What was the best thing that you learned on FT in 2000?
 

It's been another great year at FT... what was the best thing that you've learned from here?

For me, it's defintely the Mexican Hat Dance that we've been discussing in the AC/CP thread!

Hilton's UA Nights promotion

in early spring 2000 PremEx reported about UA mentioning in their 1K-kit brochure, that a new 1K (qualifying only during year 2000) should have 6 systemwide Upgrades enclosed with the new 1K-kit (the brochure said so, but those systemwides were never enclosed).

With the help of my little sister (with a BIG heart) I really got them (they showed on my account nov-30-200, received per snail mail in mid-dec-2000).

I value one of those systemwides more than 40'000 miles (for a transatlantic upgrade), as I can use them on any fare and on longer journeys (several continents) if no stop-over involved. So I value 6 systemwides like a total of at least 240'000 miles, probably even above 300'000 miles for me.

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 12-26-2000).]

delete

Hilton's Fast Track to Gold VIP offer (because of the easy 55,000 points)

beeing not that long a flyertalker http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif, the best thing I have learned was something Rudi mentioned at the side: look for connecting flights instead of direct flights (if you have time).
there really are connections where you get double miles and double segments for just 10-20$ more.

I learned about crazy routings to maximize miles.
Also, MILEAGE RUNS. This board gave me the nerve to do 'em.

Dan

I've learned that there are still lots of fun people with big hearts and that are just as crazy as me about frequent flying. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The more miles you fly, the better the benefits get http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Unquestionably the USA/Amex small business promotion: I earned in excess of 60k bonus miles as a result of signing up. Before FT, I never even knew to look for promotions to enroll in.. I naively thought "they" enrolled you automatically in these things http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks gang for all the wonderful insights I received in 2000!

1. I learned about unpublished promotions, for example, several that are now on the CO board for earning bonus miles;
2. Learned of and posted several good mileage run routings and fares; and
3. Insights from the trip reports, and the ability to do a search about a city, airport, or hotel.

Since running up on this site in June I've learned about Hilton Honors, Starwood, how to maximize mileage, get freebies, points, knowledge.
The best thing, IMO, is there are a lot of people on this board who are willing to take time out of their busy day to help a friend or stranger. Since we are all individuals with different opinions we have many differing views, thus the flame wars. I've learned to take what I like and leave the rest. Thanks to all who have answered my questions and guided me during the short time I've been a member of this board. May we all prosper, remain healthy and happy in 2001. Thanks for the information and thanks for the giggles!

[This message has been edited by anz5708 (edited 12-26-2000).]

I do not know whom to credit, but the American Airlines Top Tier Bonus netted me a lot of additional miles. I really appreciate the sharing attitude of this board. There are lots of miles to be had if you just know how and where to go. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say the time I spend here is time well spent. Thanks to all and wishes for a prosperous 2001.

Empress -

Thank You for this wonderful, and thoughtful, topic. What I learned this year was that there are a large number of very nice people out there in our virtual comminity that are willing to help a "2000 newbie" (like me) to maximize my travel experience - and my "points"! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif To all of y'all that answered my "newbie" questions I say THANK YOU and may you all have a Happy, Safe, and prosperous 2001!

dAAvid -

This is a great thread!!

1. the kindness of what would otherwise be strangers. Having dinner with wonderful people in faraway places, people who become my friends.

2. The value of becoming a 1K on UA. The SWUs thing, getting them mid-year (I qualified in October)

1. The Starwood Amex Optima card - no annual fee and 20% bonus when you convert to airline miles.

2. The AA challenge for FastTrack to Gold or Platinum status,

3. Lowered mileage requirements in 2000 for UA to 2P or 1K.

1. That it might be possible to get comped to Platinum in SPG just by making a phone call.

2. That I could get a "retention bonus" for renewing my Diner's Club card.

dgolds, I have you to thank for finding this board. One day I was doing a www.google.com search for Australia, and your trip report site came up. It was so interesting I read the entire thing and saw a link to Flyertalk. Thank you. I've been here several times a week ever since.

The most valuable things I've learned:
1. That the AA PLT challenge was being offered again. (just 400 points shy)
2. The fast tracks to elite with the hotel programs.
3. How to move miles from one program to another.
4. From the 'What We Do' threads, I've learned that there are suprisingly (to me) many unusual jobs out there that allow you to get on a plane much more often than mine does. I think I need one of those jobs.

