<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by goldmedallionflyer:
And if next week I suddenly stopped travelling, my employment compensation would remain exactly the same. So I stand by my statement.
I never claimed, as you incorrectly state, that I derive no benefits from a FF program. I only stated that I receive no personal benefits from miles accumulated to date.</font>
Compensation doesn't have to be included in your employment agreement for it to be compensation. I might work in an office that has a young, fun group of people. That's not mentioned in my employment agreement, but I derive positive utility from it, hence it is compensating me for my work.
If you're receiving FF benefits or miles that give you positive utility now or in the future, you're getting compensation. Whether you are using the miles now or not, you still have them and will probably use them in the future. Think of 401k plans, you get little in the way of benefits immediately, most of the benefits are when you cash in on the plan years later at retirement.
If the FF program and miles aren't giving you any utility now or expected utility in the future, you're right, they're not part of your compensation.
If you stopped traveling next week you wouldn't get any miles because miles are compensation for traveling, not for being employed.
Finally, the Defense Authorization Act (2002) allows government employees to keep miles they earn on official travel for personal use. The specific reason Congress and the President added this piece to the DAA was to help compensate employees for having to travel, which takes up personal time. However, despite this being the reason, every one of the tens or hundreds of thousands of employees are not having their employment agreements rewritten to state that FF miles is a part of their compensation, this is obvious.
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