Several years ago, my Grandmother used something like 95,000 UA miles to get a free DVD player, worth all of $125. She accumulated most of them over about 10 years, a trip or two a year and a UA credit card. She had no idea of their value.

She was so proud of herself for getting something so valuable "for nothing more than some worthless points." As sick to my stomach as I was, I didn't have the heart to tell her, either.

Bingo. While I hate to see a fellow FTer's parent waste frequent flyer miles, the large number of people out there that don't bother saving/redeeming miles at all or blow them on a "low value" reward make it possible for the reward levels to be what they are for those of us that are savvy. If every flyer in the world had the savvy that people on this site do, then the airlines wouldn't offer much of an awards program since it would be losing tons of money to the likes of us overall.

I paid for just two cheapo flights on Delta after also getting in on the IC Hotel deal in August and am now about to use the 50,000 miles I have with them (started at zero) to go to N. Africa. Two mid-range domestic and one mid-range int'l ticket for about $500 after tax? They simply couldn't afford these loyalty programs if everyone were like us when it comes to playing the game.

peace,
~Ben~

My brother is just as bad, he wanted to go from DTW to MCI and instead of buying a $171 fare, he cashed in 25,000 miles. He wouldn't listen to me that he was spending the equivilent of $500, people need to respect their miles more.

Ah, that is really the problem. In general, I don't disagree about others' ineffeciencies being to my advantage. But in this case, since I could have bought her the ticket and used her miles, I am still sniffling a little

British Airways offers '2 for 1' mileage redemptions (one per year) to holders of its Amex card who spend �15,000.

Most of us on the BA board use these to get 2 long-haul First or Business flights for the miles of one (up to �7,000 / $15,000 value per ticket). The BA staff who post on the board will tell you that most people use them to claim a second free ticket to Paris or Nice (retail value �69 / $110).

I just priced first class from Burbank to San Fran for a one week trip in
January at $608.20. There may not be many of us who would pay that
for that seat. But there must be somebody

This thread reminds me of times where I used miles to redeem an business flight from SCL-IPC (55K each) for me and my aunt. The time I spent 60K miles to fly my sister in business for a weekend. Or, the time I spent 25K to upgrade my mom and grandmother.

Was each occassion the best use of my hard earned miles? Maybe not. However, the fun to having my aunt with me at IPC, being able to pester my sister (and get pestered in return) like we used to do when we were little or the pride I felt of having my grandmother comment casually to the entire family that the seat and service that she received on her trip where the best ever, are moments that no amount of money or miles would ever buy.

I too chase the holy grail of less than $0.02 per mile earning. I sign up for the promotions and bonuses, attempt to maximize my flight segments, and have turned milage runs into mini-vacations (or is it the other way around?). I enjoy my elite status benefits. My family has commented on my apparent "obsession" with miles, and my friends have commented on the trips that I take.

Although I certainly don't fly the miles that most people do around here or have their milage balances, I have certainly enjoyed how I have earned and spent mine. To me, there is certainly more to this game than just numbers.

SAVE THEM! Tampa has the same issue. With any kind of advanced planning and flexibility, you can fly nearly anywhere in the 48 for $200+/-.

I only use miles for 2 things: Expensive emergency travel (death/illness in the family) & international (or Hawaii) travel. You get so much better bang for you mile using them for international. Plus, I've found myself "accidentally" earning free domestic trips on Southwest and AirTran from time to time.... if you travel a lot from Florida airports, you may find it starts happening to you as well.

Alas! Alas! Alas!

We should applaud relatives for using miles, even if they are not using miles well. The value of a relationship damaged in chatising a relative is far more than the value of the lost miles. I chide co-workers for buying catalog items at exorbitant point or miles but that is what they want. Most of our elderly relatives would not consider flying, even for free, as a positive thing, let alone flying over an ocean. What a feat it must seem to our elderly relatives to even understand and use ff miles. I applaud the initiative of these elders. I wish that my mother would even understand the concept of ff miles. She just thinks I'm rich.

Outoftown

Hawaii to Lima for 35000 miles? Great! Did you get an stopover in MIA too?

R.

Congrats, Mom! But isn't EZE considered southern So.Am.? I tried to book an online award at CO.com to northern So.Am. from TIJ, but was told that neither CO nor EZE fly from there. I guess I'd need to call...