December 02, 2004

Free Flights? Samsung are offering free flights to ten destinations in Europe.

Is this a corrupt scam? It all seems a bit too easy to me.

posted by clivedallas 19 years ago
  • Do you have to visit all ten?
  • It's not a corrupt scam, because Samsung are a major company & that would bite them in the ass, but it IS a huge promotional gimmick, & there are lots of clauses. You are by no means going to be getting a freebee - still gotta pay airport tax & customer service charges & you not guaranteed the flight & time you book, from what I see. Only available to UK residents. The destinations are all really cheapo destinations that are package tour spots anyhow. There's no insurance, & you gotta pay accomodation & any other stuff that comes up. & it's not that great. Does it cost more than 75 pounds to go on the ferry to Dublin these days, anyway? I guess its worth it to go to Dublin & drink real Guinness.
  • Well I've just registered me and Mrs Kitfisto. If it's a corrupt scam you'll have her to answer to!! Looks fine to me, good find...
  • Will it suck too? SAMSUNG, the Korean electronics concern, is tempting fate by offering 200,000 free flights to Europe if you join its “Fun Club”, whatever that is. The last consumer goods firm to launch such a scheme was Hoover, in the early 1990s — which became a PR disaster when the flights ran out, leaving thousands of angry purchasers of vacuum cleaners. The omens for the Samsung venture are not good, with some sort of glitch affecting the relevant section of its website. The company blames higher than expected demand — just like Hoover, then — which is causing “slower upload times during periods of exceptionally high traffic”. - The Times, November 19 And what Nostril said. It's not great. The cheap bulk air carriers have a large amount of spare capacity at off-peak times, so offers like this aren't uncommon - they're not a terribly good deal, and you have limited choice over when to fly (and no comeback if, say, you get bumped from your flight). And yes, you have to pay around £25 in airport tax. The only thing that marks this out a different is that you don't have to buy anything to claim - but all that suggests is that Samsung have decided to push their "Fun Club" hard, so you can probably expect a spam and junk-mail bonanza for quite some time after signing up. But yes, signing up should be safe, and you will get a flight to a European city for a little less than you'd normally pay. Oh - did we mention that you have to travel alone...? My partner/group of friends have all registered with Samsung Fun Club. Can we book a flight together? The terms of this promotion strictly limit the use one Flight voucher per booking per household. Landround will always try to accommodate your wishes but all reservations are subject to availability and we cannot guarantee that you will be able to fly with your friend(s) on the same flight. Remember that you and your friends must apply for your flights individually, Landround will not accept group bookings under any circumstances. However, as part of this promotion you have the option to purchase 1 ‘additional passenger’ flight at the special price of £75 on your booking request form and a friend can then travel with you on the same flight.
  • But you can both register seperately (from a different address if you can do so) - oh well, we'll see...
  • bullshit internet bullshit!
  • I looked around the website and couldn't find the leetle tidbit of info I was looking for. Until someone can prove otherwise, I have to think that this only from European city to European city. *NOTt* from the US to Europe.
  • Engineer's Monkey: From Nostril's post above: Only available to UK residents.
  • Sounds like the great Hoover Free Flight Fiasco of uh... ninety one to me. Hoover offered two free flights to either Florida or New York if you bought one of their vaccums. My wife and I immediately bought one for 200 pounds and sold it in the Free Pages (pre eBay) for a hundred and eighty quid. The flights, we got, after my wife chased them down through the IATA or ABTA number that was listed in one of the ads (she was in the travel biz so knew who and how to be heard) most people were made to jump through an awful lot of hoops, and in the end did not get their flights. Companies were sued. Executives were fired. The market for Second Hand Hoovers was completely wanked... But I got a trip to New York for twenty quid! And it was a great trip. I saw Ronald McDonald making a commercial in a side street in Manhatten - I was star-struck.