Originally Posted by
w4rd
True, but its not a totally crazy idea... I think some of the hotel chains award points on redemption bookings and you do earn miles on flight upgrades based on your original fare.
But in both cases you are awarded points based on the amount you spend -- with Starwood for example if you redeem points for a free night and then spend $20 at the hotel restaurant and charge it to your room, you earn points as if your total bill had cost $20. With the trend at some airlines toward awarding miles based on the amount spent for the ticket, this is consistent -- if you have an award ticket on which the base fare was $0, you earn 0 miles.