So, seeing the 10,000 Delta SkyMiles manna from heaven falling into our laps with the Dash to the Gate game, we once again were given a lesson in maximizing miles: You have to jump at these offers before they (quickly) disappear!
Looking at just some of the great offers over the last few years which appeared on FT and then disappeared, it's a clear pattern that when one of the companies makes an offer that gives out more FF miles than it should, it will quickly disappear. Let's look at some of them:
LatinPass Million Mile Offer -- LP announced that only existing members could get in on the offer, after articles in the WSJ and Time flooded their website. But many knowledgeable FT'ers had already become members!! And flew through Latin America racking up big mileage in the process. (including yours truly.)
Delta Amex 50,000 Mileage Match -- Delta Amex offered to match your miles in another FF account, up to 50,000 miles, if you signed up for the DL Amex card and spent $10,000 in six months. Only available for the first 10,000 people (I think that was the number), and I would venture to guess that FT'ers were most of that number. (I was one of 'em.)
Delta/1-800-Flowers.com Bonus -- Offered the wrong number of FF miles, 100 per $1 spent. LOTS of flowers got ordered by FT'ers, but the company corrected it within a couple of days. (Got my flower gifts ordered.)
Valumags--Lots of magazines got ordered, when Valumags offered an incredible number of GoldPoints per $1. Offer quickly pulled when they were flooded with FT'ers signing up and ordering dozens (hundreds, thousands) of magazines. (I didn't get any magazines. )
Dash to the Gate -- 10,000 miles for a few minutes playing a game? Heck, everyone in my family
thought that was a good idea! Thousands of Ft'ers jumped on it. And it was pulled in about 36 hours. (All 4 of us in my family got our Dash points.)
So, the moral of the story, folks, is that you have to jump on these deals immediately to get 'em. I know you long-time FT'ers know this, but the history might help some of the neophytes who may have wavered and missed the Dash to the Gate miles.
Djlawman