HSBC's Free Return "Trip" To Singapore

Most of us have credit cards, be it classic, silver, gold or platinum. Every month some of us may tao tia or headache when the bill reached the post box or pigeon hole. But there are still many irresistible temptations from the bank, promotions like swipe more to win a meal, swipe more to get more rebates and so forth. Money of course not enough if you can't resist such promotions. To me, my money already not enough and I am a follower of there-is-no-free-lunch-in-this-worldism, I always think there must be shrimp(s) on the other side of the rock (ada udang di sebalik batu), so I usually trash such info, brochures, telemarketing calls immediately.

Close friends of mine know I am a loyal customer of the world's local bank, because of their services and operations integrity. Not long ago there was this promotion for the card holders...

As usual, I didn't really bother about it when I received the brochure along with my bill statement. I couldn't even remember there was such promotion until I received a sms on 4 Aug 2008:

RM0.00 Congratulations. Here are yr Jetstar reservation codes to redeem 1 rtn ticket to S'pore. Voucher code = XXXX. Voucher number = XXXXXX. Authentication code = XXXXXXX. Visit www.hsbc.com.my for a step-by-step guide on how to book your ticket. Booking period ends 30Sept08. Thanks for using HSBC cards. T&Cs apply.

Heck, what is this? I remembered I was beating the traffic when I received this. Then I totally forgot about it.

On 29 Aug 2008, I received another similar but shorter sms:

RM0.00 Congrats!Here are yr Jetstar reservation codes to redeem yr ticket to S'pore.Voucher code=XXXX.Voucher no=XXXXXX.Authentication code=XXXXXXX.T&Cs apply

Hmmm... 2 free tickets? Perhaps I should take a look on how big the shrimp is, I told myself.

So I visited the site...

Free return trip. Wow! Looks good.

From my memory, I did not come across that AirAsia advertises with free trip or free flight, usually you see free ticket or zero fare ticket in the promotion or e-letter, 'cause it's not really free, you still have to pay for surcharges. This time, it's free return trip NOT free return ticket, meaning that it might be really free of charge.

I browsed further, with a little more excitement... Ah Ha! Here's the catch!

How much?

So, it's not free at the end.

Certainly, I did not plant any hope at all on such promotion. I know definitely there is or are "shrimp(s)" somewhere along the path, it's a matter of whether you catch it before you are caught by the trick. However, read through again this post, my emphasis wasn't on "free" but "trip" and "flight".

Trip means a journey or voyage between 2 points; A return trip means a go-and-back journey; so for a free return trip, shouldn't it be a trip that I pay nothing to travel from point A (in this case, KL) to point B (in this case, Singapore) then back to point A?

Flight means a trip by a flying object (in this case, Jetstar airplane). So for a free flight, shouldn't I be sitting in the airplane happily by paying nothing to get onto the plane?

Hmmm... I doubt and question the credibility and capability of the lead for this promotion and perhaps also the lawyers who reviewed the T&Cs. Indirectly, the brand, the world's local bank. If this happens in US, perhaps I could really get free return trip or free flight by court order.

~RM300 for a return trip excluding the transport fare from my house to point A. I could get 2 return trips by Aeroline, though it's longer time in travel but I am not in rush to the kiasu island.

*Beep* *Beep* Sms arrived when closing this post.

Oh, not only 2 but now I have 3 free return TICKETS by Jetstar from KUL to SIN. Anyone interested may contact me. No, it's NOT free TRIP nor FLIGHT so you still have to pay whatever needs to be paid to fly there, I am not paying for you lor. Hehe...