paradocs

Mr. Paradocs thinks we are all totally nuts to spend so much time here. However; he cooperates fully and supports my efforts totally. He pays all the bills for supporting my habit. He dutifully uses the credit card of the moment. He has done the change hotels each night thing, which is something I thought he would never do. He listens to my latest scheme and feigns interest. He Idines all the time with me.

He put his foot down to a mileage run which is something I have no problem doing. But, in his spirit of cooperation he did tell me just to find something fun to do at the destination of the run. So we happily head off to a concert or a play in a far away city a few times each year.

Oh, and he loves the elite perks and free travel almost as much as I do. Is he an enabler or what?

debua1k

Hilton points!

JodieD

This thread has me LOL. Most of the stories sound soooo familiar! My dh thinks I am mental and it has taken all my feminine charms to convince him that we should participate in the Starwood 50K promotion. Of course, I skimmed over the fact that we will have to go to Melbourne to complete the promo

Now he tells all our friends about this "crazy scheme" of mine and they all think I'm nuts too!

He does share my love of travel though, and given that he is from the US and all his family are over there, travel will always be a part of our lives.

outoftown

Mrs. Outoftown is more annoyed at my time on FT than most of my mile/point earning weirdness. Her only travel is on the benefits, so she is now spoiled enough to kid me..."First class or no class!" She's gotten over a dozen international trips in First or Business the last six years, so she understands what I'm doing and dutifully uses the correct credit card when I tell her to. However her entire family of farm folks think I'm strange. I can't even explain the normal travel, let alone a MR. They've never traveled out of the Carolinas except by car, so I usually don't talk travel around them.

This is another post from another hotel; a nice new Charleston Airport Hilton Garden Inn.

bagold

Great thread!

My gf is a little different than what others have said here. She doesn't mind me checking FT all the time. She doesn't say anything if I change hotels just to earn elite status stays. She doesn't say much about mileage runs even though I don't do them much. I do fly to London or Hong Kong for the weekend to visit family and friends so it is a semi-mileage run since I do spend a couple of nights there. The only thing she gives me that "LOOK" is when I spend excessive to fly. E.g. RTW F ticket for pleasure.

So overall, she doesn't say too much about my obsession.

Now, in turns of spending the miles and points, she differs from most here. She doesn't like to travel much. (Maybe it is because she had to do weekly travel for 1-2 years for work?). She doesn't care about domestic upgrades! She is short so the legroom doesn't matter to her. She doesn't care about the lounges. She feels waiting in the lounge is almost the same as waiting at the gate. Here is what I find the most interesting: We have never flown economy on international trips. Always F or C. She doesn't like long trips because she finds it BORING! Come on, we ONLY fly CX F to Asia and even that is barely acceptable. She doesn't have high standards but just doesn't like flying long trips. She doesn't care about hotel upgrades either. Just give her a bed and she will be fine.

I wonder how she would do in the back and sleeping at the lower star hotels? I would never try it so I won't get to see what she thinks about traveling in the back! (unless we travel separately and then she just won't go with me).

She was out of a job for a few months and I kept asking her where she wanted to go. I have all the miles to go anywhere and to stay anywhere. What does she say? She doesn't want to go anywhere! Just wants to job hunt!

My proudest moment is when she agreed to do a MR to maintain her UA 1P status one year. We went to NRT for one night.

[This message has been edited by bagold (edited 05-21-2003).]

RS

I just asked my wife if she'd like to see the title of this thread. Her answer? No.

By the way, I signed her up for the AA Gold Challenge. She's halfway there. In the middle of it she flew Southwest and UA and doesn't yet seem to grasp the concept.

Of course, she was not happy when our last SFO-JFK upgrades failed to clear.

Help!

LLZ

Tell her to make EXP then!

sllevin

My wife's somewhere in the middle. In general, she won't do the wild mileage run like MIA-SIN in coach. But she's not averse to doing FLL-EWR-LAX to pick up additional miles even when FLL-IAH-LAX is available, for example. (and this is when she's flying on her own). She certainly appreciates the elite benefits (and the domestic upgrades NW provides!)

