Article today dicussing the lengths some will go to for miles. Catman (AKA. Mark Blanchard)is quoted a couple of times.

Here is a link to the story. http://www.usatoday.com/life/travel/...000/ltl259.htm

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Two wrongs may not make a right, but three lefts do.

Thanks, BLADE. In the article's "Related Stories" box, the "Flying as Art Form" piece mentions other FTers as well.

Thank you, Blade. I hadn't seen the article. And to think, we were there at the beginning with Catman...

Hey, it wasn't only not only Catman, but also Geo1004 and jetsetter. Congratulations on your 15 minutes of fame, guys.

[This message has been edited by dgolds (edited 05-20-2000).]

Okay, what am I missing here?

The Steve Belkin part of the article - I can understand wanting millions of miles, but wasn't he paying essentially $475 (425 + 50) per 25,000 miles? Maybe a great deal, maybe not. And also, how could he (or his family) be credited for flights "acquaintances" took?

Is it me, or am I being thrown off by bad reporting/writing?

I have a friend in a middle management position in an industry that will remain nameless (as will he, for reasons that will become obvious). Whenever any of his employees travel, they fly in his name (using his Sky Miles number) and stay at the same hotel chain in his name (using his hotel frequent stay number). Apparently, neither Delta nor the hotel chain ever recognizes that there's more than one John Doe on the same flight or in the hotel on the same night. Result: he has more Sky Miles and hotel points than any ten of us could ever use in a lifetime, and he never uses them!
BTW: I don't know for sure, but I think he gets around the photo ID security requirement by having them fly in their own names but use his Sky Miles number. I doubt that any of the airline systems have thought to really compare numbers with names yet, although he may soon be in deep Kimchee.

[This message has been edited by philforest (edited 05-22-2000).]

PhilForest, some airlines DO compare FF names with account numbers! During the OneWorld promotion last fall, I got hung up with Canadian: they had printed my name on my ticket adding an "e" at the end of the last name (a common mistake), and their system wouldn't accept my AAdvantage # because the ticket didn't match the name on the AAdvantage account.

And that's with the first 8 letters matching exactly - I hate to think if it found Smith using Jones' account!!