Thanks for the welcome and kudos, Yeti88. I DO try to my homework first, but you have to admit that a 22-page sticky is pretty darn intimidating for a newbie!

I have to say, my first experience here has been very positve--people at other sites seem to be very intimidated by you guys and caution newbies who come here to lurk rather than post. I'm very happy that I ignored that and jumped in! Maybe I've found a likeminded group.

I'm VERY glad to have the bonus mile issue cleared up--it was beginning to sound like the only thing they were good for was bumping up the program-to-date miles in the hopes of getting to 1M--and I don't know if I have the patience to hunt bonus miles for 20 years just for that!

Again, thanks for the warm welcome, and I hope to be able to contribute instead of just ask questions someday soon.