I Give Up!
 

I give up trying to help friends and family earn more miles. Everytime I tell someone how to maximize their FF earning potential they either listen with some interest and not do anything or just look at me as if I'm completely nuts.

I have told most of my co-workers about this site, many of the promos offered, et cetera, but no one seems to do anything.

Maybe everyone who does this sort of thing is crazy (myself included). I personally find the frequent flyer programs a type of "game" like Monopoly, where you win or lose and I like to win!

Never, EVER, give up! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Dudemon, dude, some people find that it's too much of a hassle to take advantage of things such as this. I find that it's their loss.

I too have given up on trying to help others maximize their mileage and travel. I will give friendly advice to family/friends/coworkers about destinations or where to find a cheap ticket, but I don't even try to explain why they should get status, how to upgrade, how to extend the routing, or how to get free stopovers.

On FT yes. In "real life", no! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I can't bothered to return the soda bottles to get my five cents back per bottle. I'd probably return them if I got five miles per bottle. My neighbor thinks I'm nuts putting them with the recycling for the bottle collectors to pick up.

We all have things we go nuts over, and things we can't be bothered with, if they can't be bothered to get miles, then it's their loss. Now if there was a way to get their miles for us...

Never never never give up! When Mrs. Law Lord was about to fly to Seychelles and back I had to drag her to join an FF program (think of 20,000 miles going to waste) for that trip.

Then when my status got us upgraded to business class on $400 tickets to Europe, she thought better.

Moral: once someone sees the benefits, he or she becomes a convert. If your friends don't fly enough to see benefits then don't worry about converting them.

Amen to that, Law Lord! My experience exactly!

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It's not a perfect world.

Dudemon, look on the bright side. Fewer people in the game means less competition for those who play!

I freely admit I don't do everything I could to maximize my true FF earning potential, because not everything available out there suits the effort I'm willing to put in, or is sort of thing I'm likely to keep up with. But one of the nice things about FT is that you can choose the news you use. (Ouch, sorry!)

Like anything else, I suppose a few people get carried away with playing the game - maybe you recall the Traveler article some years ago about a fellow who ruined his life dueling with AA (I think). He was quite a prominent businessman, but he got so obsessed with "beating" the airline that he took to outright fraud, eventually got caught - and ended up in jail.

One does want to draw the line somewhere, and rather short of that kind of thing might be a good idea.

Maybe it's also that you'd like a few of your friends or co-workers to become interested in your current interest? I know I was delighted when a friend started posting on FT - and when I see him, I tend to talk nothing else, even in a completely different context!

At least, you know where you can find a bunch of like-minded "nuts": here, and in the front of the plane, and the best rooms in the hotel!

My friends think I am insane. I told one friend about FT when I found the site in January. He is a very infrequent poster on the UA board.

I am so proud though. He made UA Premier this year.

I don't think the rest of my friends will follow. They still think I am nuts.

You have to remember that other people have other priorities.

Just because something is very important to you or the next guy, doesn't mean that it's just as important to someone else.

Not trying to be nasty, just add a different pitch.

Politics, Religion and Frequent Flyer Programs!

And the question is:
What should you never discuss with friends?

That's ok, if everyone was doing their best to get miles, the airlines would have a bigger liablity and would probably have to curtail the FF programs. Now at least the airline have to get creative, bonus miles, 500 mile minimum, parterns programs and other incentives. IMHO.

My wife used to look down at me and frown about mileage runs. ;D Not any more. You see, she likes sitting up front on international and transcon trips. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Don't we all.

Is that 1000 posts? I'd better get a life.
On second thought, I like the miles!!!

Dan

Here are my thoughts....
I think that people shy away from these programs because they sound so much like all the marketing double-talk that we get fed every day.
Last week I received an envelope which went to the *extreme* of making the contents sound official. They went overboard using an impressive return address and other markings on the envelope - everything but naming a govt. agency's name. The contents were from a Buick dealer!
Here is an extract from today's WSJ:
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Some Amazon customers seemed more put off by the way Amazon disclosed the price changes than by the changes themselves. For a complete explanation of them, visitors to Amazon need to click a link to a separate page, where the company says "for some products prices have stayed the same, for some products prices are lower, and for some products we've reduced our discounts." For venture capitalist John Shoch, the notion of a "reduced discount" was "classic marketing doubletalk."
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We get much of this doubletalk from credit card companies, in flyers, from phone companies (my telephone bill is 10 pages long each month for a line that I *only* use for Internet connecting).
I think that people avoid these programs perhaps because they think that they are "doubletalk" too.
The nice side of the coin is that the airlines do actually give us a good deal with free flights, upgrades, early boarding etc. as promised.

I have shown some friends the advantages of FF programs. About 25% of them actually make an effort to acquire miles. The rest rely on me to point out deals and bonus mile opportunities. My two daughters were quick to ask for "free" tickets from time to time. I have them both set up in various programs. They at least do understand the benefits of saving miles.