There are none so blind...
 

...as those who will not see.

So I'm having lunch with a co-worker. He's up here on TDY, and I found him a nice place at a nice rate at the local Quality Inn. It's the same one I use when I'm working the Choice promos.

I asked him, "Are you a member of Choice Privileges?" "What's that?" "It's like a frequent flyer program for hotels."

"No, I haven't bothered. We have a mileage credit card, and we're doing fine with that.

"Really?"

"Oh yes. My wife just got a ticket to California. Free. 25,000 miles!"

"Oooooh."

"And next year, we're going to dump a huge pile and go to Hawaii! 35,000 miles each"

"Oooooh."

I refrained from mentioning that I had just picked up 47,000 USAir miles over the weekend, that starting next week I'd be getting 2000 WP miles/week, or that I had 175,000 miles with AA and haven't flown them in years. I mean, why bother, right?

Anyhow, I laid it out for him rather quickly:

1. Get the Choice credit card and pick up 24,000 points.
2. With his normal stays, he'd be getting almost 3000 points/week.
3. I briefly outlined the promos coming up, and suggested a minor bit of hotel-hopping.
4. Bottom line, I could see him with over 200,000 points by this time next year, and if we wanted to work with me we could get him 400,000 to 500,000 over the next couple of years.

So he asks me, "What would I do with them (the points)?"

I explained about the Preferred Hotels and how he could spend a nice week to 10 days in 5-star properties like the Landmark in London, some really nice digs in Paris, Rome, Milan, and so on. Even some outstanding location stateside. What's not to like?

"Nah. Can't be that easy. Too much trouble."

End of conversation.

I'm not a missionary.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Don't be too hard on yourself. We can't convert everyone.

Some will see the light and others will choose to stay in the dark...

Hey, if he doesn't want it, I got no probs. Keeps the competition down for rewards. When it comes to booking my award flights and nights, I say: The easier, the better.

Trust me, I know the feeling. I have conversations with friends, after they flew, and asked what program they credit to. "Oh, I only fly 4 times a year, so I don't bother". Heck, even at that level, they'd have a international ticket in a few years. But, I won't waste my time trying to convert them.

Last night an uncle of mine wanted to get in on some of the Intl mistake fares. The first question I asked is if he had a valid passport. No. Well, I said, you'll need to get one. That seemed to kill the urge to travel, however. Strange!

If it seems to good to be true... :D

Everyone thinks we're crazy. :p

Everyone sure loves listening to my stories. :o

I know.

It hurts.

I was crying about that very subject to my wife as we were sipping wine in the lounge at the Cavalieri last year, watching the sun set over Rome.

Then we had to get up early to catch the flight to our F trip FRA-SFO.

If they only knew the angst we suffer.

I was trying for a couple years to convert my BF (of course at that time he was flying like crazy) now he has switched and is OBSSESSED...if you look at his blood you probably see FF #'s :) too bad now he's not flying as much and I think it hurts him on how much he could've earned years ago...lesson learned :)

probably the only way of convincing someone who feels this way is to calculate and make show explicity the actual dollar value of the miles that are being passed up... And ask that person if he/she would pass by a few hundred (or thousand) dollars lying around on the street, and ignore it as too much trouble to pick up.

at least you tried to spread the gospel... ^ ^
although in this religion the more the better is not always true... :rolleyes:

i guess if everyone was doing it...we wouldn't be able to reap as many benefits :)

Amen!

I know how you feel...

I've been getting a friend of mine to stick with one airline (or two) every time he flies so he can eventually build miles. His reasons for not doing it? 1) "I don't fly enough... just 4x a year" (He flies 3x a year ORD-LAX and once to Brazil) 2) "I can fly cheaper if I look for the lowest fare" (Yeah maybe not more than $30 per flight to LAX) and 3) "It's just too much trouble... one more thing to keep up with" (Should I even comment on this?).

He's been doing this since mid-2000. Some people will never see.

Don't be so hard on the non-believers. We all were probably in that category at one time or other. If I had known about Affinity Cards back when I was doing several hundred dollars a month keeping gas in my company truck (in a prior life) I would have been able to fly frequently just on that alone. But I have seen the light, and have convinced my better half that free hotel rooms and upgraded flights are what we deserve. She is slowly coming around and will use the affinity card for most purchases. BUT she still has that one card that gives no points, no miles, but is free of a yearly fee. CANNOT get her to drop it.

Oh, if only I had a 1000 miles for every friend of mine who has said that sentence :p

1. Hilton AMEX -- great points generator, can even get Gold, no annual fee.

2. Choice Privileges Visa -- no annual fee, check out the Preferred Hotels!

3. If she doesn't mind changing every couple of years, US Visa (Juniper bank) w/ 15,000 miles bonus, no annual fee for two years.

4. Etc.

A credit card that does nothing but, well, allow you to purchase things and that's all is an abomination in the sight of the Lord! :)

So I had lunch again ...
 

...with the same fellow as yesterday. The conversation went something like this:

munch, munch, munch

"So, about that free ticket for your wife. What did you say it cost?"
"25,000 miles."
"Did you do it all with credit card miles?"
"Pretty much."
"How long did it take to get that many miles?"
"Oh, I don't know. Probably a year. Maybe longer."

munch, munch, munch

"You know what I did last month?"
"What?"
"I logged onto the AA website. They had a credit card offer, so I applied. Two weeks later they dumped 25,000 miles into my account."
"Hmmm"

munch, munch, munch

"They look kind of cute sitting there next to the 47,000 miles I got on USAir over the weekend."
"Hmmmm."

