Originally Posted by
Jaimito Cartero
Trust me, I know the feeling. I have conversations with friends, after they flew, and asked what program they credit to. "Oh, I only fly 4 times a year, so I don't bother". Heck, even at that level, they'd have a international ticket in a few years. But, I won't waste my time trying to convert them.
Last night an uncle of mine wanted to get in on some of the Intl mistake fares. The first question I asked is if he had a valid passport. No. Well, I said, you'll need to get one. That seemed to kill the urge to travel, however. Strange!
I had the same challenges when I ran a Japanese office of a US-based company. Most mid and senior staff would fly to the US once a quarter, and couldn't be bothered to sign up with CO or UA because they just didn't get it. So I had the office manager sign everyone up for both programs and made sure the travel agency had these. Less than a year later, they were all qualifying for Gold or Platinum or 1P left and right, typically finding out about this when they checked in and were given lounge privileges and in one case an OpUp. Now they're enjoying free vacations and the other perks we all take for granted.
Sometimes you have to force people to help themselves :-)