pshuang

After having gone several decades without memorizing my US DM number, I now have it committed to memory (along with AS, PMUA [not long for this world], PMCO, my driver's license number, my passport number, several credit cards....)

What's your unintentional side effect?

aglasgow

I have committed to memory 4 DM account numbers and a multitude of various and sundry passwords for each with most of our US "hit" partners plus all the knowledge gained to prepare for GS2012. Oh, and those Biscoff cookies are delish!

tommyleo

My girlfriend, who never used to try to gather many US miles, somehow got 36 hits this year!

Coming back from out sixth trip to PHL to rent a car from Hertz for a minute or so, I told her, "Congratulations, you're now a mileage whore, too!"

JimLtravels

One of my hits was trial preferred. I found myself unable to resist the challenge to increase my preferred level. I am one flight away from platinum on US airways next year. Without the grand slam this would have never occurred. Of course I may find some star alliance flights where being elite will pay off. There are lots of other "un"intended consequences for me as well. From now being familiar with lots of hotel transfer rules and programs, to planning for Grand slam 2012. I'm a sucker for a good mileage scavenger hunt. Apparently, I've never met a frequent flier mile I didn't like.

akp

Unintended consequence was 5 extra pounds!

Luckily it is on my husband and not me He found the Biscoff spread irresistible.

I think he ate most of a jar in one sitting.

beachbrew

I'm going to lose money in the stock market. Even if it is only five bucks. Also I feel I got some good karma points for tipping the super shuttle driver in phx, that I accidently missed.

slocouple

Stayed in a Park Plaza (Beijing Wangfujing) that I wouldn't have thought of except that the stay would earn a flat 500 miles and I wouldn't have to worry about meeting a minimum spend. Ended up loving the property.
Same with a Howard Johnson in Shanghai (Cuansha) -- very nice treatment -- free shuttle to and from airport. Both of the above properties are outside of our "favorite" chain programs and were pleasant surprises we would return to again. (So it was an intended benefit for the properties; unintended for us.)

sc flier

I've gotten lots of attention from sending flowers to people "just because." Co-workers, clients, friends, and family.

I gained another level of elite status with Hertz. My HLE manager and I are on a first-name basis.

I got some extra Christmas shopping done. (Some of it wasn't even done by me!)

I met a foreign FTer for dinner and GS-talk on one of my busiest workdays of the year. In doing so, I experienced Mexican karaoke.

I gave Budget a chance and have switched several of my rentals to them for this winter season. I'm continuing to build my Club Carlson balance at 9K points per rental, and the double upgrades have been excellent. I didn't hold back from telling my HLE manager that I was doing so since the price with Hertz is triple the price at Budget.

bosnyc

my parents, both retired, now forward me every airline sale, frequent flier offer, hotel offer, partner offer, etc., along with a follow-up "did you get that offer I just sent you" email. ugh....how to break it to them GS is over....

iang000

Got to explore FT's other sections besides the GS thread for the first time as I completed the plans for hits. Realized there are so many other interesting threads besides this one.

Diamondback

Daily emails from skymall, vinesse, and wineinsiders. Annoying. I'll shortly click the link to unsubscribe but of course wanted to give a waiting period from earning the points for GS.

sc flier

A collection of identically sized boxes in near-perfect condition since all they had in them were a very small item, catalog, return shipping receipt, and catalog.

Biscoff cookies at Thanksgiving?

swag

Well, I assume the intended effect of the promotion was to expose members to many of the US partners. The unintended side effect is that in some cases, the experience was not a good one.

For me, I've decided that I'll never ever shop at Skymall again. Even though miles did eventually post, having an order in limbo for weeks, only to cancel a few days after customer service assured me that I'd have it within a week is completely unacceptable and no way to run a business.

Also on the list:

Network Solutions. I didn't purchase from them, and I'm happy with the hosting company that I use, but if I ever needed to switch, reading the experiences of others here, I would not consider them.

eMiles. I signed up, answered all their questions, got my miles and hit in a timely fashion. But I was increasingly uncomfortable with the sheer volume of personal consumer information that they requested. In this world of ever-shrinking privacy, giving away that much information for a few hundred miles and a GS hit just isn't worth it. When it came time to take my GF through the GS promo, I skipped emiles and just made an extra <$20 purchase instead.

Exchange Miles. Another hit that worked perfectly, but soured me. An easy roundtrip out and in got me the hit for no money and less than 10 miles. But it reminded me of just how dreadful the exchange rates are, and in the real world, I can't see how I'd ever use this to move non-trivial quantities of miles around.

gnarly

Not even if you were short a couple of hundred miles for a reward booking? I think the only reason I would use points.com in a real world situation would be to top up (no more than) a couple of hundred miles needed to make a reward booking. Anything more than that and I'd buy the miles. (Not that I've got any accounts that transfer usefully into or out of dividend miles.)

Gamecock

All of a sudden I have an interest in accumulating points with hotels other than *wood and HH.

I just opened an account with Best Western and ordered Thanksgiving flowers for my mom and mother-in-law with points credit going to BW......