I'm just curious -- before the internet made everything available to us online, were there people making mileage runs, or FFs getting together to socialize about this sort of stuff?

Seems like without online access to fares, information, etc, how would you even begin to learn about it all? Did the number of elite members explode concurrently with the internet?

I think we've really benefited (exponentially) as a group from more information in this regard, no?

I heard they used heiroglyphics and smoke signals. Getting to a million miles on AA was something else completely

Seriously, I don't know as I've been lucky enough to only be a FF in the Internet generation... it probably meant more time looking over statements and on the phone, waiting for the automated system to read off your 'last 5 entries'.

Before the internet was so popular there were places like Compuserv, Prodigy, GEnie (with it's easy saber version that was so much fun to use) that people use to hang out on.

I remember way back when the airlines started their FF programs. I was a secretary and took advantage of one airline's "travel planner" points program (forget which one). For every flight I arranged I got points too. Let me tell you, with all my guys I booked for, and my family, and anyone on the planet who was traveling that I heard about, I was quick to attach my name to their itin as their travel planner. I got sooo many free domestic roundtrips out of that one.

Beyond that, I cross-referenced all the FF clubs (air and hotel) with each partner so my salesmen had a cheat sheet when making reservations, or having me do it for them, so they could know where to apply their air, car and hotel pts.

And, of course, I signed them up for every club there was, maintaining their mailings and information for them, and entering them into special promos, etc.

Before the internet, I relied, almost solely on the newsletters & other mailings from the airlines. Signed on very early with Pan Am, and yes, actually did a couple of mileage runs in the early 80's. The awards were extremely generous then &, as I recall, at that time, "elite" levels did not exist. One flew X amount of miles & got awards. It sure was simple then.

I seem to remember an article from the late 1980s (ok, looked it up, 1990 Feb/Mar in Air and Space) magazine about a top Pan Am flier who had 1,000,000 (or was it 100,000) miles. It apparently earned him a one-month first-class travel pass on the airline, anywhere!

I guess those were the good old days?

As I recall, those Pan Am awards were not "capacity conrolled." Thus, you earned your miles, requested the award for the date you wanted and it was a done deal. Managed to take my family all over the world on Pan Am. Alas, hope that Pan Am's generosity did not ultimately factor into their demise

Elite levels certainly existed with Pan Am. I was Platinum with Pan Am (still have my membership card!) and they had a very generous upgrade policy. If you were Platinum with Pan AM, 24 hours before your flight departure, if a seat was available in a class higher than the class you were booked in, you automatically received a confirmed upgrade. On two-class service flights that meant an automatic upgrade from Coach to First and on three-class service flights, it was from coach to business and business to first. I was upgraded on 9 out 10 flights I took! I don't recal the details, but you also received bonus mileage for paid flights as a Platinum member.

This is a very interesting question!

Back in the 80's when FF programs were just getting going, I nearly lost an award on NorthWest because they had published a change of rules in their newsletter and I had missed it. They were so rude when I telephoned to try to save some of the value of the award, I never flew that airline again. TO THIS DAY!

A change of rules wouldn't get by this FF brain trust now, for sure.

In the beginning of the AA program, just having the card in hand meant something when you were dealing with a ticket agent.

I started piling up miles flying to and from Anchorage on a regular basis. Mostly on the old Braniff interchange flights and then completely on AA and it's partner to Alaska. Braniff didn't do much for me other than giving me an aisle seat most of the time. That and a lot of free drinks. A few times in those days AA sent me up to First Class on what I can only call a 'here she is again' upgrade.

Frankly I don't remember any bonus miles or elite status situations. Too many free drinks?

Back in the 80's you just signed up with the programs as they were offered. I flew MCI to DEN every week for a year and was able to get mucho free trips. My wife and I went to Hawaii 3 times FC, stopped in SF and stayed for 5 nights plus a full size car. I thought I did a lot of miles on United, but looked up my total and it was only 125,000. If I remember correctly, Hilton had an early on program. I just looked at the monthly mailing form Delta, United and Hilton. We fly on our own $ now that I retired.

[This message has been edited by orangejjr (edited 04-11-2002).]

