I have known a few accountant-types there to do a fair amount of travel and then some, but they did mention something about some strange travel policies. I have run into a "buyer"/procurement-type who most certainly seemed to do a lot of travel too but I never asked about her travels.

So, let's assume that the company doesn't require me to keep a separate FF account (or the airline, such as NW, won't allow it). I have Elite status because of a combination of business and personal travel. Who owns the bonus miles/points in the following cases?

1. I fly on business and get bonus miles due to Elite status.
2. I fly on personal travel and get Elite bonus points.
3. I stay 3 times on business at a Hilton and then stay at the local Hilton for one night at my expense to get 4,000 bonus miles (Hilton used to offer this).
4. Even messier- I do that to get Gold status for the next year. Now I'm collecting extra points on business AND personal travel for the next year due to my Gold status.
5. I charge my business expenses on a hotel credit card (I pay the annual fee) and get extra points for a business stay at that hotel chain.
6. I do "mileage-slave" behavior on business travel to get bonuses but personally pay the additional cost. I did this previously for the small consulting firm where I worked- if I chose a more expensive option I actually volunteered that and didn't charge the company for the extra cost. (My current employer is too bureaucratic for this; I just don't pick a mileage-slave option unless it costs the company less, such as staying in an alternative hotel at a convention.)

(I told you I could drive the bean-counters crazy. ;) )

Im working on this one. So far, the corporation says they only keep the flown miles, not the bonuses.

Company requires travelers to collect miles...

Not to be too much of a Type A on you Dbroemer, but there is no need to to quote a message in one post, and then respond the quote you just posted in a seperate post. While they may up your count post in a hurry (which I don't think you're really trying to do), it does clog the forum a bit.

Just quote the part you need, and then respond in the same post.

Thanks - was unintentionally doing it wrong! :)

Any company considering this kind of thing should also be looking at the legal implications of having any access to an employee's personal travel records. I know Continental recently changed their small business program so that employers could no longer see the travel of the enrolled employees. I know if my employer wanted total access to any record of my non-business travel, I would balk.

Of course, since the airfare is exactly the same whether or not miles are even issued, I would never understand why any company would want to do this instead of calling the miles a no-cost employee benefit. Given the cost of most benefits, ensure you have a credit union the employees can join and give them the miles. They're the only freebies you can get anymore.