"Should have the 40,000 more in my British Airways account, as soon as the cards clear."

munch, munch, munch

And then he said, " :confused: ".

And then he said, " :eek: "

And then he said, " :mad: "

And then I said, "Well, gotta go. See ya later." So I left before it got ugly.

To quote Bugs Bunny, "Ain't I a stinker?" :)

Haha. Maybe you should tell him about the Delta game 2 years ago. Got 25K Skymiles for just playing a 30 second game. :)

Amazed me each time when I see people who fly long haul US-Asia and won't sign up FF accounts. They said they don't fly enough (!) and don't want to be bothered (!!).

At my work (where I rarely travel) my coworkers are amazed at the travel deals I'm able to get. They always want to know when I get a better price on something, get something for free, get upgraded, etc. Then they shake there heads and wonder how I do it. One guy says when he wants to plan a big trip he's going to ask me to do it.

Compared to most of you guys I am an amateur. But I feel it's worth my time to try to get the best deal/price on something or to build up points/miles for awards.

While I hate to see anyone pay more for anything than they have to, if people aren't willing to put in a little effort or willing to try to educate themselves, I'm not going to lose sleep.

I suffered the same pain last month, sipping a fruit smoothie, on a Meditteranian beach at a Hilton resort in Egypt, also sad that my trip was coming to an end and I had to suffer in F all the was back to Texas. It was such a painful trip for my daughters 10th birthday present. Woe be me.

;)

Should we really be trying to convert the FF savages at this point? We don't need them boosting the demand for awards. ;)

Seriously, let them sit in coach and collect credit card miles.

i concur, why bother increasing the competition?

Its funny how some people "get it" when you educate them on FF programs and some don't. My auntie is 80 years old and flies maybe three times a year. About 5 years ago, I educated her on the ways to get miles and such. She has turned into a mileage junkie and would give some of you youngins a run for your money! Whenever I visit her, she'll pull out her file folder and have me review her mileage "portfolio" to make sure she isn't overlooking any earnings.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have two co-workers who travel just as much as I do (weekly) and are savvy enough to earn their airline miles but could not be bothered with hotel points no matter how much I have tried.

I think we're the only ones who understand each other ;) :D

I've tried too. My co-workers think I'm swimming in money. A couple of trips to Disney & Hawaii each year. I keep on telling them most of the time it's completely for free, and sometimes it's nearly free. They seem interested, but never actually do anything about it.

I just keep on making my reservations & going to the places they only dream of. If they would only listen.

My favorite saying to try to spur them on..."my laptop has been to Hawaii more times than most people have in a lifetime."

I had kind of the opposite conversation with a coworker.

A couple of months ago, a coworker, who had just returned from a short vacation in Florida with his girlfriend, said that they had moved every day to a different hotel in the same chain. I asked why. He said it was so the girlfriend would get a particular airline's miles. I went to the hotel's site and saw the promotion. It was something like 500 or 1000 miles per stay; I don't remember which. I said it didn't seem like a very relaxing vacation -- packing and unpacking every day for the sake of a penny-ante amount of miles. He said she really likes miles.

End of conversation.

I think I felt about the same thing as I was exploring Vietnam earlier this year, and even just now during a family vacation in Vancouver/Victoria/Seattle. I might even think about it when I go to Ottawa and Toronto later this month :D

Ain't it the truth!

While I have no intention of acting as a mile- and point-maximizing personal travel agent for my colleagues, if I know a colleague or friend has already made (or is making) plans to fly on specific airline or stay at a certain hotel chain, and I know of a good relevant mile or point-earning promo available, I will point this out to them. They are usually interested, and I'll provide the URL and directions on how to register.

On their return, I'll ask them how their trip was and if they got the promo miles and/or points. Invariably they say didn't as they didn't register. When asked why not, I'll usually get a shrug and a "Just didn't get around to it"-type of response.

And all they would have needed to do was to take 5 minutes to go online and register...

You are so right

I've gotten some friends addicted, some burned out already, and some that just don't care.

If they ask, I'll help. If they don't, I'm not going to lose any sleep over them subsidizing my travel capabilities.

For years people have told me how they have been making money in real estate and urged me to spend just a little time learning some very safe and basic strategies. I told them I didn't have the time, that I was doing fine with my finances and investments.

Now I have over a million miles and points in various programs and they have over a million dollars (actually several millions) and I am wondering how I could have been so blind and unwilling to be converted.

Let's not be too arrogant. Today, I know a hundred times more about miles and points than they do but I would gladly trade my miles for their money.

The reason for FlyerTalk is for all of us to have a place where other people understand us.I believe that this ability to want to do this,understand this,and enjoy it is something that we're born with.That's why so many people don't understand.It's very hard to teach these concepts to people;and very frustrating.

Instead of trying to teach others, you could just send them to my website, with a suggestion or two on which page to start (currently Credit Cards and Finance). Let me do the work.

Like what kind of strategies -- I'm curious?

When I married, my wife didn't know too much about these programmes. Now, almost 10 years down the road, if she doesn't see *A flights all over my travel intinerary and stays at either Hiltons or Starwood Hotels, she wants to know WHY???

"You stayed at a Hyatt? Are you having an affair!" ;)

The unenlightened who think it's "too much trouble" are also the same ones whose VCRs have been flashing "12:00" for years and who pay a tax preparer $150 to fill out their 1040-EZ form.

Hah!

Exactly! ^ ^

A few years ago, I shared an office with a guy who flew JFK-SFO and back every single weekend . He did not belong to any frequent flyer program.

Are you saying your wife dictactes which airlines/hotels you use?

Hey, I left more than my VCR blinking 12:00. Who has time for that when you've got this board? :p