Congrat's, sng8888, on your success.
FWIW, I've not claimed an award all year, despite my feeling that my FF miles are worth less and less all the time.
For many of the younger folks around, the excerpt below may be especially interesting and more than simply a history lesson. It helps confirm how much more "effprt" is required these days, as campared to when I first started flying, thirty five years ago:
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Pan American WorldPass and How Last Became First.
By the time the late '70s rolled around, the experience of flying had been downgraded from glamorous and elite to mundane, overcrowded, and as torturous as a never-ending bus trip...
... In a classic marketing moment, several major airlines decided that their best customers deserved to be singled out and rewarded for frequent travel. And thus, the frequent flyer programs were born.
These programs were really exciting for participants. At last, the airlines made a distinction between the tourist and the trooper. Flying for free and upgrading to first class were the big come-ons and frequent flyers went to great lengths to make sure they stayed abreast of every new perk and bonus mile route. It is important to understand what a big deal the frequent flyer programs were at that time...
...The core promise of Pan Am's program was to reward individuals who flew a specific number of miles on an annual basis with a "world pass."
This pass was an actual gold-colored plastic card that entitled you and a companion to fly anywhere on Pan Am's extensive worldwide system, first class, free for thirty days.
This strategy was a winner from day one. No other airline even remotely had such an award, nor could any of them match the worldwide route structure that Pan Am was famous for. The effect was immediate. WorldPass electrified passengers, Pan Am employees, and the trade press. Adam's focus on giving the customer something that was truly exciting and "richer" than the competition turned the whole industry inside out and left them scrambling to catch up.
So last-in became first in frequent flyers' minds.
The initial direct mail enrollment package sent to 80,000 frequent flyers contained a free round-trip domestic ticket good at any time within the next six months -- no blackout dates, no ifs, ands, or buts other than the requirement to enroll in WorldPass.
Response rates to this one letter were more than 50 percent. Probably an all-time high in direct mail history, with the exception of responses to letters from the IRS!
http://www.dmnews.com/cgi-bin/artpre...ticle_id=34174
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Clearly FF miles are worth whatever you think they are valued at, depending upon how one elects to use them.
And if one does not bother to claim an award, it is quite easy to see that they are worthless, no?
So I'll need to be doing some cashing in immediately!
-Mark