengers, and then take meal orders from other passengers
Regardless, on no airline should you find a system where they essentially just serve the leftovers to the unworthy passengers redeeming miles. 😉
Bottom line
Your experience in a premium cabin as an award passenger should be no different than that of anyone else, so don’t be afraid to expect the full service. You might actually be surprised to find out that for the airlines that do prioritize passengers for some purposes, award passengers typically come ahead of those upgrading.
Lastly, I should mention that all of this applies to the inflight experience. Some airlines do restrict certain ground products to award passengers, and in the event of irregular operations, some airlines don’t treat award passengers especially well. However, once the plane’s door closes, the above is what you should expect.
Has anyone ever felt like they were treated poorly onboard due to having redeemed miles?
