Hehehehe...I did get a chuckle out of it, though (mileage running as employment). I quit my job to travel using a lot of the miles I had built up (only problem was that I was 33 and may still have to get another job one of these days).

My favorite mileage run was one last year on a $188 ticket to Portland that had four different special offers tied in, plus elite bonuses, and earned 31,000 total miles. Best so far this year was $156 to Seattle and 21K, and I've got a $108 Kansas City coming up for a measly 12K. The award of choice is a RT to Asia (50-80K, best with Hawaii stopover) to take a month or two off from the frantic mileage running. It's worse than you thought! So, hate me.

As for 1:1 conversions, that's so...primitive. But many foreign carriers that were johnny-come-latelys to FF programs and don't really understand them still do it that way. They get to say they have a program, though it doesn't exactly drive traffic like having a promotion-laden one like WorldPerks does.