My family was never much into travel. We moved to the States in '93 and my parents basically focused on their jobs & providing for the family. There were the occasional 1 hour road trips to Disney World & Universal Studios, but that was about it for vacations.

Once we had a big trip in 2002, a Thanksgiving in New York City. I thought that was pretty cool.

I got into college and absolutely no traveling occurred, as I was paying my way via scholarships & my own money. Making sure that I had no debts when I graduated.

Then, I took a study abroad in Quebec City in Summer 2006. That solidified my love of travel. That experience will forever be with me.

When I got back to Florida, I took many road trips with some foreign exchange students in my University & played tourist in my home state. Visited Miami, Key West, Naples & Cape Canaveral.

By now, I really loved seeing new places. Though I'm still not in the FF game.

By 2008, I had graduated college and had a job in the news business. By October, I wanted a break...Saw an AA deal for Paris, then I saw their "fly now, pay later." Signed up for an AA card & took my first TATL to Europe.

Unfortunately, I didn't request to get the miles from that Paris trip.

Fast forward to March this year, my next travel adventure was a photographer gig on a cruise ship. I did 2 months in the Mexican Riviera & 3 months going from Seattle to Alaska. Naturally, I rarely had the opportunity to use my AA card & I certainly couldn't do the coins.

Now that I'm back on solid ground, I'm making up for lost time. For someone who's traveled as much as I have, I have very little points...I'm ready for my next Int'l adventure for next year (whether or not I have points).

We didn't fly very much when I was younger, just a handful of international trips to visit grandparents and some US vacations mostly to Florida. We did spend a lot of time driving around the east coast in the minivan, but always stayed at budget places. I always loved geography and wished I could travel. Throughout college and grad school I was very jealous of friends who had already graduated and had paychecks to travel through Europe and Asia and South America while I was cooped up in the library.

Then like others have mentioned, I met my future husband. He had traveled even less than me as a kid and wasn't interested in the international budget trips his friends took. If he was going to travel, he had a desire to stay and eat at the nicest places possible. So when he met me, he finally had someone to take (he paid!). But that still isn't where the bug started. At one point our relationship turned long distance and although he was ready to give up on us, I committed to flying twice a month and signed up for an AAdvantage account. At one point that account turned to Gold and I was dumbfounded. I thought elite status was reserved for those with highly paid travel-related jobs. Thats when I found Flyertalk and started learning about the miles and points world. I was able to get my brother who was in college at the time to start flying WN for the double college rapid rewards, and he reaped immensely from that. He is now slowly getting into it as well.

I'm still so behind though. I will be applying for my first miles card soon. I was balancing my checkbook yesterday and was mentally smacking myself at all the miles I've been losing out on. We always had a family cash back credit card because my parents are just too uncommited to follow "terms and conditions" when it comes to redeeming points and miles. They were better off with the cash anyways than with miles they'll never use. My husband has a list of itineraries planned for next year and I will enjoy planning and maximizing my points out of his itineraries.

I made 4 trips to Hawaii before I was 1 year old. Much of my childhood was spent between my home in CA, and Lahaina, Maui, where my family owns a small business. My grandmother moved to the islands in 1958 just before statehood to start a new life and the rest is well, family history.

I did my first "mileage run" when I was 13. Despite all that traveling to and from Hawaii from the west coast, I was still a few hundred miles short of making Premier with United that year, so my dad dropped me off at the airport in the morning and I got to fly to Phoenix and back via SFO and LAX. (Unaccompanied minor anyone? - those were the days) No worries, I was home in time for dinner.

Now, I still make at least 4 trips to Hawaii each year. I'm married with in-laws in India, so +1 trip a year there, and I'm just shy of 50,000 miles for Premier Exec. The stakes have changed but the game has not; if nothing else since making Premier Executive with United and finding out that I get double miles and a better shot at United's unlimited domestic upgrades for elites, I've gotten that much more serious about keeping my status.

Like many other flyertalkers out there, I found a way to fly for free in college- by getting kicked off the oversold Monday morning flight between Chicago and Detroit. I'd take a flight 1 hour later, still make it back to Ann Arbor in time for class, and use the certificate to book a flight home to California (returning on the red-eye via Chicago) the following weekend.

