Programs: UA 1K, IC RA, Marriott Silver, SPG Gold, ¤
Posts: 26,954
do you think those with miles and status-mania are filling an empty void?
Let's face it, some of the folks on this board are absolutely obsessed with miles and status. They go to great lengths to increase the number that they see when they login to their various airline/hotel programs.
Part of it I'm sure is ego. It feels good to have "status" and be recognized as someone special.
But I wonder also if there is something about those who are particularly into it and filling empty voids in their lives. Maybe status and points make up for not having a special relationship with a significant other? Maybe it makes up for not having many friends in real life, etc.?
Put simply, do you think there is a link between miles and status mania and either emptiness in one's life or psychological disorder?
Oh, it's like any other hobby really. (... and I say that as someone who's very casually into it - I've never made an MR, but I've had fun using miles that i've earned)
Some people do it as an offshoot of their work. Let's face it, flying all over the place for work could get pretty boring, and playing with FF miles is one way to add a bit of challenge to the whole thing.
Some people do it for the benefits of the miles: free travel, or free upgrades, are like any other freebie - and some of us really like free stuff!
For some people, it does become their whole life for whatever reason. But I don't think it's really possible to generalize.
But I wonder also if there is something about those who are particularly into it and filling empty voids in their lives. Maybe status and points make up for not having a special relationship with a significant other? Maybe it makes up for not having many friends in real life, etc.?
Put simply, do you think there is a link between miles and status mania and either emptiness in one's life or psychological disorder?
Well my wife certainly might agree with the psychological disorder bit , especially when I did three weeks of SFO/LAX-BOS marathons.
I personally enjoy flying but also looked at DBEQM as too good a deal to pass up... 20 months of EXP and eVIPs for less than $3K. Plus I recently sold most of my business so I have lots of time for MRs and to travel.
The OP's question may have been somewhat tongue-in-cheek. However, given some of the anger and venom expressed toward airlines and hotels when people don't get the recognition they think they deserve ("Do you know who I am?? Do you know what level I am?"), I do think that there are some people who use these programs as the one place in their lives where they get some recognition and status.
Programs: NW silver, Spirit Somebody; DL, CO, UA once gold now dirt. AA & US for magazines.
Posts: 5,999
It could be the other way around with cause and effect, where the time demands for constructing and going on the trips wreck the relationships. It would have a similar effect to, say, video game addiction, or other addictions that take away time from relationships.
Though I gotta say that it was a more intense thing with conditions back in the 1990s, especially the early and mid-1990s. Back then you had EAASY SABRE with monochrome screens (via CompuServe) and you had to bang out command lines like: /FARES,ATL,MCI,DL,K (I think there were other fields as well) and query every fare or seats on every segment individually. No Mega-sites to aggregate and filter data, like Fare Compare. You'd have to check seats on every segment you wanted to fly (more command lines) and then assemble it piece by piece and *hope* it priced out. You could work for 15 minutes just to reach a dead end, whereas now with ITA you can have the computer do all that in a fraction of a second.
LCCs were also a lot smaller, so sometimes tricks like hidden-city tickets and throwaway ticketing (possible then) were needed just to get something affordable. After Eastern went under, for example, there was a really nasty period for fares from ATL.
There was also the great fare war of summer 1992, where transcons were going for $150 or less and there were hourlong hold times for the airlines. Being able to book online was a real novelty then.
So the feeling of being able to beat the system was much more intense (because far fewer people were doing it), but constructing really good trips could be a LOT more labor intensive. (I shudder to think how long it could take to piece together some of the UA barn-burners on EAASY SABRE, given all the dead ends you'd hit with just one segment not having sale seats.)
But programs also were a lot more generous then, so status would mean even more. Upgrade policies were more generous, there would be double and triple mile specials for all fare classes, threshold bonuses and more frequent and better mileage sales. I remember doing a series of short trips to NYC in fall 1993 using an unusual combination of special deals that netted about 20K miles each on $105 each in fares.
So it was a lot more time and more painstaking work back then, but the perks were greater and you really were a pioneer. Both sides of the psychological equation were more intense.
Put simply, do you think there is a link between miles and status mania and either emptiness in one's life or psychological disorder?
Yes.
I had my moment of clarity when I did a SGN-SIN-AMS mileage run to retain my SQ PPS status for the last time back in August 2007 just before the new PPSV rules took effect. Same-day/same-plane (and in SGN, same crew) turnaround and when in AMS, I also never left the secure airside area.
Let's face it, some of the folks on this board are absolutely obsessed with miles and status. They go to great lengths to increase the number that they see when they login to their various airline/hotel programs.
Part of it I'm sure is ego. It feels good to have "status" and be recognized as someone special.
But I wonder also if there is something about those who are particularly into it and filling empty voids in their lives. Maybe status and points make up for not having a special relationship with a significant other? Maybe it makes up for not having many friends in real life, etc.?
Put simply, do you think there is a link between miles and status mania and either emptiness in one's life or psychological disorder?
I definately think there is at least a small connection for some or possibly many. I don't think it is necessarily unhealthy to have an affinity for status or perks, but it can have an effect on your ego I think for you can internally judge your worth by your status.
I think it is like anyone else giving their opinion about you, except this opinion is based on objective data and can be manipulated by our actions and increased when needed. MR are a great example, that it feels good to acheive status and miles that we all want. We set a goal and accomplished it.
Good question.
__________________
"Love ya don't tell ya enough" & God Bless
Current UA EQM's: 177,983 - UA upgrades Domestic 11/11, Inter. 4/4
People love to get something for free...and something expensive like air travel is even better! A lot of people collecting miles through grinding it out wouldn't otherwise be able to travel.
I accept that I do get upset when I am unable to use the airline miles and hotel points that I earned by traveling on my own time and spend boring evenings in a hotel. The sacrifice as well as the false promise that the miles or points can be redeemed at certain threshold leads to disappointment.
I realized long time ago that apart from the airline status, the rest are pretty useless. The Airline status has an impact when there is a disruption in service.
Programs: AA Plt, NW Sil, US Sil; BW Dia, PC Plt, HH Gld
Posts: 337
Quote:
Originally Posted by magiciansampras
They go to great lengths to increase the number that they see when they login to their various airline/hotel programs.
They?
Quote:
Originally Posted by magiciansampras
But I wonder also if there is something about those who are particularly into it and filling empty voids in their lives.
I've noticed that I spend much more time on FlyerTalk when I'm bored with work.
When things are slow, I seem to gather much more information about all the promotions and bonuses I'm not getting. Yet when I'm traveling frequently, I can't keep up, and later kick myself for all the bonuses I missed.
For the record, I'd rather be interested in work. The bench bites.
After starting a job about 3 years ago that involves lots of traveling the reason that I have and hold onto status is because it makes my travel more enjoyable/confortable. If I stopped travelling for work then I would not be bothered about losing status (QF Lifetime Silver is only a few months away thankfully!!!)
As for MR's and ego, I haven't ever done one and probably never will.
, especially when I did three weeks of SFO/LAX-BOS marathons.
The bench bites.
