When I started flying regularly about 10 years ago, I knew next to nothing about frequest traveler's programs. My travel agent had to talk me into joining the program for the airline I was using. Of hotels, I knew nothing. I would pick a place that was cheap and that was it.

As late as 2003, I still pooh-poohed hotel plans, and my big deal was scrounging enough miles for a trip to Europe.

And then, of course, I stumbled onto Flyertalk. The rest is history, as they say.

But now, with weekly travel, I still run into a surprisingly large number of people who travel on a fairly regular basis, and who still either have no clue or no interest in frequent traveler programs. I talk to them, and their eyes sort of glaze over.

Either that, or they have these wild expectations about buying chewing gum with a credit card and jetting off to Tahiti (in First Class, of course).

How do you handle that? Or do you just go about your business? Do you think that if we wised up everybody this would all fall apart?

Thoughts?

I am as amazed as you are. I also am continually trying to get people to use no annual fee credit cards that get you 5% off of gas (15 cents/gallon!) and groceries. Most people figure their must be a catch so they don't bother. I think its the same attitude with FF programs. I will never understand.

I've never been a missionary* and don't plan to start here. What other folks don't know ain't my problem, unless I care personally about them and their well-being. (Fortunately, my GF was into FF programs, though not quite as insanely as I am, before we met.) For that matter, the fewer people who don't get it in this regard, the better for the rest of us!
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*I've been accused of a missionary attitude toward things Macintosh, and plead guilty on occasion. Nothing wrong with the position, either.

Your question, basically, is Why don't people act in their own best interest when it would be so easy to do so? To put it mildly, there is no easy answer, and FF programs are certainly not the only place we can observe this "phenomenon." But to hazard a guess: It doesn't take much knowledge to know that participating in FF programs is a no-brainer, but if you don't have that knowledge - or if you believe that obtaining that knowledge is costly and/or difficult - then you may very well be dissuaded from arriving at the "proper" conclusion. Seriously, though, would it be better if everyone joined these programs? I think not. At the very least, it would create even greater liabilities for airlines, hotels because of unused miles; at worst, it would decrese the availability of already scarce awards... I say let sleeping dogs lie...

its a good thing they exist! that way all the awards are here for us!

but yeah, I run into people who seemed to have stopped thinking about this stuff from the days when you could get a flight for 25,000 miles by just walking up to the gate and getting on a plane. But most of them never reached that amount and ended up with say, one or two flights worth about 7,000 miles total and then they gave up. It's usually the same set of people you have as neighbors who still have that ugly 70s brown panneling in their homes and have eightees hair doos.

Sure, the orange shag rug is kinda cool in a retro way, man, but no, TWA shuut down a long time ago so you cannot combine your old miles from that airline with this stupid certificate you got in the mail from Dis-in-nee world offering 4 free flights if you call in and give them your visa number!

agahgah

MM

There are some Flyertalkers that rank among the clueless too.

I've met a few that don't have mileage earning, or hotel credit cards.

They should know better.

I know several clueless people. They all tell me that it's too much trouble.

I can't imagine how it can be that much trouble. Afterall, how hard is it to just enter your FF # when making a reservation and/or checking in. It's not like every program is like Choice Hotels where it can be a hit or miss getting your points/miles.

Relative to

• people who don't contribute to a retirement plan�and thus their employer contributions and match
• people who don't carry health insurance�by choice
• people carry credit card balances�in excess of 10% of their income

all of whom I seem to meet distressingly often, I am not too concerned about people who forego a few thousand FF miles, although I'll bring up the subject. Though I suppose at a certain scale, an FT intervention might be in order.

I used to try to explain it (hey, there's a referral to nab, right? ). Now I just let it go. It's like polymer science; they either get it or they don't.

There are a couple of ppl who know of my hobby (addiction) and actually like to poke fun of it. Then I think of the exec lounges they'll never see, the miles devaluations they'll never experience, and the LH dragons they will never meet. And all is good.

These "clueless" people generally come in 3 forms. The first is the poor, who will never will accumulate enough miles through a kickback program to get a decent air award. The benefit to them is insignificant, so it's not worth their time. The second is middle class people, who don't feel it's worth their time to study the airline programs to get air awards. If they aren't going to get a free ticket with a paid ticket it's too much trouble. The third is the rich. It makes no sense to read things so they can get back 1 to 5% of their purchase in the form of an air award. Usually, two hours or less of work pays for any airline ticket they want. These people are not really clueless. They made a conscious a decision that it's not worth their time to deal with airline schemes.

I really think that the airline mileage credit card is for EVERYONE...especially the STARWOOD AMEX. I do not think any "schemes" are part of the scenario.l

I resemble that remark if that's your definition of clueless. The best justification for mileage earning credit cards is the bonus miles for signing up. At regular redemption rates, it makes no sense for almost anybody to use a mileage earning card rather than cashback - unless you fly premium class awards. See my treatise on the subject here (at post #3).

It's clueless not to use some kind of rewards card. Whether it should be a mileage earning one is a completely different question.

This, of course, implies that you have the credit score and financial discipline it requires to properly use a mileage card. These cards carry a far higher interest rate than most others, and thus should ONLY be used if you're going to pay your balance off each month.

some people either don't qualify for the cards, or (wisely) understand they don't have the financial discipline to pay off their cards in full each month.

that's probably the minority of FTers, but I'm sure there are a few out there.

Some people are "clueless" about such matters because there is some "cost" in time or resource to get "clued in" on these programs and the real value they can provide. (There is even more "cost" involved in doing a comparison of relative value.)

I've met a lot of frequent flyers who don't really care about these programs since it's more a residual of their work travels than their interest. That or they stick with one program completely clueless about the better options out there.

What is even more intriguing to me are people who �get it� for airlines, but ignore the hotel programs, even if they spend scores of nights each year at high end chains. Almost everyboy I come across who travels frequently is involved with the airline programs, but only a minority participate in a hotel scheme.