Great topic giving the chance to mention/thank some FTs for their great advise.
The hightlights in my case:

A The chance to get a couple of SWUs from UA for "old" million milers. Thanks you, PremEx.


B. LP million mile promotion: Thanks to MANY Fts for all their input. Now of course it's the get "most bang for your miles" challenge.

Happy New Year & plenty of miles to all of you!

I have found the discussion on the Oneworld forum intriguing- it gave me the idea to go to Budapest to cheaply originate the Oneworld Explorer ticket (only to then inform me of the 50% price increase). Still, the pages alerted me to the fact that there are much cheaper tickets out there than those from the UK- excellent news and I'm hooked now.

Top pick for me is the Latin Pass million mile bonus. I learned lots of other stuff here, but FT made the difference in going after and getting one "meelyun" miles.
Thanks again everyone.

(1) Learned about the OnePass mileage credit with AT&T long distance; I especially like this one because it's ongoing, and my miles have been credited like clockwork since July!

(2) Learned tips on using a "buddy pass"

(3) Learned about AirTran's "double vouchers" with AMEX

But most of all, learned that this is a very interesting, adventurous and savvy community of travellers!

HAPPY 2001 ALL http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The most valuable data I gathered were the RTW price tables and discussions. I now travel on several RTW Biz/First fares from India or Canada on 1w, *A, NW, etc.

The other valuable nuggets of info:
- AA Platinum and Gold challenges for family members and friends
- Mileage run advice
- Top-tier status benefits on multiple airlines/alliances (particularly the unpublished benefits)
- ITN fare availability help

1. The fact that elite AA members can sit in business class seats with coach tickets (and coach service) on certain routes (mostly out of SFO and between hubs). I've planned travel around this several times.

2. The amazing details of AA's VIP2 systemwide upgrades. Knowing them spurred me to make mileage runs to achieve Executive Platinum.

Wow. Where to start?
1. The amazing Latin Pass adventure. My wife and I did a 500,000 mile journey, visiting Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Just hoping the miles can be used now. Just sent in a request for an April trip to Europe for the 4 of us.

2. The Delta AMEX 50,000 mile bonus for the first 10,000 to sign up. Signed up, and am counting on it.

3. The Starwood Win-The-World contest. Both my wife and I won trips to San Francisco, although we could only keep one. But I learned about he contest here on FT. Thanks.

4. A late but good one. Saving 5K on Delta awards, posted only recently. Ordered 4 awards at 20K each, instead of 25K, saving a total of 20K miles.

For these and lots of other reasons, this is a great board! Everyone deserves thanks.

Djlawman

The Baht Run to get 1K status. I just started flying UA at the end of Sept 2000, but I am now a 1K. thanks OZStamps, Trvl4free.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

For me, my 1st year at FT provided lots of good tips and feedback from fellow posters, even though some of the topics are, naturaly, geared towards travel to/from or within the US.
One aberrant positive thing:
In early spring one thread described NW offering Platinum status via a targeted mailing. Even though NW doesn't allow foreigners to become members, I copied the scanned image.
Upon arriving at the gate at MEM for my AMS flight in Y on KLM, I presented the facsimilie, said that it wasn't processed yet, and WHOOPS: Before I knew it I was upfront in WBC! And economy wasn't even full! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Too many things learned to count. For a newbie to frequent flyer travel the tips for the little things often add up to less stress, more benefits

Too many things learned to count. For a newbie to frequent flyer travel the tips for the little things often add up to less stress, more benefits

I learned not to hit the submit button twice.

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Happy new year all.

I learned that too.

FewMiles..

I learned that too.

FewMiles..

First of all I learned about the generosity of strangers. Some of these may go back to 1999 but these are the ones that mattered to me. Specific "best deals"

1. Double miles with the AA click card
2. The value of elite statis.
3. Clickrewards 2 for 1 to Starwoods - along with a great bonus for a donation to WWF. $500 deductible donation to a cause I support anyway, netted 20,000 click rewards. 10,000 of those transferred to Starwoods which became 20,000, and those 20,000 became 25,000 AA miles. I still have 10,000 at clickrewards hoping for another similar promo.
4. The Starwoods program (transfers between spouses) and the free AMEX card
5. MCI 25,000 mile promo
6. Delta AMEX -first year free and 10,000 miles. First year paid and 20,000 miles. Did both.
7. Bonus offers on AA to Europe.
8. Being alerted to double mile promos on specific routes. I began looking at the AA site for double mile promos before booking tickets to see if non direct flights increase miles substantially. Happened a few times.
9. Health Choice promo and double mile coupon - some kind people sent me coupons in time to get double the miles.
10. Greenpoint promos - especially purchases through sparks which had bonus gift certificates for buying gift certificates AND clickrewards to boot! Got lots of Blockbuster giftcards and Borders gift certificates for buying Old Navy, Eddie Bauer, etc. It was such a good deal they stopped it. Points from greenpoints then got meAA certs.
11. Volumebuy -discounted certs for AA travel.
12. Chase Travelers Checks with Credit Card on-line.
13. Buying savings bonds with a credit card (don't know if I saw it here, or shared it here after seeing it in the newspaper).
14. The platinum challenge with AA
15. That there is such a thing as lifetime GOLD with AA. It gave me a goal and I'm almost there.
16. Opening an account at Bank One and being able to charge it to a credit card.
17. How to convert earned upgrades with AA to miles.
18. BECOMING A VERY SAVVY FREQUENT FLYER.
Thank you

