Haha - thanks for all the responses and the warm welcome! I definitely feel reassured that I'm not the only one with this malady. I look forward to being a part of FT for many years to come! (The goal for me is to be an AA MM in 4 years - I'm at 350k now, I think I can do it!)

I hope they have triple miles again in the near future - especially on transcon flights. I'd probably do a MR to another city if the price was right like it was with the BOS/LAX/SFO/SAN.

-Dave

Advancing age and airline take-backs can cure some of it. DL, for example, would give 1,000 miles minimum/segment, have a 500-mile elite bonus and 50,000 miles worth of annual threshold bonuses in the pre-1995 program. That arrangement made segment-heavy bookings lucrative, and I remember doing quite a few AVL-ATL-CVG-NYC ones (staying the weekend at the Y in Manhattan) on a $105 RT deal back in the day. CO also did a targeted triple-miles deal back then, applicable to all fare categories (most promos before 2000 were good for all fares).

Being able to book your own crazy itin back then was a novelty, and the old EAASY SABRE required banging out command lines on a green screen. But you had a first-mover advantage of sorts.

What could happen is you get spoiled with certain arrangements, and then the airlines yank them out from under you and you don't want to go back to doing the hard time in cramped coach or on jungle jets. CO used to be a good airline for EARNING your EQMs flying up front, but then they altered the upgrade policy and flooded the system with RJs. Stuff like that. You also get to see a continuing long-term erosion in value of benefits.

And now.....
 

Ah, grasshoppers beginning this journey (and no disrespect to Caine, RIP). You are but reaching the top of the first stage, and you think the view is fine. The next stage will be churning credit cards, but that will require great discipline and credit, for which you may now be too young, and in the middle of a desert. But this too will pass. Once you have mastered this discipline, which includes using your time wisely in your new enterprise, there will be the next stage of enrolling relatives, real or imagined, and fully realizing all the benefits of capped partner promotions, multiplying them, and then throwing those miles to one vessel. And there are more stages still, including the passing of mileage alchemy opportunities, which, as with a comet, avails every two years, or so..... And along the way, you will learn to pounce, like the jaguar, and to face down your greatest enemy, Regret, when you do not move fast.

This path, grasshoppers, should you choose to follow it, will demand a focus and commitment that you may not have experienced before, including the desolation of followup calling, but be not afraid... the view you have but glimpsed will be even finer. However, you must determine the price you will pay. You will decide whether you will spend a fortune in order to save another.

Haha. Wow. That was an awesome post. I followed most of it (already starting the credit card churning with AA card, Marriott Card, *Wood Card), but you're right, I am a rookie. No idea what you mean (or what the purpose is rather) of enrolling "imagined" relatives in a program/promotion. I think I can understand how it could be beneficial, but how would you pull it off? You can have tickets purchased for two and then somehow check both in and get on a plane scanning both boarding passes? And if you did manage it, how would you combine the miles/points into one FF account??

Definitely gave me more to think about. And bonus points for the style of the post too!

Thanks!
Dave

I prefer Mileage-slut
Thank you very much:p

:D^:D Brilliant.

Great thread...and one must think of this points-status accumulation as an alternative investment strategy...upgrades, lounge perks, free flights, free nights, etc. It's just savvy insight on best use of your hard earned money + bonus of improving life quality...besides, sounds more respectable!

I think it might be time for an Intervention! I'll call the A & E network and see if they can book you. By the way, the Intervention comes with a free FLIGHT to rehab!! :D

You think you're an addict? No, you're just a recreational user. Don't worry. You can quit if you want to......
(sure).

:)

Here's another dirty secret - some of us have many RDM ( me ~1M) in the bank but we don't spend them because we don't earn EQM on award flights. I personally trade mine for upgrades on the CC.

Or -and most will vehemently dispute the wisdom here - keep most of them as a second pension. (Guilty.:o)

You could use them for upgrades and get EQMs although I suppose you wouldn't often need to as a top tier.

I fear I need an intervention. AA/QF spoils me with upgrades so often I find it difficult when I get stuck in coach. I shamefully have felt crabby past the 12 hour mark. Starting to spiral out of control and purchase premium economy. Must get back the tough spirit of my youth.

I hear you. Back a million miles ago and many years, I would fly econony - without any qualms. After sitting in the front, it's tough to go back.

I do, I do!

But I cannot use them as fast as I earn them.

And then there are the miles that Mrs. gre earns...

I could be a millionaire...
 

If i spent as much time on my investments, as I do on my FF accounts!!! Tracking all the hotel/airline promos and plotting mileage runs.... If only I spent as much time on morningstar as I do in FT!