Why did I go one-way ANC-LAS using AS50? Let me count the ways.

a) I wanted to visit parents later in 2007 using just miles. If I use 15000 miles now, I should have close to 20000 by trip time.

b) I could have used 20000 miles roundtrip, but the schedules for those flights are inexcusably bad. Who wants to get up at 5am at Wynn Las Vegas for the flight home?

c) America West has a nice NON-STOP LAS-ANC that leaves at a reasonable hour just before noon and gets home around 3:30pm. Very hard to beat that for $226.10. On Alaska I paid $180.40 plus 15000 miles - and that's with a 3-hour layover in Seattle in the middle of the night. (At least I have a chance of making the connection without having to sprint from the end of gate C to the end of gate D).

The more I think about it, the more I realize that if Alaska Airlines didn't have their mileage program, they'd quickly be out of business.