------------------
DtG

[This message has been edited by dgordon (edited 01-02-2001).]

I didn't arrive until late in the year, but probably the most valuable thing was learning that there are other people just as dysfunctional as I am about miles, flying, free trips, etc., if not more so. So now I no longer wonder if I'm the only one.

1 I have met really cool FTers such as Rudi

2 I found out about promotions that I would have missed if not for FT

3 Starwood Gold

1. the best thing i found out about was the aa ttbns posting. i'm in ny so, i would have been ool.
2. rtw trip pricing. biz class rtw with 20-smoething stops for the same as a rt biz class from ny to europe is unbelievable. before this i wouldn't ever spend more than $700 on any airline ticket. come on 1w, give me a reason to do this again!!
3. mexicana hilton deal. i never maximize opportunities in hotel programs, so this seems like a good conversion deal. this may actually allow me to start flying *a again.

and in the best deals i knew of but never took advantage of...

tll-syd for $300 or cns-gum-lax for $400. this was way too many q-miles to fool around with, and i fooled around long enough not to get either of them.

1. PremEx's tip for 6 SWU for 1K qualifiers in 2000 wins my award. Posting of the scanned 1K materials was super -- Thanks!
2. Getting around USAirway's Saturday stay award requirement (with 2 trips that can then be changed) was a nice tip.
3. ClickRewards' Starwood 2 for 1 was great.

Here's to a great 2001!

The best I learned: Latin Pass Promo:
Worst thing I learned: Latin Pass Promo:
still in evaluation period but certainly experienced much fustration. Would I do it again. Probably, but many question my sanity.

We learned a lot on FT in 2000 as well:

1) what people like
2) what people don't like
3) FT is a vibrant community of adventurous spirits and open minds
4) it is very rewarding on many levels to be considered a part of that community

Here's to another year of learning.

Jae

I learned that they do, indeed, sell cheesehead hats in MKE on my one and only mileage run that I found with the help of several FTers. Thanks.

-David

Having only thought of ff programs as serving to earn free travel, the best thing I learned on FT (among many great tips on all aspects of travel) was the value of being elite. Having just been upgraded to business class on a cheapo transatlantic ticket on US, I'm very grateful to this board for opening my eyes to this aspect of ff programs.

Looking forward to learning more in the coming year.

Yonatan

...not to post "OMNI" in "BUZZ!"
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The best thing I learned? That FT is here on the web!

1. The great people who are willing to give of their time and knowledge to help others here.

2. RTW fare charts and info.

3. Delta Gold for 12 segments (I wouldn't have made it this year w/o this promo).

As you can tell by my number of posts, I'm still pretty much a "newbie". I remember the welcome wieshes and pointers on the way to get useful responses. I've also begun to recognize the names of those who are the backbone here. You are all most excellent. Even the occasional flamers.

Like so many, the best was the discovery of this board at all.

Also like so many, I'll be completing an AA platinum challenge this week! One year ago I didn't know what a challenge was.

I remember coupon swaps, promotion registrations, hotel advice and so much more.

I've even begun emailing other s off of the board.

And of course just finding kindred spirits was supportive all by itself.

So thank you all! and most of all FT !!

Thumper

Most useful: Even if you're not entitled to it, if you ask for it nicely, you might get it. And if you don't get it on the first try, call back and ask again.
Most heartening: That there are a lot of great people out there who share some of my addictions.

Not to travel with an infant in First Class in front of a seat-kicker on Pakistan Airlines.

Mileage-earning opportunities with car renters are so small now that it's no longer worth writing letters to car renters, airlines, etc., to try to get the miles posted to my FF accounts.

How to convert free AA upgrades to miles in certain circumstances.

I learned what a valuable resource Adam Burke is for HHonors members. And humility - until I met all of you, I was the expert in frequent flyer programs!

That without the Internet, this board and the knowledge it shares could not exist.

By posting a question on this board I got a response from the Starwood Lurker. Question related to being walked at a Starwood hotel. Net result was 9,000 bonus points credited to my account, a special amenity at my next stay at that hotel (yes, I did try it again) and the appointment of a specific Concierge to assist me in the future.