I discovered flyertalk about a year or so ago, after reading the Conde Naste Traveler about George Clooney's at-the-time-new movie Up In The Air, and the real life group that inspired it. I had no idea that there were others. I'd never even heard of a "mileage run" before despite having done so many.

I've always enjoyed traveling and especially flying and in this tough economy, I'm always looking for creative ways to fuel my passion of seeing the world. Before flyertalk, I never really appreciated all the miles I was earning; if I got a free ticket somewhere, I was like "that's cool" and I was happy with it, but now I know better- like a cheap ticket to Australia gets you the miles needed for an otherwise more expensive trip to Miami

Really interesting reading everyone's experiences, although it seems like most FT'ers have an entrepreneurial streak a mile wide. I especially like MarathonMan's childhood anecdotes as they remind me of stuff I used to do.

I used to one of those kids that would bring those fund-raiser chocolate bars to school... looking at how much money I'd raise during these fundraisers, I figured, "Why not just sell your own candy bars and pocket the profit?" As a 5th grader I was pulling in $200 weekly (straight cash!) after all expenses, but soon got shut down by the principal for "overexcessive fund-raising". Apparently, the student store was not pleased with the new competition... although all the girls at school were impressed by my rad hypercolor T-shirts and my collection of limited edition Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lunchboxes. (Dating myself, I know)

In university, I quickly realized the joys of being a middleman: bought cigarette cartons from bonded warehouses overseas for $18 and sold them for $4 a pack from my dorm room. Stopped when I had people knocking on my door at 3AM asking me for smokes. Then got chummy with a bunch of Malaysian exchange students and helped set up a textbook business. Unbelievable how $130 calculus textbooks in the US cost $20 in Malaysia/Singapore.

My wife and I have always enjoyed traveling, and although we're pretty young, we've been through Asia and Europe pretty extensively, but always on coach and without harnessing any hotel rewards programs. It was only until our most recent economy flight to HKG - where I developed a crick in my neck for three days - that I declared to the Mrs. that we would only travel in Business from then on.

From there it was the 75,000 mile Aadvantage signup bonuses (2x each), getting familiar with the blogs and of course FT... we're definitely new to the game, but we've already set up a trip to Tokyo with miles from the Aadvantage sign up bonus miles and four nights stay at the Park Hyatt with the Hyatt card's bonus, so I'd like to think we're on the right path.

Thanks to all of the FT'ers that unselfishly share their experiences and tips here. I'm lucky to be able to benefit from all of your knowledge.

I'd been flying yearly since I was 2. But they don't have FF program in Asia back then.

I started with FF accounts when I came here for college back in late 80s. Had to fly long haul on NWA coach (oouch). I signed up because I saw the flyer at the checkin counter. Just thought, maybe I'll collect enough miles some day to fly free coach to Florida (I know....). And then 1 time, I got upgraded, and I was like, wow. That's when I learn about being elite / tier system.

Back then there is no internet (well, Gopher doesn't count). So I would religously read through all the mail-in brochure, called in to sign up for promo, looked forward to my account balance monthly. My thought was, why not? Something for nothing. (BTW I still have those NWA miles in my DL account now. After all these years, total devaluation).

So for the entire 90s, I didn't know about alliance (or didn't believe that will work). I didn't know you can earn XX miles & spend on YY. I didn't know about SPG, credit card churning, buying bonds..etc. And then 7+ years ago, I stumpled onto this site. My life changed. Finally, I'm know I'm OK. I'm still the mileage addicts in my circle, but I know where to get my fix.

I have always loved planes, airports, and travel. I remember visiting my family all over the US as a child. I just wish my parents would have enrolled me in a FF program before traveling. I will not make that mistake with my future children. They will have FF accounts within an hour of birth!

My family likes to travel so I grew up with it, and when I started going to boarding school cross country, and I was flying back home 3 times a year, the miles started adding up and really became worth it.

I have to credit my dad, who was always on top of making sure our FF miles got credited and making sure we were not letting any miles expire on different accounts. He's actually still much better than me at juggling multiple carriers- I've consolidated down to two or three.

