so a relative called to ask for miles...
 

*ring ring*

<i pick up> hello?
<uncle> hey clusters78, aunt Sally says you have a lot of miles
<i> yes?
<uncle> me and aunt and your two cousins are coming to the east coast july 4th, and the tickets are over $400 each from LAX! Why don't you redeem like 40000 of your miles to pay for one of us.
<i> ... (wanting to bang head on wall...thinking...you want me to redeem $800+ worth of miles for a standard award last minute on july 4th weekend for a $400 ticket...I'd rather BUY you the ticket)
<uncle> I mean that's 1600 dollars, if you help pay for one that'll reduce our burden a lot...
<i> listen, let me check the schedules and see what I can do.

...spent 30 minutes looked over united dates and routes, thinking if I can't find any saver awards I'll just BUY him the darn ticket myself. Found alternate dates for saver awards. Decided ah **** it I'll help my uncle out by redeeming 50k miles for two tickets. At 1.6c per mile one of the worst usage ever, but it's family...

<i> hey, I redeemed 50k miles for two tickets on these dates...you just have to come here a couple days earlier...
<uncle> TWO!
<i> yes two tickets, you'll have to...
<uncle> OMG YOU ARE TOO MUCH! THANKS SO MUCH!!!
<i> hey listen, do you have a United Mileage plus ff #?
<uncle> um yeah I think I do
<i> can you dig it up so I can place it on the reservation? that's almost 5000 miles for your account there
<uncle> OH just put your own ffm on the ticket so you can earn back some of those miles
<i> ...

I think my head still hurts from banging it on the wall :)

You're a good guy. In the end, that's all that really matters. Their request was rather rude, but you went above & beyond and made things work in a way that helped you rationalize it was a reasonable use for your miles, and they got two tickets instead of one. ^

Hehe, well I had a similar situation. Brother wants to go to london and meet me there. I do a stopove, but he doesnt want to spend 1,400$ on a ticket, so I got him a saver coach to london, with the return with me. At least ill be sitting in C, and he will be in E (and how nice he is will determine - or + in E) Taxes for the flight wa a low 50$, but I would of rather used those miles for my own comfort in C than his flight :D I value my miles a lot higher, near oz. of gold per mile

So have you told them yet that they have to route through DEN, ORD, and SFO first? :D

That was a lovely gift!

Next time your uncle calls.. (or aunt, or any family member if you wanna be safe hahahaha):

<i> You are being answered by(down tone here) - 0.2 sec silience - AUDIX. Please leave your message after the beep. [SCREAM]

Eh, actually just press ignore lol.. I wouldnt do this unless this was for my own parents... they probably know its a lot of money... you guys must be really close for u to be able to do this.. but then again if you have a gazillion miles sittin there.. eh, why not..

I routed my brother thru IAD for a 6hr layover :) return is direct with me. I should of went for a few more stops, and a change in airports, just so he gets the feeling what I went through to get those miles. But that is really nice of you. I only use my miles for my family, and thats at a desperate measure, if I cant find any routing for them

I gifted miles to my mother-in-law once. We lived in Seattle when my son was born, she is in Allentown, PA. I earned lots of brownie points getting her out to visit us 3 days after my son was born.

Sounds like you think your uncle will earn miles by flying on an award ticket. Don't think so.

No his and my aunts he still bought (well, *I* bought using his cc#, I'm basically the family travel agent nowadays) , the two award tickets are under my cousins names.

Routing through ORD SFO etc is an excellent idea lol. Why didn't I think of it as a way of enticing to become fellow mileage freaks. :) Too bad I got them direct flights.

Wow that was too nice. How long till "Hi this is you cousin Besty I heard from Uncle Jim that you have lots of miles can I get a free ticket too?

I get calls from family I have not talked to in 10 years asking me to "get them a good deal on a trip next weekend" I refer them to Orbitz or Travelocity. :(

Mike, you are a credit to the 2P's of the world :D
And to the OP, You are too nice.

So, this does happen often,
and I think people who don't HAVE miles think of them as like coupons lying around collecting dust. Well, you have so many why not just give them to me?
I think it is similar to if I had 100x $$ in the bank, and one would think. "well, for YOU a 500$ ticket is nothing but for ME it is a lot!"

Anyway,
these days, I know we would like it to be otherwise but a 40K mileage ticket is not to be considered 800$ worth anymore. If you are at 1.0 -1.5x then I think that is a good exchange value. The days of 2.0-2.5 are over over over.

Add to that, that the 40K anytime, anywhere mileage ticket is going the way of the dodo in october, to be replaced by the 50K anytime, anywhere, "just like the other airlines" mileage ticket,

think of this as a 25% depreciation on how far you mileage can go, when purchasing this type of ticket. So, for today's current yield, knowing the inflation that is going to occur, I would probably buy the Mileage Tickets and save the 400-500$

Of course all this is easier said with 1MM miles in the bank. And not as much $$ to boot.

ymmv.

Calling to beg for miles is the same as calling to beg for money.

I have been gifting awards to family (international *A F awards, that is), too, but then it's me who's offering to sponsor a trip.

What the OP states is pretty much the same as a relative calling and saying "Hey, xxx told us you've got a lot of money in the bank, so why don't you send us a check?" :)

That is indeed a very generous gesture on your part ^ .

Similarly, I don't have any problems redeeming my miles for close family members. Afterall, FT has instilled in me the tendency to never ignore every opportunity to earn EQMs. Let the loved ones fly for free, while I earn my EQMs and other bonuses.

However, I've recently offered 2 domestic FC tickets to both of my parents as a gift for their wedding anniversary. Sadly, they're not like us, unimaginative when it comes to maximizing the value of these awards. I mean, imagine, they suggested that perhaps they could redeem my present for FC seats to Las Vegas :eek:. So I changed the offer, and told them okay, you guys can get saver business class seats, anywhere in the world.

Well, it's been months and I'm still waiting for possible dates that they might want to go.

So yes, there are family members who would take this kind of generosity in a heart beat, and there are others who seem almost scared to take such offers ;) .