What I still don't get:
How to force Travelocity into discounted fares on multi-city itineraries.

Here are some of the best things I learned about in 2000 thanks to flyertalk:

-The FT Tampa Dinner at Berns.
-The Catman Deux in NYC.
-My first Yardhouse experience in Orange County w/Onefreeman, Rae, John and the rest.
-That Onedog was willing to expose me to my first In and Out Burger during a missed-connect at LAX during the SFH.
-A Pai Gow poker lesson in Las Vegas with QL.
-Premex's pre-birthday party in Long Beach and my second Yardhouse experience.
-Pub-crawling in Seattle.
-A meet with Uncle1k in Reno.
-And, of course, Goose in DUS...

And for every other dinner, lunch and airport lounge meeting with other flyertalkers: it was great to see you in '00.

See you in Long Beach in January http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif!!!!


[This message has been edited by kokonutz (edited 12-26-2000).]

I learned that only full Y tickets on TACA Peru earned credit for LatinPass-- and I read that on FT 5 days before leaving for the million mile trip! I had to change tickets at the last minute, and fortunately all worked out in the end.

Hi: I'm also relatively new on FT but this year I've gotten the Frecuenta HHonors points and learned a lot from just reading. But Dgolds: what is a retention bonus from Diners Club? I missed somethin? Thanks to all for their astuteness.

I want to thank everyone who posted all the Bonus promotions. I actually check this site before I check the airlines site for promotions. I think the best promotion was the AA Top Tier Bonus. I had 2 West Coast trips schedule prior to learning of this bonus offer, man these miles do add up. Now only 20,000 short of 500,000 on AA. I still got a ways to go for the million miles but with this board there is hope.

My best FF tip in 1999 was the Hilton Honors/UAL Night program which PremEx turned me on to at almost he last sign-up moment prior to the PIP.

This past year--2000--my best FF information also came from PremEx and all dealt with how and why to make 1K. The result was that both Joe and I made 1K and that I was able to assist in getting the six Year 2000 additional SWUs for both Joe and Rudi as well as for me.

Thank you PremExfor your wisdom and willingness to share your insights. I am sorry that I bugged you with sooooooo many questions. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

There are many things I have learned from this fine board.

First, the Travel related stuff:

*The fine explaination of the True Flyer bonus and other United bonuses. I have netted tens of thousands of miles.
*The Lufthansa bonus for flights USA-to-Europe. Nice padding on the U-A account.
*Going for the Diner's Club retention bonus.
*Various CO bonus mile offers (which makes me read that board more!)
*The Hilton "Fast Track to Gold" offer: although is that more 2001?

And things you can't learn on Flyertalk:

*How to properly drink, appreciate a fine wine, thanks to Rudi and especially PremEx (who introduced me to the most incredible wine which has become my "special occassion [/b] wine.)
*You again BIG BRUDDAR, PremEx, for teaching me the fine art of cigars and more.
*Not being afraid of the rapids in Montreal (Flyme2/Richard and Bridgette) and also renewing my appreciation for fireworks.
*Playing craps, thanks to MileCrazy.
*Showing me a better side of Vegas, that's you QUiet Lion
*How to properly eat a Philly cheesesteak (Burkey) and a Chicago styled hot dog (AnnaS who also showed me what a fine architecture canvas the windy city has.)
* the best lessons I learned this year! Learning not to be afraid to take risks and try new things and push myself to the limit: that's thanks to your support and YALPS! WANDERLUST! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Having found the FT website only some months ago, I'd like to mention one thing I've learned from FT. Mileage Runs. I've never had the idea to do them, but since starting to read and post here I've done trips to Lugano, Bremen, and Berlin just for miles - and it was a good deal!

For the future, I'd love to become part of the famous FT community and maybe meet some of you once. As a matter of fact, I'm always so jealous when I read of all the meet-and-greet events around the globe without me!

Ive learnt TOO MUCH to list but mostly that youre a great bunch of people and everywhere in the world feels closer now.

Too many to list all. Here are the top five:

1. News about AA TTBNS which was initially offered in selected markets. Though my travel starts from SJC (a target), my AAdvantage has the Long Island address and I did not receive the mailing. A quick change of address did the trick and I earned 40K extra miles.

