TW offered, and I believe still do, L-1011 simulator sessions in STL for 30k-35k miles. UA offers sim sessions starting at about US$1,000 in DEN.

BTW... is VS still offering motorcycle sidecar rides to the airport when riding in First?

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preez mine da pratform gahp.

TW used to offer the simulator in the DC9 (St. Louis) and L-1011 (Kansas City) simulators, but stopped when they took the L-1011 out of service--now that they're on the 75/767 and MD80 they use those more intensively and the others are out of service.

JL

(Moving travel-related threads forward to "just get on with life.")

I look at points very much in terms of how much they're worth. Almost every single scheme to use airline points on trains, cars or any other way involved getting less value for them than using them for airline rewards.

I must say the idea of something as unusual as race car or powerboat racing lesson is something I'd consider using points for ... but I've never flown Virgin, so it's not likely I'm get that option.

Kremmen,

I agree about the conversion rates. When the travel company has to dig into its pockets and pay cash for something (yacht charter, etc) they will take it out of your hide in the form of a poor conversion.

When I called Diners Club about their "personalized rewards" I was told essentially to find a price quote, multiply by 200, and that's how many points it will be (at 1/2 cent per DC point). The woman actually told me that it's not a very good deal.

If you want to get big value out of your points, unfortunately the best way may take a little work, which involves converting into airline awards and then (gasp) converting those awards into cash. I was looking at a $1,500 award that would have cost 300,000 points. Converting to 5 SWA tickets and reselling them for $1,500 costs 160,000 points.

Sure, it detracts from the "spirit" of the program, but almost anything that they can buy so can you (for half price or better).