I talked to someone high up in CZR. They know the problem. Passport is swamped because so many left their trip bookings until the last month or two before the March 31st deadline. Employees in Passport have to be specially trained to meet airline booking rules so they just can’t throw in anyone to help out temporarily. A few employees who had that training but are now in other positions have volunteered to come in on weekends to help clear the backlog.
If you are a long-time or big player with a host who has some “power,” you might ask if you can get extra free play at your local property in lieu of a trip. That usually is against policy but you might be more successful with that special request at this time because of the Passport backlog. Worth a try if you really don’t want to take the trip.
One note that might clear up confusion about 7* retreats. Your first one has to be taken before March 31. (Same deadline for 80k Level III Diamond Aspiration trip.) Your second retreat is really a Level I Signature Experience and the deadline for those experiences is June 30.
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Jean $¢ott, Frugal Gambler
http://queenofcomps.com/
You can read my blog at
http://jscott.lvablog.com/
From: harry.por…@…net
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 11:24 AM
To: harrahscasi…@…com
Subject: [harrahscasinos] RE: 80k trip
I’ll observe that I book my trips through a LV-based NCM host and have generally had excellent results re Passport, who generally has responded with an itinerary for me to review within 48 hours of my request. (There was one hiccup where there was miscommunication between my host and Passport, but it’s difficult to necessarily lay that isolated incident at the hands of Passport – this is out of something like 14 trip requests in the last 2-1/2 years.)
However, because of current request volume, I’m still waiting on arrangements I requested late Wednesday. We’re nearing the 21-day travel window, so I’m concerned that fares are going to exceed the allowance if not booked by tomorrow.