The only times in my entire life that e-rewards hasn't been an utter waste of time have been during very unusual promotions. "Use X partners" promos like NW used to have, the AA 20th anniversary promo, the US Grand Slams, etc. Haven't seen those kinds of promos since the death of Grand Slam.

It's a long grind to get to 500 miles. In my experience back in the day, the bigger your offer for a given action was, the less likely it was to post immediately and correctly. It was pretty much a grind of 5-10 mile surveys that I was only willing to do for the Grand Slam hit.