I have shameless bought into the awards program. I overuse my American Express, I only fly Star Alliance and Northwest and their partners, and I always stay in Hilton owned hotels. Why? Because I’m a Rewards, frequently flier, and Honors member. I must say that I’m a fairly loyal member too. But what do I get from being a loyal member? Supposedly, you get to redeem points and miles for things. At least with American Express and Hilton, it’s not a nightmare to redeem your points. The airlines are another story.
I have lots of airline miles with both United and Northwest. In fairness to Northwest, I redeem miles in 2007 for two tickets to Cozumel, Mexico. I only had to pay about $94 in taxes per ticket. That’s a bargain and I was lucky. The way that miles work is that the airline provides a number (supposedly) of seats on a number (supposedly) of flights that are available to fliers who want to redeem miles. In other words, if you want to redeem miles you need to be going somewhere where their are “miles” seats. There are not always “miles” seats. I thought that I would use some miles for a trip to Vienna, Austria this summer, but so far, United is not offering any “miles” seats. So, if I go, I will be paying full price, but I will get more miles! Maybe, I’ll find what their least popular flights are and take a trip there. I am sure that there will be “miles” seat on that flight.
So, why am I such a loyal flier? Oh, it must be because of my elite status … that’s an issue for another day. Last words, … Dear Airline Executive, what have you done for me lately.
