The "game" since Flyertalk
Oct 31, 2019 | 11:47 am
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: UA Plat 2MM. DL Plat, AS MVP
Posts: 12,911
Valuemags was HUGE
The Starwood to Qantas transfer netted a few Concord tickets as well (for about $1500 per round trip)
I recall a thread about the “Mexican Hat Dance.” Something about hoping back and forth across the border. Never did it, but it was huge in the early days of FT.
Bangkok-Phuket flights on Thai. They were dirt cheep ($15 one way or something). FTers would fly back and forth for a few days, earning 1K status quickly!
On United, 500 upgrade coupons was “as the crow flies.” One could fly LAX-JFK-SFO for a MR and use one 500 miler to upgrade the whole journey, as it was calculated LAX-SFO.
The Starwood to Qantas transfer netted a few Concord tickets as well (for about $1500 per round trip)
I recall a thread about the “Mexican Hat Dance.” Something about hoping back and forth across the border. Never did it, but it was huge in the early days of FT.
Bangkok-Phuket flights on Thai. They were dirt cheep ($15 one way or something). FTers would fly back and forth for a few days, earning 1K status quickly!
On United, 500 upgrade coupons was “as the crow flies.” One could fly LAX-JFK-SFO for a MR and use one 500 miler to upgrade the whole journey, as it was calculated LAX-SFO.
Oct 31, 2019 | 12:24 pm
#17
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Upper Sternistan
Posts: 10,678
Oct 31, 2019 | 6:26 pm
#18
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: D.R.E.A.D. Gold card holder
Posts: 53,184
Nov 17, 2019 | 11:41 pm
#19
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: DFWex-BOS
Programs: AA PLTPRO, 2MM, Bonvoy PLT, NYT Monday crossword puzzle solver extraordinaire
Posts: 1,499
Perhaps the most valuable thing I learned some time back (circa 2003) on FlyerTalk was that all AA miles from all sources counted (back then) toward AA lifetime elite status. So I set out trying to earn AA miles any way I could above all else, and half a year before all that ended (in late 2011), I totaled 2 million lifetime AA miles earned in about 8 years and earned lifetime AA Plat status (second level up) as a result..A good fraction of the actual miles I earned from flying were from double and triple RDM miles bonuses on flights (during the economic downturn) that I learned about on FlyerTalk. I pretty much never fly for work, so this is not something I could have ever achieved otherwise.
I bought about 100k in dollar coins, tried to make most of my dining out at places that were in AAdvantage Dining, charged everything to my Citi AA card, etc. The icing on the cake was the promo AA ran, I think @ 2009, where they introduced service to 27 new cities, and if you traveled to 10 of them in a three month period, not only was it double miles on each flight, you also got 100k bonus miles at the end. IIRC, six of them were straight turns, (DFW-CYS, DFW-FAY, etc.) The rest I had to overnight, I remember a couple DFW-ORD-AVP and similar. On the ones I had to overnight, i'd burn some points on a cheap Starwood hotel. I never did any of the famous transcons AA was offering triple miles, because the positioning flights and lack of upgrade availability scared me off.
I crossed over 2MM Lifetime about a year before they ended the "all miles count", and I got some nice upgrades and other perks from that LT PLT status. Ironically, now I almost exclusively pay for F domestically, J international, and am now starting to look into B6 for domestic flights. It was a fun hobby at the time, but I've realized, if you pay for F/J, and have a ton of BE points to cash in for AAdmirals Club passes, status doesn't matter. FT, and all it's contributors, taught me all this, and for that I'm really thankful!
Nov 29, 2019 | 6:32 pm
#20
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 2019
Posts: 116
Sadly the kinds of deals and opportunities are less often discussed on FT and more in private groups.
Also, FT is getting more "corporate" by implementing rules and restrictions to please their sponsors and advertisers. One example of those rules is the interdiction of naming which competing hotel booking website was used in reports of successful Best Rate Guarantee claim reports
Also, FT is getting more "corporate" by implementing rules and restrictions to please their sponsors and advertisers. One example of those rules is the interdiction of naming which competing hotel booking website was used in reports of successful Best Rate Guarantee claim reports
Nov 30, 2019 | 9:50 pm
#22
Original Poster
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 46,302
-FT itself became more mainstream
-bloggers constantly combing FT for deals/tricks so they can tell the world about them
Loose lips sink....
Last edited by moondog; Dec 1, 2019 at 5:13 pm
Dec 1, 2019 | 6:50 am
#23
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Stockholm, Sweden.
Programs: BA, JAL
Posts: 689
Dec 1, 2019 | 11:38 am
#24
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: SEA
Programs: AA LT PLT; HH Diamond;
Posts: 3,003
Dec 2, 2019 | 12:23 am
#25
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Programs: DL estranged 1MMer and lifetime gold, F9/CO/NW/UA/AA once gold/plat now dust, Spirit RIP
Posts: 42,182
What about the great OnePass---->Amtrak----->United caper circa 2002? You could double-transfer miles at 1:1 back when those airlines were separate and CO had many more complaints about redemptions. I moved some 275K before they limited and then stopped it, and used the UA miles to fly around the south Pacific on NZ awards. My great masterpiece was a 7-ticket odyssey in summer 2006.
Also, around 2000 when I started there were all these codes bouncing around where you'd call CO and have them appended to your account. Like the HYE0 "Hyatt bonus" that didn't require Hyatt stays. I checked my account and had 40K extra miles (keyed to flight segments) posted one day just because of that.
RDM earning was of course much better then in coach, and so were some of the award sales: CO at 20K RT to DUS and 25K to HKG, and DL at 40K to BKK.
Also, around 2000 when I started there were all these codes bouncing around where you'd call CO and have them appended to your account. Like the HYE0 "Hyatt bonus" that didn't require Hyatt stays. I checked my account and had 40K extra miles (keyed to flight segments) posted one day just because of that.
RDM earning was of course much better then in coach, and so were some of the award sales: CO at 20K RT to DUS and 25K to HKG, and DL at 40K to BKK.
Dec 3, 2019 | 10:55 am
#26
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: BOS, LHR, BLR
Posts: 694
So the angle was to book the 20,000 ticket and then cancel which would provide a $ credit. Interesting and about what I surmised, but the how to do it was unclear. For what it is worth, I recall picking up a sniff of it from the old chat feature. No idea if that still exists, but it was basically a big chat room that anyone could enter and participate in or just observe. Back in my more rambunctious days I'd logon late night if other options didn't pan out 
- $3 Hilton Tokyo and Osaka around 2005.
- Lots of Dollar Coins.
- AA DAL-AUS x 6 for 100k
- And my favorite, $2700 TYP redemptions. Lots of flights to Elko and calls to United telling them, NO I DON'T WANT A REFUND!
Dec 4, 2019 | 9:49 pm
#27
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: NY
Programs: AA, HILTON, BONVOY, FlyingBlue
Posts: 1,804
I'm starting this thread as a companion to The "game" pre Flyertalk
Following are my favorites:
1. Valuemags ---> Concorde
Following are my favorites:
1. Valuemags ---> Concorde
What exactly was/were these?
Dec 5, 2019 | 1:11 am
#28
Original Poster
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 46,302
That was quite a while ago so I'm a bit hazy on the details, but I want to say they awarded something crazy like 30 miles per dollar for magazine subscriptions. Many of us bought Economist subscriptions everyone we could think of, local libraries, etc.
Last edited by moondog; Dec 10, 2019 at 4:23 pm