And from time to time she'll do a moderate mileage run with me -- for example, she did OAK-JFK-OAK with me last September 11th.

This year, for example, we were both comped Gold from NW. Me, I obsesssed a bit and tried to make Platinum (75,000 miles) by the end of March (and would have but for a minor detail -- instead, I hit it by the end of April), whereas she's more content to keep trucking along towards Platinum by the end of the year (and would be willing to do a transcon MR if she's just short).

She's also good about using the right credit cards, in the proper order. I've got her trained to always try Diner's Club first, then Starwood Amex, then Citibank's AAdvantage Mastercard as a last resort

And of course, she tolerates my mile runs and travels, even to the extent of sometimes having to wait in the FLL President's Club for a couple of hours after arriving "home" to FLL while waiting for me to get in from my flights.

Steve

Fishbait

I have a different angle on this subject: Mr Fish does most of the travel (business), but I am the one obsessed by the miles and points. I have managed to keep him Plat on CO since the mid 90's, and kept him Plat on AA, all the while maintaining lower or identical status for myself and the little fishes. He tells me where he's going this week, I tell him what airline and where to stay. He pretty much does as told, good boy LOL! He enjoys the benefits of my planning, and doesn't complain when I chastise him for not recording everything on "Travel Central" (our refrigerator door). I can usually coerce him into MRs with the proper "angle" (like a big Surf Memorabilia show in LA in a few weeks). He jokingly tells our friends things like "Well sure, we will only be in Tokyo for two days, but look how much money she is saving me!" His favorite "party story" is his tale of a Christmas Day mileage run to Alaska (20 hr total), all for the sake of elite status.

My main problem is with my girls, ages 13 and 15. They consider the whole thing a "dirty little secret", and complain how it actually affects their friendships and school/sports. I always arrange MRs around all their other activities, and it's not easy, esp for these two very sports-and-school-oriented teens. We are completing our OW RTW next month, and I have been ordered to "Stop this nonsense" immediately after. Sigh, I guess the fun will be slowing down very soon (well, at least until they are in college!)

OTOH, outsiders think we are either filthy rich or completely insane. The neighbors must wonder how we can afford to travel to 6 continents in 6 months, but not tear down our delapidated barn (the scourge of the neighborhood). I find myself constantly explaining things on sports sidelines, emailing teachers when they ask me about purchasing RTW tickets, and apologizing to our dog-sitters (and dogs!) for another last-minute booking.

Robin

cecelia

My husband thinks I am obsessed with saving money, points, miles, antiques, groceries, free stuff--just about all of my hobbies come to think of it. However, I just dropped him off at the airport for an award ticket trip (thanks to NW FFF promo) and I didn't hear any complaints (or thanks come to think of it).

Superd1

Hi! My names Dave and I'm a FTer

and you all say in unison

Hi! Dave



------------------
"A day without Points/Miles is like a day without SUNSHINE"

lintemut

My wife considers cooperating having to use my cell phone number instead of knowing which hotel I am staying in, of course because I change nightly.

cordelli

Way too many of these start with

my wife

instead of my husband. I never realized how much out of balance it was.

PokerHammy

What does that say about men and obsession or men and gathering (miles/points)?

onedog

Could it be that more men are road warriors and so are the ones who have the opportunity to become miles/points obsessed?

Back before I became a road warrior and the Mrs. was on the road a bit, she was definitely cognizant of elite status (just not obsessed), and went so far as to plan a weekend mileage run with friends who were also right on the elite status "bubble".

A couple of years ago when she was again right on the elite bubble, she was so proud to be going on a mileage run. I went with her to the airport to see her off and whenever we would bump into one of my "regular" gate agents and stop to chat, she would make sure to mention that she was on a "mileage run". LOL