It still shocks me, I did an informal poll of my friends and many of them ignore frequent flyer mile programs entirely. The very idea of wasted miles makes me die a little inside.

My boyfriend was NOT a mile collector, so when we first started traveling together I made him sign up for ff programs whenever we flew on a new airline. He was extremely skeptical about the whole thing and thought it was too much hassle. This past summer I got us round trip international business class tickets with miles, and he's not so skeptical anymore.

I collected S&H trading stamps as a child so I had a little clue about loyalty programs.

In the 1970's Swissair had a program called Swiss Travel Club that was invitation only for people who gave them lots of business, although the terms were not disclosed. I had it, loved it, and flew about 3mm miles on SR in the next few years.

Then I moved to the US in April 1981 and my new colleagues, all of whom flew constantly, began talking about the American Airlines AAdvantage program. I did not fly them so ignored it. Moments later PanAm had AirPass, TWA had a program and I then signed up for all three. Then others...

Now I have roughly 8mm miles on AAdvantage many of which transferred from TWA. The PanAm ones transferred to UA and to DL. The addiction stays.

Always amazed to hear of folks who have huge stockpiles of miles. Myself, I convert miles to flights or points to cash or gift cards ASAP. Instead of focusing on one program I do 30 at once, including flight, cash or merchandise cards. Never really had the desire to use the miles for upgrades as I love to sit near the wing for stability while reading and to watch the mechanics of flights (an old aerospace worker in a previous life). I'm a tagger, not a mile runner, maximizing countries tagged per trip. Give me a 3 day weekend and I might tag 6 countries or on occasion just hang out on some obscure island it takes 6 flights to reach. As for racking up miles, I collect a modest amount working for the bureau de change. OK, maybe modest is a slight understatement.

In 1988, I heard about frequent flyer miles with the airlines and signed up with AA. Didn't fly much though. When the kids were young (1990's), I realized that I could pick up free nights with choice hotels after seeing a sign in a comfort inn. It was attending a conference at a Marriott Hotel that a friend of mine was checking in at the same time as me. He is recognized as a Gold and upgraded to the top floor, reminded of the points he will receive, etc. I ask, so what's going on? He tells me about status, how he used his points, and I was hooked.

From there, I began to look for every way I could to earn and build points. Although I've never had a heavy travel schedule, I've leveraged every bit of travel that I could to help earn and burn points/miles. Lots of great trips. I signed up for Inside Flyer a while back and finally discovered this site. Now, I try and share with whomever I can...Most want the miles, but don't want the pain. I have one friend right now who is very excited about the prospects and he does have significant travel with his work.

I think I inherited my love of travel from my maternal grandfather. He and my grandma took my mom and her sisters all over the country. Most of their travel was in a camper but they did make a few airline flights (c. 1950s-1960s) even visiting Cuba around the time Castro was coming to power. My grandparents' goal was to visit all of the states (which were <50 when he made that goal!) They fell short by one state - never making it to Hawaii as Alzheimer's disease started to get the best of grandpa after they hit their 49th state (which happened to be Alaska).

Growing up, my family at one time went from Ohio to Florida every year, and occasionally to some other locales in the eastern US. Other than a few domestic short hops, though, little air travel. We did fly first class though - this was late 70s/early 80s. My dad's business kept him so busy and, at a certain point, became unprofitable, and we stopped having any vacations. The wanderlust in me hated that, but I understood.

My sophomore year in high school (1990) my parents sacrificed to come up with the cash to send me to Spain & France for a foreign language club trip. I'll never forget getting off the Pan Am 747 in MAD and from that moment until we got on the return flight from CDG I was on cloud nine! I was totally hooked and wanted to see the world from that point on.

When my parents helped me move to college, I remember dad signing up for the Drury Inn frequent guest program. I know FF programs had been around for about 10 years then, but that was the first I'd heard of any sort of loyalty program. I signed up for WN's Rapid Rewards program in college, and accrued many points making frequent trips STL-CMH to visit my then-girlfriend (now my wife). Had enough points to take us to MCO for our honeymoon.

