another long time lurker, first time poster here.

I'm a consultant I'm based out of LAX, most of my travel is to BOS but lately been going to the ORD area. I fly ~150k miles a year, so far this year I'm at 130k. I'm a miles/points hoarder and now that I'm recently married my husband wants to start using them up before we have a family. so, I'll be looking for tips on redeeming them as if never actually done it in my 4 years flying so much....

Looks like this is where the n00bs are supposed to introduce themselves.

I have recently joined the ranks of status flyers for the first time (DL Silver Medallion) and looking for ways to take advantage of that. I mostly fly for pleasure (trips, visiting relatives, etc), and I know that getting enough miles to maintain the rating is going to be a challenge. I have dabbled a bit in mileage runs (but not to the extremes that some folks take - yet!) but mostly rely on long-haul flights to get my miles.

Looking forward to getting some good suggestions and recommendations from the FT regulars, for all things flight-related.

-JimG

Hey all, I'm a business traveler primarily. UA is my main carrier and this year my job has kept me hopping. I made Platinum by the middle of September and I'm headed to 1K. This is up from Gold last year.

I'm a novice as far as making MRs but I'm trying to learn. Brand new to the forum, as you can tell.

Cheers!

Hello Everyone, I joined FlyerTalk in August this year after finding myself clicking on many flyertalk links in my twitter feed ! I'm primarily a business traveler although i also indulge in at least one if not two leisure trips in a year. I also mix a little pleasure with business by going for hikes if i have a day/weekend free during a business trip. I'm KrisFlyer Gold and Skywards Silver (hoping to make gold soon) and Mariott Gold.

I'm hoping to learn as well as contribute whatever i can, looking forward to interacting with many of you.

Regards,
--
RAV1

My business travel pattern is never consistent, loads in one year and very little the next. That will show next year when some of my elite memberships expire.

While I lose some elite status that also means I have more time for my family.
Anyhow, my leisure travels is what I enjoy most...

Howdy. I live Texas with my wife, 5 teenagers (Brady bunch) and 2 Labradors. I've had periods of lots of travel and no travel. This year its been lots of travel. I'm Platinum with Marriott, Exec Elite with National Car Rental, Gold with UA and will likely hit platinum before the year is out with my overseas trip. This year I've had lots of close trips due to a company we bought, plus trips to Spain, Panama, Peru and Canada. Coming up I have Argentina, Chile, China and Spain, Canada and continued close trips. I probably won't be home again for a full week this year except maybe the holiday weeks.

Combine that with the fact that my wife travels about 40% of the time, it gets rather interesting on how we keep the teens from burning the house down when we are both gone. There are two 13 year old girls, two 15 year old boys and a 17 year old boy. He'll be going to college next year. His sisters hope he chooses a school far far away so they can get their own rooms.

pros & cons, pros & cons

Time for family trumps over any other thing^

Only thing better would be traveling *with* the family and showing them a great time due to elite privileges and such :-)

Oh yes of course, I'll always try whenever I can^

I am software engineer belong to USA , Florida.I have recently joined flyerstalk .

-Jhon

Im a 16 year old who is looking to travel more, anywhere cold is for me

Welcome everyone!!

I'm a student and fly between MEL and LHR, I have been reading flyertalk for ages and finally decided it was time to join the conversation. In the 19 years i've been alive, I have been very lucky to have done as much flying as I have. (ruffly 1/3 million, maybe a bit more)

I travel for leisure only but do squeeze in a fair amount of trips a year.
(11 trips so far this year and 2 more coming up in December).
I travel in Europe, by plane or train.
I am a member of SAS eurobonus (basic) and mainly fly SAS but also use Norwegian, Lufthansa, Austrian and recently BMI.
Trainwise I mainly use Deutche Bahn ( German Rail ), SJ ( Swedish Rail ) and DSB ( Danish Rail ).
My main hotel chain is Hilton where I am Gold. I am Silver with Marriott.
In places where Hilton/Marriott does not have any hotels/ not many hotels I use/ have used Nordic Choice Hotels, Scandic hotels, Elite hotels, Radisson Blu and Accor hotels.
I have been reading Flyer Talk for a while as a visitor. Decided to join as I have an issue with windows (must have opening windows) and this forum seemed a good place to ask for information if ever needed. I will of course also contribute where I can.