I have been working hard on the FF mile accumulation since 1996 when my flying began to increase significantly. Got mileage earning credit cards and everything. But I have not had many occasions to use miles. We stupidly got 3 CO tickets for a vacation flight from Houston to Jacksonville FL with miles before I knew better. But since that time I have been very judicious, only redeeming some UA miles for a nice upgrade for the whole family on one segment to SFO.

Now, am planning a summer '02 vacation for all 4 of us and our ship has come in. Thanks to all of your help, ideas and suggestions, I was able to book four DL July '02 flights to Hawaii at the sky saver rate of 30K miles per ticket.

In addition, thanks to all of your help on the Hilton board, I got six nights at the Waikoloa Village using my Hilton points, most of which have been earned because of your help with special promotions.

Flight for free and room for free sounds pretty good in my book.

I'm almost getting teary eyed here...couldn't have done it without you!

Me too! Flight4free and room4free were used in the same sentence!

[This message has been edited by tvl4free (edited 09-01-2001).]

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MRKEY

Having met Watchful and the original t4f, I share the opinions of mrkey.

dan

Earning miles is a lot of fun but spending them is what memories are made of. Enjoy your FREE travels!



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Addicted to airline miles? Check out: Mileage Workshop

Wait!!!!!! You mean we get to spend these cute little things on travel awards. I thought we just collected them to see how many we could accumulate.

I'm off to LHR tonight on AA, taking my parents for a week of vacation that they've been wanting to go on for a long time but didn't feel they could justify. Thanks to all I've learned on FT, plus a heck of a lot of flying, we have:

2 F instead of Y award seats for them thanks to the AA TTBNS and EUR00 bonuses

1 RT VIPOW upgrade for me on my paid ticket, thanks to RDURES1 encouraging me to go for EXP.

2 rooms for 6 nights at one of the Hiltons, thanks to the Hilton winter promo and some UA miles that I had just sitting there since I switched to AA and read that I could move 1-for-2 to Hilton.

Total out of pocket cost for the trip excluding food and shopping: $1000.

What good are the miles if you don't use 'em? Used miles for 4 tickets to St. Thomas earlier this year in Feb. over President's week, 4 going to Paris in Nov., and just booked a quick long weekend trip to Brugge (cultural capital of Europe for 2002) via Brussels for next month. All using miles.

Someone's tag line here reads--"He who dies with the most miles--is dead." Exactly!

Djlawman

There have been a few threads in the past about what people use miles for, though the ratio across all the forums is probably 50:1 for threads about earning them vs. threads about using them. I'm with a large group that uses them mostly for upgrades and gifts. The chance to earn miles for a low fare and upgrade is too good to pass up!

That said, Watchful's vacation sounds great. If any of your family members decides not to go, can I get waitlisted?

You're at the top of the list!

When I call my parents from airports in strange(to them) cities to tell them my weekend plans, they sort of sigh and groan. But, when my parents get to fly business to some unnamed destination for my father's 70th bd in march 2002, they'll thank me.

What is this "using miles" thing you're referring to?

I don't understand

I'm using Hilton points and miles/vouchers to take my brother and me wherever he wants for his 21st birthday. My mom was so jealous! I suppose her chance will come someday. Although the only reason I have all this was because my "2 or 3 days of travel a month" project turned into "2 or 3 days a month you might be home" project. Although between that and this board, I might have caught a bug that might be tough to get rid of.