those who think you get miles only when you get plane tickets are the ones at the office who have no clue. But they are also the ones not getting in trouble at work for printing out miles stuff or being on the phone all the time with CS about lost bags, etc. Not that I have lately, but we spend SOOOO much time on this stuff--even setting up or maintaining and updating promos and idines and deals and registrations, that it is costing us elsewhere whether we know it or not.

How humbling it was to hear of a friend of mine, a man in his 60s who knows more about skiing and places to go in the world for the best trips, be unable to get a decent trip to Utah when he tried to use his miles he has been accumulating for several years. Sure, it's not his game. Skiing is. He can tell you all about that just like we can tell him all about this, but he was pissed and cannot take his trip, but i can still walk into a store and no not very much about the sport, but get a decent deal or pretty good gear and not necessarily get ripped off in the process. I just have to know a little bit and maybe have some inside info, but for flying and miles, you have to read a darn book on the subject!

(someday i will tell you why skiing is better than dating--it starts with the fact that you can have as many pairs of skis as you want--in any size or color too!)

MM