Originally Posted by
joer1212
The "ability to really see thru layers of things" is exactly what I'm good at. That was my whole point in the first place.
I understand that loyalty programs--and, in fact, ALL programs that are not designed by the consumer--are going to be tilted in the company's favor. I'm not naive. However, when I see blatant unfairness and downright dirty play is when I get pissed off. An example of this would be a bait-and-switch tactic, such as suddenly increasing by 50% the miles required to book a trip without warning. Lower your eyebrow, I've seen stuff like this happen in other industries (including in the government).
Now, I really don't think the airlines will play that dirty, it's bad business, and it will eventually catch up to them-- it always does. All I'm saying is that I am new to this game, and I will judge it objectively, based on its merit, that's all.
You must have a better crystal ball than any of us - for no one could foretell how BA devaluated its miles to that degree last year (we knew the devaluation was coming but no details until it actually happened), or the Aeroplan's change of award chart in some cases the requirements were up 40%, or AA took away the international stopover without much of grace period to let you jam in redemptions before that, or UA has raised the chart to Australia from 90K to 120K to now 145K in less than 3 years. US just recently changed its award chart as well, DL, too.... The examples just go on and on and on....
You should stay away from Miles and Points gathering pursuits because each and every program has gone thru devaluation in recent years, some every year... by the time you finish choosing your programs with all your "see thru the layers" analysis and gather the enough miles for the initial charts you have based your efforts on, you would find yourself fall way short of your goal...
Despite so, we still all try our efforts to gather them... the "bad business" hasn't caught up with "them" nor stopped "us" in getting our free fights and hotel stays... Not sure which one is a more sound game plan.
