A dead-end program is a program that provides no way, at any exchange rate, of transferring miles/points out to another program.

The ability to transfer miles to another program greatly enhances the value of points and miles. It makes being a frequent flyer mile fanatic much more interesting and rewarding. The dead-end programs are ruining all the fun.

I've seen a lot of FTers asking lately how they can transfer their holdings out of these mile-traps. Maybe we could put a little FT style pressure on these dead-ends by publicizing their shortcomings.

Here's a start for a list of major dead-end programs:

US Airways
Northwest
British Airways (North America)
Southwest
Miles & More
KLM

Small Programs:

Midway
AirTran
Frontier
Qualiflyer

Are there others? Have a implicated any programs unfairly?

[edited 5/20 to remove America West]
[edited 5/21 to add small & non-US programs]


[This message has been edited by dhacker (edited 05-21-2002).]