Reams and reams and reams of papers....I have files back from the early 80's and just kept stashing and joining every frequent hotel, car and airline. I keep thinking I will get bored and go through it all....but the disgust I felt when I saw in February one year that I missed United Elite level the previous year by a few hundred miles, and the lack of chutzpah to call and ask for the status make me realize how much easier it all is on the net. I am VERY thankful for flyertalk!!!

I did not start flying until the 90's, but online data ccess has made it easier for the most part. I also used CompuServe, Genie, Easy Sabre, and OAG by accessing some Dow Jones online service. In fact, I was introduced to Inside Flyer by reading an online version on the electronic OAG that I accessed usually via a Dow Jones tateway....with like a terminal emulation like set up, probably telnet, etc.

I wonder how it was in the 80's, like if you flew a lot if they would just upgrade you, and waive change fees/fare rules, if they knew you by face, etc? Were tickets nonrefundable then, or how did all that work. Did having an FF card of an elite card make you more or less exempt from change fees. What I am getting at is has this improved, stayed the same, or gotten worse. I would say personally over last 3 years or so it has gotten worse in terms of getting fees waived as an elite as a sort of unwritten benefit. Actually in college I was able to get comp upgrades a lot and I was not elite but I knew by face some poeple at the airport and if they saw me they would say something like "let's see if we have anything in first," or the best was getting on a plane in BOS and they said "did they put you in first class," which they already had. Those were the days! Awards were generous. I.e. 2,000 miles on shuttle flights, and 1,000 for round-trip plus elite and other bonuses, and it was cheaper. Also more food offered on short flights, etc. Also I worked as a travel agent part of the time and used Home Pro which was I think a Unix based dial in system that you dialed in to agencies System One database, and then you had a session where you could access the CRS. I booked my own mileage runs as a travel agent which was fun, and a lot quicker than with todays GUI software. For example if you wanted to fly CO out of BOS to DCA with a connection in CLE the entry was:
1coa17aprbosdcaxcle
Then it displayed a list of flights. Let's say you wanted a Q seat on the first two flight segments which were 11 and 12...the entry to sell the seats was:
01q11q12 there even was a faster shortcut where you didn't have to press Q the 2nd time but I forget the syntax.
Also to upgrade to F all you did was like:
0*d0f
and it upgraded all segments that had F to F.
Then just r:initials#e to end (aka save) the changes to the record.
It was a lot faster with command line coded entries for the real airline hobbiest/mileage runner, but obviously not something that could be mass marketed to people who largely could care less about these nuances.

I've been an 'online' user since the days of dialup BBS's with one or two lines and dialing into Tymnet or Sprintnet to get to the larger multi-user BBS's that cost 5-10 cents a MINUTE to use! I also remember AOL back when it was PC-LINK and before they had a windows version. It was interesting!

The Dow Jones service you're thinking of was Dow Jones News/Retrieval... great service but REALLY costly. My link to the world of the air was via Prodigy and their eAAsy sabre gateway. I do so miss that direct link into the reservations world!

I would be curious to know when PanAm began it's FF program. I know that I was one of the early members & am nearly certain that, at the time, the international aircraft had only 2 classes of service, The best flight of all, was the non-stop 747-SP from SFO/HKG. This was when first class spanned about 4 windows & FA's could bring the cart in front of you. This could have been in the mid-late 70's. Getting an award ticket was just unbelievably simple. There were few options available--x amount of miles got you upgrades or free tickets and/or free companion upgrades as well. It was relatively cheap to acquire mileage using standby fares. I did this a couple of times to LHR. I always got on & the miles and rewards were fantastic, as was Pan Am's customer service. Wish those stand-by fares were still around. One could just pick up on a moments notice & particularly, mid-week, off-season snag a great fare, great miles & ensure a future trip up front with your companion.

In the old days (1981-early 1990's), I would book based what I saw in the newspaper. My first mileage run was a $38 RT IAH-JAX on CO. Triple miles sweeten the pot alot. It was a one day turn. Also when the airlines had the segment promos in the early 1990's I used the phone to price cheap tickets. I would be able to get at most 3 segs on DL--I interview for jobs then & bought more tickets (such as the $120 LAX/ONT-SAT/AUS runs) so I would get my max 3 tickets for the promo. There were 3 different promos from 1990-1992 in response to the Gulf war.
After that, I signed up for prodigy so I could access "easysabre". Text based, easy to use, & displayed lots of very helpful info! I was bummed when travelocity got rid of easysabre.