Some great replies ...

1. 38m is impressive and I too have negotiated good rates. The best I did was a A$200k bill with a law firm. No building purchases yet.

2. Do all americans think we are "scam artists". I would have used the term "creative accountants" !

3. What is the HH 1.0m award you refer to ?

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keep those miles (km) coming ... paul

QF Millions, I think what I like best about the Aussies is that they are "scam artists". http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Here (I hope) are the HHonors Africa Awards

OBTW, many thank to the brilliant young Markbach for teaching me this clever URL skill. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[This message has been edited by Punki (edited 03-10-2002).]

LAOCA was correct, the $22K was in Fees only (the realestate cost AUD$2 million . Diners would (I dont think) allow anyone to charge $2 million without security. We gave Diners a bank guarantee for the amount (prior to settlement) and settled the account in full the day the charge appearing on our account (which is - in part - why we got a low rate). Diners then returned the Bank Guarantee.

Bond and Skase were "highlights" of a greedy 80's. I guess we could point to the Enron situation to highlight the way it is in the USA. BTW The biggest lenders to Bond and Skase were US Banks!

I USED to think that I had earned alot of miles until I read this thread, anyway I've earned approx 2.5M to 3M miles, less than 5%of which were paid for by my employer.

To each his own I guess, but when I think of using 2M miles for one RTW award (even if it was for 4 people) I cringe. I have used a grand total of zero of my miles for upgrades as I think 1st and Business Class travel is GROSSLY OVERRATED - I think alot of it is just an ego thing because it makes the front-enders feel "special". I was a UAL 1K for a couple years and have flown many times in upgraded status (at least 20 times on the ORD-HNL nonstops alone - all using complimentary upgrade certs and never using miles) and I admit it was nicer than sitting in the back of the bus but definitely not worth spending extra money or using miles. I look at 2M miles as being the exact same thing as $40K in cold hard US cash and personally I couldn't justify spending that much on one award. Just one man's opinion...

Yanxfann- I have toyed with that dilemna many times before (as I suspect others on the board have)... is it worth it to spend FF miles on (for example) 1 first/biz class ticket, or 2 coach tix. Somehow, I always lean towards the first choice, but if "logic" takes over, doesn't 2 free trips sound better than 1??

(Edited to advise Yanxfann that I'm a Mets Fan, but hopefully he/she won't hold it against me).

[This message has been edited by dave_261 (edited 03-11-2002).]

Check this outhttp://www.flyertalk.com/milesfr.shtml

and then top link you'll see there. I was very interested in this, but some of the feedback, particularly in a post 9-11 context, has caused me to stay away.

As for grand total points, don't forget how easy it was to accumulate points in the 80's. Minimums per flight were often 1,000, and often doubled or tripled. Both points and miles at many hotels (e.g. Marriott than). As a result, I suspect that there are quite a number of us that are into eight digits, particularly if you count credit card.

I'm sitting on:
500k United
350k Hilton
250k USAir
400k AMEX
80k Hyatt
60k Starwood (just burned a lot)
30k Marriott (just burned a lot)

Plus between 25 and 50k in AA & NW. Delta, CO and others have between 10 and 20k.

I guess I am quite high up the list on spending on one trip as a percentage of miles accumilated:

United: 450K lifetime, 350K currently in account.

Hilton: 90K lifetime, 90K currently in account.

Starwood: 40K lifetime, 30K currently in account.

About to spend for my honeymoon:

United: 350K, 2 business tickets to SYD (would prefer to spend 240K for saver first but nothing available) plus 2 domestic coach tickets to wedding ceremony in Cape Cod.

Hilton: 66K, 3 nights hotels in Australia

Starwood: 30K, 3 nights hotels in Australia

Still got to pay for the other 2 weeks though, and this approach saves $17.5K on flights and $2K on hotels which leaves lots of money for good food and fine wine http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Candidate for most extravagant trip (available soon): 10 000 000 miles to go to space.....

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/006589.html