I tried this for booking my current business trip. I offered a $100 reward for a five city US excursion, originating in Japan, with the proviso "I use Delta. Make sure I get miles for this, either with them or an allied carrier."
The best offer I get that actually read that instruction knocked $3,000 off the $5,000 that Delta.com quoted me. I went with Delta. I have the utmost respect for the amount of searching which went into it, but the instructions I got back were 6 steps long, with each step sounding like "Book a one-way flight from X to Y using this web interface", and I was terrified of getting halfway through and then being stranded in Des Moines not able to book the rest of the flights at anything near the quote.
I'm so there if they can handle the bookings themselves, such that I'm not the one bearing the risk-of-failure-to-book.
Agree with your general point but with those kinds of savings it seems fairly irrational not to. With $2k in pocket I can't imagine being stuck in Des Moines with no options.
The best offer I get that actually read that instruction knocked $3,000 off the $5,000 that Delta.com quoted me. I went with Delta. I have the utmost respect for the amount of searching which went into it, but the instructions I got back were 6 steps long, with each step sounding like "Book a one-way flight from X to Y using this web interface", and I was terrified of getting halfway through and then being stranded in Des Moines not able to book the rest of the flights at anything near the quote.
I'm so there if they can handle the bookings themselves, such that I'm not the one bearing the risk-of-failure-to-book.