Dear Randy

Yes I admit it - i'm obsessed. In fact my friends at work think I'm obsessed too. Every night (and some mornings) I log on and browse through flyertalk for the latest ways to earn free miles or for particularly good airline offers.

Add to that my membership in various free online points systems (Mypoints, Trocomania etc) and you begin to see what I mean. I am a member of The following frequent flyer schemes

- Latinpass, Ansett, Smiles, Aadvantage, Worldperks, Mileage Plus, TWA Aviators, HawaiianMiles, Onepass, Lanpass, Qualiflyer, Delta, BWIA, USAirways, Mileage Plan, Asiana Bonus Club, Mexicana Frequenta, America West Flightfund, Canadian Plus, Distancia, plus a few miscellaneous hotel and other programs

The majority of these programs are kept because from time to time I get free miles on them for surveys, birthdays and various other reasons. Whilst the number of miles accrued in each programs is not large they do come in use. For example when I joined Renoair I got 1500 miles enrolment bonus. Now that American has bought Renoair my Renoair miles have been transferred to my Aadvantage account.

Naturally I am well aquainted with the number of miles required for various trips in the Asia-Pacific region. I know that 20,000 Onepass or worldperks miles will get me from cairns to many destination in asia on Continental micronesia. I know that 20,000 Aadvantage miles will get me from Australia to western Samoa with a stopover in Fiji!. I know that 30,000 Ansett points will get me an 11,000 km trip right round Australia on Ansett stopping at destinations of my choosing. I know that the best points to have for a trip from Papaete to Easter Island are Canadian Airlines points (25,000).

But there's more. Because I want maximum value out of my trip I scour the internet and travel pages of newspapers for ultra cheap travel deals. In November 1998 I flew United MEL to AKL for A$100 and ended up with around 15,000 miles as a result of a sign-a-friend promotion at the same time. I flew MEL-HKG on a 6 night package ($A830)with Qantas last year and earned 15,000 Qualiflyer miles as a result of a special promotion at the same time.

Add to that I'm flying in May to Los Angeles with Air New Zealand on a $A950 flight for which I will get double Global Rewards points (32,000 for the journey!). Did I mention the 2000 Fly Buys points for booking at Traveland?

I hope that helps a bit.

cheers Peter