One advantage of being here in "tomorrow" when the US is back in "yesterday" (I'm talking geographically not politically) is that we get to see the comic strips first.

Today's/tomorrow's (well, 15 April's) Cathy(R) comic strip, written by Cathy Guiswite, has Cathy talking with her tax accountant about her income taxes (for non-US citizens/residents, April 15th is when US income taxes must be filed if one does not have an extension).

The accountant asks Cathy whether she wants to pay by check or charge. Cathy is surprised that "charge" is an option. The accountant explains, "For the first time in history, you can charge your taxes on a credit card . . . . Simply charge your taxes, sit back, and reap the rewards of good citizenship."

Cathy knows what those rewards are, "Frequent Flyer Miles!!". (But it turns out her credit cards are all maxed out.)

Take a look. As they used to say on that TV show, "We are not alone."

See, Even Cathy knows the value of getting those miles.

So the next time people think I'm crazy for staying at this hotel or using this charge card or going this other route to get bonus miles I'll just whip out this CATHY cartoon.

OMNI: I wonder what's CATHY's favorite airline?

Cathay, of course.

Here an URL for the Cathy comic:

http://www2.uclick.com/client/sea/ca/

Hang on

I checked the IRS site and you get charged a 'convenience fee' for using your credit card. I suspect that the fee may make the aquisition of FF miles this way not too cost-effective.

The web site is vague about the cost fo teh fee. Does anyone know?

cheers Peter

Yeah, the convenience fee is 2.5% making it not generally a good deal.

But, if you intend to use miles to get First class reward tickets that you otherwise would have paid cash for, then 2.5% is a steep but still cost-effective way to earn miles.

The news has been touting stories about people
paying their taxes with a credit card to get
frequent flyer miles. I seriously doubt it.
I'm sure people pay their taxes with a credit
card, but not to get frequent flyer miles. People
who are in these FFPs are usually bright people
who understand the value of npt paying too much
for the miles. It's hard for me to believe that
people would pay 2.5% extra for the miles when
many of the airlines will sell it to you for 2 cents.

[This message has been edited by chauming (edited 04-16-99).]

Just to be the Devil's Advocate today (and I'm waiting for my code to compile and hence I'm in a very bad mood)

(1) Almost everyone is in a FFP these days. UA and AA alone have in the region of 30 million members each. By virtue of that fact alone, there must be plenty of stupid people in FF programs. (This is not / should not be taken as an insult to anyone at FlyerTalk). So the statement that - "are usually bright people" is doubtful. (FlyerTalk members on the other hand are bright people and know the value of miles) - but it's hard to characterize all FFP members as "bright" not just FlyerTalkers

(2) Yes, you can buy miles from airlines for 2 cents. However:
- only a few airlines sell miles. but, almost all major frequent flier program have affiliated credit cards in the US/Canada.
- even with the airlines that sell miles at 2 cents, there are significant restrictions - including per person maximums and the miles must be distributed among many people, or can only be used to purchase a small percentage of a reward ticket.

(3) Finally, if you usually pay to fly in First or Business class, paying 2.5 cents isn't too bad a deal. For example, a Business class reward ticket to India requires 100K miles (Air Canada, United etc.) - even at 2.5 cents/mile - $2500 it's a pretty good deal considering the paid fare is over $7000 from many cities. And if you are an AC Elite for example, you will almost certainly get the flights you want (no capacity controls), and hence the free tickets aren't inferior to the paid ones. (AC for example, lets Elites change dates on reward ticket without any charge - also you can recredit unused tickets without penalty)

In summary, I can't afford to pay 2.5 cents/mile but for some people it would make sense - and for those people it might be the "bright" thing to do.

[This message has been edited by megamiles (edited 04-16-99).]

But if I was AC SuperElite, I might pay the extra couple of hundred bucks ($2800 Calgary to Delhi on regular discount economy) to buy a ticket so I could get my status miles.

I could still get Executive First seats confirmed at time of reservation using SuperElite upgrades. Of course, if I made enough money to pay $150000 in taxes to get the 150000 ff miles, I might charter my own private plane (which of course would be deductible as a business expense).


[This message has been edited by BlondeBomber (edited 04-16-99).]

But BloneBomber wouldn't want to disturb the real birds with an additional unnecessary plane flying around ...

Es verdad! Los pajaros son muy bonitos y finos.

BB - it's Rudi you're responding to, not arturo (or perhaps it is...)