After that we flew a couple of times over the next 10 years but couldn't afford much travel; and I stopped putting much effort into FF programs - not really sure why. Once I moved up a bit through the ranks and started to have work related travel, I was back in action! Though not very astute compared to now - I was thrilled at 25K miles from the UA Visa. My main goal was to take my wife and daughter to Hawaii. Which we did, in 2009.

Around that time, I stumbled upon FT! Happened upon it while searching for something (dont remember what). But I only checked in on the site a few times. The Dec 2009 Underwear Bomber incident made me look into FT more (initially because I thought FT'ers would have more accurate realtime info than the TV news). Then I saw the BA Visa 100K offer and since then it's been a heck of a ride - BA Visa, SPG, Citi AA for the wife and I both... trips to CDG and NRT thanks to all of that, with more yet to come! Finally I'm able to do the travel that I always wanted to, but didn't think I could afford to do!! It's not an exaggeration to say FT has changed our lifestyle tremendously and I love being able to give our daughter all these experiences!

I am brand new to FT and have a lot to learn.

I have always been the type of person to take advantage to any deals I ever knew about. Now that our children are grown I want to travel. I never had signed up for a ff account or a hotel program till a few years ago. It all started with trips when we went to Disney and I noticed some info on Marriott's program and I signed up. I thought maybe one day we can get a free room. Lol! Anyway I read a lot and heard about opening a new brokerage account for the ff miles, so I did. Then I hear about a United card and so I signed up for that. Soon we were on our way to Denver for free. Then I started reading FW and found out about the Citi TY points and we were on our way to Vegas for free. I then found out about FT and just signed up myself and hubby for the AA cards from Citi and am hoping for the free trip to Hawaii this spring. I am such an addict now. There are so many places I want to go that I never thought would be possible.
We don't have lots of time to travel so I would love to get bumped or churn some cards for the miles. We can't do the MR's because of the time off work. Neither one of us does any travel for work. I hope to find some other ways to collect miles by reading FT.

I have gotten both my children involved in the ff accounts. My daughter does some travel for work and she always collects her miles and points from the hotels. My son doesn't travel much but he and his wife were also able to get a free trip to Vegas from the TY point program.

I am so excited to learn more from FT!

We did a lot of flying domestically when I was a kid, and I knew my father was very good about maximizing the bills he paid with his Citi AAdvantage card. I didn't realize it until years later, but my father had opened an AAdvantage FF account for me in 1989 when I was 10.

The miles were pretty insignificant, and I burned them for domestic Y travel during college.

Last year I married the greatest girl in the world... who happens to be pretty afraid of flying. I decided I had to figure out a way to fly in J for our honeymoon (LAX->Italy). Within a few months I had added 110k miles to my AA account, enough for 2 roundtrips in J.

As you all know, however, it is addictive. Those 2 J tickets were 600k miles and 14 months ago. 2MM lifetime miles here I come.

we do not travel for business or do we have a lot of money, i got started with FF miles when someone said to me pay for coach and then use your point to upgrade to first class. did not realize what he was talking about so i went on the airline websites and found so many ways to earn miles without flying.

we were discover people getting out 2% cash back and then i got my first Usair credit card and told my DH that we were going to try something new, if it didn't work we would go back to discover. i already had the starwood amex card and enough points to go to the westin kierland for a 5 night stay. we boarded the Usair plane and he started going back to coach and told him to come up front to first class, he looked at me (like how can we afford this) and i told him i paid $5 each for the tickets. he said you know what you are doing and i have been doing it ever since.

i do all my shopping on the airline malls and participate in all the promotions that do not include flying. i do not buy anything that i can't get a point for.

over the past 6 years i have accumulated over 2,500,000 airline miles in various programs. have used some of those points on the most amazing trips and now i am accumulating our retirement airline fund so we can travel for free when we retire.

i read inside flyer cover to cover and learn some amazing things from the pros at this site. thanks.

Where did I get my start? Back in winter 2005 there was a Wendy's-Airtran promotion ...

... let's just say I was a poor college kid more than willing to go on some late night "adventure diving" near the end of that promotion. So I got many round-trips for me and my family that winter.

Would I do it again? Probably in a heartbeat.