SkyMiles...Who gets them - Employer or Employee?

Jayhawk

We have a situation where some of our sales people who travel extensively would like to keep their "skymiles" or hotel award points for themselves, although, all of their travel expenses are paid for by the company on a company credit card. Shouldn't these "miles" be the company's, and does anyone know if the airlines award "miles" to a company instead of just an individual? And if we do decide to let the employee keep the miles, isn't this considered a form of compensation and we/they would have to pay taxes on it? Any suggestions as to what other comapnies out there do would be very helpful.

njjel

I don't know about the tax part but I would certainly allow the employee to keep the miles as a perk for the time they spend away from home/families, etc. This is a benefit that costs the employer absolutely zip and to with hold the miles from the employee could surely damage morale.

Parabeagle

I travel a lot for my company and I get to keep my skymiles, for much the same reason as the previous poster mentioned -- it's a perk for having to put up with the travel, being away from home, etc. In fact, when I was in the military and traveled alot the gov't. originally got the miles but changed their policy a couple of years ago and ruled that the member could keep the miles.

Don D

I agree with both njjel and parabeagle. What confuses me is why is a Jayhawk on the MO side of the border?

Christinet

We allow the employee to keep the miles as a perk for tolerating travel related headaches such as weekend travel, delays, evening/early morning arrrivals and departures ,etc. They are not taxed.

A recent survey by American Express Travel Related Services Co. Inc. taken by 1,198 employers with more than 100 employees revealed that only 4 percent of surveyed employers said they require employees to return frequent flyer miles, down from 9 percent in 1994.