2. Two AA VIPs which were expiring in a week donated to be me by a generous FTer and put to good use by my on my transcons.

3. Dicovering the Sheraton Starpoints card from Amex.

4. Invaluable and otherwise unatainable advice about travel (eg my Fall color to Mass, with rooms paid for by the miles from the Sheraton Card).

5. Delta 6 segments to silver offer.

Oh, so many things... Where to start? Just a couple:

1. The Hilton Four Stay to Gold bonus, which is letting me turn a 4-day trip for three to London into a 6-day trip with two rooms.

2. The AA TTBNS award. Now living in ORD, I would have gotten it anyway. BUT, I found out about it far earlier than otherwise, which allowed me to plan some vacations which let me make:

3. Executive Platinum status on American. Wouldn't be making it this Thursday night without all the tricks that I learned online, including:

4. The amazing J class fares from Canada to Europe. I saved our company $500 and got free-airfare two-night vacations in Victoria BC and Copenhagen as a result of tweaking a ORD-OAK discount Y trip and a ORD-ARN full J trip spaced three weeks apart into a ORD-OAK-YYJ-ORD-CPH-ARN combination.

Looking forward to attending more FT events this year and meeting more of you either here or in person.

In general I have enjoyed learning how to work the system the airlines have structured for earning miles and getting upgrades. It's not always smooth sailing but lots of Flyertalkers have shared their experiences from which I have learned how to benefit from the system.

The knowledge I gained from a posting this year about airline rules enabled me to get a refund on an unused non refundable ticket for $298. That was satisfying.

The best thing I learned here this year was a combination of the US Silver>Gold promo last spring along with the double status miles promo at the same time. I became Gold with US and earned 29K status miles for $420 over a 5 day period!

The next best thing I heard about is ongoing new Delta Optima card promo will net me about 80,000 Delta miles for using a different Amex card for about 6 months.

The two things that stick out -

1) that no matter how crazy I am for some of my mileage attainign goals, and no matter how crazy friends and associates think I am, I can always site examples from here of people that make me look normal

2) Just learned this yeasterday - There is a ton of really good rewards in the back of the Hilton brochure for more then Hotel rooms. That came from the thread on the people wanting to go to Sydney for their Honeymoon, and the book came in the mail yesterday, and I actually looked at it, and some of the rewards are both quite impressive and very attainable.

The first thing that comes to mind is the TTBNS promotion on AA. Living in Texas, I fly mostly through DFW. When I called AAdvantage to register, the agent told me that this was only offered in selected markets and DFW was NOT included. I was persistent and he registered me anyway and stated, "You may not get the bonus, but it doesn't hurt to try." Since then, I have received the bonus on every flight. Thanks FT'ers!!!

The best thing I learned was the Latin Pass million mile bonus. At this time, my million miles are posted, but are still an unrealized gain. I hope I will be able to realize the benefits of the miles. Latin Pass is looking like a dot.com stock lately !

Lmbrghini: Thanks - that made my day! I had no idea you could get to that from Google.

Marysunshine: You can request the retention bonus from Diners when you pay your yearly fee. You just call them and ask for it. Please see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum70/HTML/000156.html for more information.

[This message has been edited by dgolds (edited 12-27-2000).]

Starwood Amex Optima (which I have now due to FT), AA Platinum Challenge (which I am now due to FT), and great trip reports on USAirways Envoy Class and facilities in Europe (which made my own trip a lot more enjoyable).

The ones for me would be the Hilton "4 nights to Gold" promo and US's Gold Challenge where you needed 12.5k miles from 11/15 to 12/31 to qualify for Gold.

Far too much to list here.

But my favorite things I "learned" through FT was the faces behind the names when I got to meet FTer's in person.

It was so great to discover that the truly wonderful people online are even moreso in person.


------------------
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

As others have said, I don't even know where to begin. Well, actually that's not entirely true. Number one has got to be learning about the benefits of UA 1K status and, in particular, the 6 systemwide upgrades I was able to get as a year 2000 qualifier.

A heartfelt thanks to all the great folks on the UA board.

I learned alot, like the Million Mile programs of many airlines. EUA system on CO and NW.

I would never have known in time about the Delta Optima Platinum deal with the 50,000 miles to the first 10,000 cards issued.