Herein lies the reason why you may often see the Marathon Man endorsing the use of any scam, scheme or tricky-dick dealio to make it easier for us customers to both obtain and redeem miles! This is the exact reason why I hate marketing managers sometimes. They try to rope you in with deals they KNOW you cannot complete and when you do, they screw them up so nothing posts on time, and if you get past that gauntlet, they either change the program or tell you it wasnt intended to be used in this way and all that crap. If you figure even more out, you are hated by them and no loyalty is given anyway! (Consider our use of gift cards and how this altered things) I mean, the marketing managers are geniuses, but in doing this stuff to the fellow person to the degree in which mile-offering companies seem to push it beyond the limits that any other entity does these days is so bad, ya know?

To legally dupe, mislead, and rip the masses off while saying, "well, that's business" allll the freakin' time is soooo....

It's so: "current-administration-that-really-needs-to-change!" of them all! Anyone get me here?... The attitude of this sort of thing is standard now, and it's growing. It comes from the top and trickles down. It is affecting customer service and it is affecting miles and promotions. It's like OK for companies to not follow through on the fine print terms and screw their own customers over knowing we'll come back for more next time! Everything is like a rebate scam.

Anyway, I figure the only way out of the mess one often finds themselves in when holding a bunch of these miles is to (A) be very very savvy and know the system (and write tons of complaint letters), and (B) to be as agressive and down right wrong right back at them! As I said, I have no boundaries when it comes to miles and the dealings with whichever company at which I gain or redeem them. It's not like stock market schemes where real money is involved--yet (but I did recently receive a frequent flier excise tax in Sprint after getting 5,000 United miles! That was $5.40cents! wow... it's COMING!)

The only program we all use here that I respect and choose not to screw with is Starwood! And they dont screw most people like me either. That's because they actually allow customers to ALWAYS use the points. Their points have VALUE. They respect this. If a room is available in the place, you can pay for it or use points. You have a choice. You have to knows some things but it is much easier to ramp up and do this. Not true for the airlines and most other programs I know of or participate in. I have redeemed but what a crock it can be, huh? Everyone else has lottery-like restrictions that are borderline fraud, in my mind!

I see it this way: if it all crashes, it will be because these companies start breaking some serious laws that affect those who make them. We are almost there, mates! be forewarned and cash in now. When I earn, I burn.(And yet, little old me only has certain cards and programs right now so I am slowly working on it but cannot even do what I preach just yet... yet.)

MM