Wow Punki! $300K per year credit card charges from a single source! That's amazing - lucky you. In regards to your abundance of Alaska Air upgrades, there is a very strong possibility that I will be visiting Alaska next year (May or June) and could certainly use some upgrades. I just joined the Alaska Air program, but have no real occasion to fly them. The only means I have for getting miles there is through the Starwood program. I imagine I will use miles (probably UA or CO) to get out there from the east coast, but in state I'm sure a few hops on Alaska will be needed. I'll keep your e-mail address handy and contact you once plans come together. Thanks.

To Merry and Baobab

I stand corrected! But which programme are you going to accumulate your points? And does that mean you get to retain all your cards at each airline forever? Lucky you!

[This message has been edited by Celestar340 (edited 03-27-99).]

Celestar: I will obviously mainly attain points with BA. I assume that the partner airline membership will remain as long as BA membership is maintained (which is reviewed annually, although I am unaware of anyone ever loosing their status).
Nick

Punki,

I just flew Alaska FC today from SEA/LAX. You are right, they are a great airline. I upgraded to FC for $40. Horizon Air is also well run.

Dave

Celestar - I am a faithful BA ff... and use AC/Star Alliance when BA & oneworld can't do what I want to.

I was also wondering about Merry's accumulation of mileage, but since Premier membership is not mileage-based and he has never bothered redeeming any of his miles/points, I imagine that it doesn't matter much to him which account his miles accumulate in.

Personally, I think that BA should just have given him a lightning-bolt with which to awe other airlines into submission...

As I reviewed all the posts, It occurred to me that the actual "flight miles" I accumulate are really only a small potion of the miles I build up each year.

For instance, being ALASKA MVP Gold, I get double miles. So I take a 45 minute flight from Seattle to Portland and get 500 (minimum) flight miles, plus 500 MVP GOLD bonus miles, plus, 250 internet booking bonus miles, plus 250 E-ticket miles, plus 500 kiosk checking miles. TOTAL = 2000 miles for a 150 mile trip. Go home at night (same deal) = 4000 TOTAL MILES PER DAY TRIP. OH, plus whatever credit card miles you got for buying the ticket.

BOTTOM LINE: Flew a total of 1-1/2 hour and ended up with 4160 miles. Not Bad.

If it is "ALL ABOUT MILES" for you, it is important to develop an integrated program which considers your idividual needs and then coordinates all the resources--flight miles, bonus miles, credit card miles and any other little tricks that work for you, i.e., true rewards, flower power, blah blah blah, whatever.

CAVEAT--Marriott Rewards is a lot better deal for FFs than Marriott Miles. Save 'em up--its the real deal.

NZ Air New Zealand (main program)
AN Ansett Global Rewards
QF Qantas (this will probably go as soon as I get an invoice)
UA Mileage Plus (ceased using in favour of NZ and AN)

Seems that i'm the only NZ member around...is that true?

Punki: I think that for my travel patterns the Marriott Miles give me more value than the Rewards program:
- I only stay one night at Marriott
- my bill is 70% under $100 (looking at my next stays i pay: SEA-TAC $82, SFO airp $75, SJU PR $159, MUC (Munich) DM 124 = $ 70 (twice), Singapore SIN$ 220 = $120 (twice), Bangkok-Riverside $80 (twice), JW Bangkok $99, SFO airp $75, Orlando Int. Dr. $114
- a stay (in my case one night) "earns 1'000 miles (500 + 1/5 of 2'500 bonus)

(I am aware of the current 3 stays earn 5'000 bonus rewards promotion, but from time to time and property to property there are also double miles promotions).

[This message has been edited by Rudi (edited 03-31-99).]

Rudi ~ I'd be weary of the Marriott International Drive in Orlando. I had some business associates stay there last year, and they didn't think it was all that great of a hotel (it's a bit dated I think is the problem). They were paying less than $114 for the room and were disappointed, so I'd be careful about that ... that just sounds like a steep price for what they got!

thank you for the warning Beckles.

Rudi: Marriott International Drive is a good hotel, but not up-scale. I've been there several times. They do great things for meetings, but they're more a "Motel" than a "Hotel."

Phil ~ That's my impression of them too (from driving by and hearing about it) ... it just seemed like $114 was a bit steep for a "motel"!

When I was there I stayed at the Holiday Inn International Drive for $79 or so. That place was a bit dated and a little old, but with Priority Club membership they gave some nice benefits (food and beverage discounts, free coffee, free faxing, preferred room). Also, the rooms were quite large.

It always amazes me that you join these free clubs (like Priority Club for Holiday Inn and Hyatt Gold Passport) and get such great free benefits when you stay ... so much of the world is missing out!

Of course, the place to stay there on International Drive is the Peabody Hotel ... but that might be a little bit pricier!

[This message has been edited by Beckles (edited 03-31-99).]