I make similar use of my miles. There's just no way in the world I can spend over 200,000 miles a year (let alone credit card miles and other bonuses that come along), so some of the relatives, who would not otherwise travel, get to places they've never been before. I sent my dad and sister to Australia two years ago, and next year I'm using the free tickets from a promo to fly one of my brothers and his wife to London, where they'll hop over to Ireland on a paid ticket. It's nice to play Santa