In some ways, if you have American Express Membership Rewards, there already is interchangeability between NW/KL, DL, CO, US and others. All in knowing when to hold 'em and when to transfer 'em. Not that you can move them around in and out. But you can definitely "top out" various possibilities - - especially CO/NW/KL.<BR>

<BR><BR>To: ho@hum<BR><BR>Why do you insist on making a nuisance of yourself? You're obviously too old to ever grow up. Ask your mommy for a new sandbox.<BR><BR>Thanks Rex for your information and insights. Your logic is right, but unfortunately the airlines do not get it. Most of the problem with the airlines is irrational management. What drives those people? This is the perfect opportunity to unload their FF liabilities by opening up those empty seats to FF holders. Since they are doing the opposite maybe they are holding something up their sleeves. <BR>

Gee, it's too bad all you geniuses are wasting your time here when you could be working for think tanks!<BR>You "experts" are laughable!

Do FF miles have a cash redeamable value? If not, they are not liabilities on the books of an airline.<BR><BR>If an airline goes bankrupt, do you line up with the other creditors like banks and suppliers? No, you go cry into your cups.<BR><BR>FF miles are 'perks' only and airlines have no legal responsibility to honor them.<BR><BR>Hence the treatment you get.<BR><BR>Sorry, I am neither a profesional doctor nor spell checker.

Well, of course, USAir has gone bankrupt - - and this means that fuel suppliers, SkyChef, the printers of their magazine and other creditors are not going to get paid. But their FF miles are still being honored. How is this crying in a coffee cup?<BR><BR>I had miles with the long-gone Eastern Airlines and TWA and never lost any of them.<BR>

up<BR>

<BR>I had miles with Pan Am (remember that one?) and they are still being honored by Delta. Now Delta appears to be merging their FF miles with NW. Sweet for me.

Hmmm....I've used 5 frequent flier tickets this year, all booked less than a month in advance. Newark to Chicago, to Phoenix (2x), and to London--on Continental, BA, American. And an open-jaw ticket on Delta to St. George, Utah, from LAX. <BR><BR>I have yet to encounter a problem. Granted Newark is a huge airport with lots of flights and all of these are to big cities (except St. George) with lots of options, but, still, I've usually gotten my first-choice flight, and always my second choice.<BR><BR>What I love most about FF tickets is that you can reserve the seat and then not book it for 2 weeks. This is especially good if your plans are changeable.<BR><BR>I'm just hoping my 90,000 USAir miles don't become useless soon!

Toby,<BR>I'm willing to bet my 1.3M miles that if I still have them 3 years from now, you will have to kiss my ass!

I was on the phone with United to get two first class tickets to Milan in March 2003. They said they only had one seat left in F/C, however when I looked up on the United web site, the whole front section was available. Do they only allocate x number of seats? We have flown over there on ff miles for the last 5 years and had no problem. So we have one ticket in first and one ticket in business. I am hoping that when we arrive at the airport they can take the extra miles out of my husband's account and we can sit together.

Another point about Northwest FF miles - (perhaps also true of other airlines) Unless you specifically bequeath the miles in your will to a named heir, they will not be allowed to transfer to anyone else. The person who inherits the miles cannot transfer or leave them in their will to another party. Our attorney didn't believe us when we told him this, but checking with Northwest, found it was the case.

Rex - Your point about using up liabilities is well taken, but unfortunately no quite on the mark as to how the airlines view these FF miles.<BR>Remember that the whole science as to when they open up seats has much more to do with 'revenue management' than with filling the aircraft.<BR>As a result, there will be plenty of times (even 1 or 2 weeks out) when you'll find lots of space for SALE, but still limited availability for award travel. The airlines are using many years of data to help them decide the likihood of 'last minute' full fare paying pax. (corporate guys no doubt!)<BR>The way to determine that this is what they're doing is look at the fact that you can use a 'standard' award anytime, in which case they 1) reduce FF liabilities, and 2) are willing to trade off vs paying pax. You're generally just referring to 'saver' awards which are used simply to fill up otherwise empty space (as far as the revenue management computers go!)<BR>Best wishes.

At first I thought Toby was full of baloney, but I'm sorry to say that he may be on the money.<BR><BR>I called Continental to use FF miles and was told that unless we were willing to use double miles that we were probably wasting our time. When I asked if FF miles were going to be phased out, she replied "not phased out exactly, just more difficult to use".

So many different experiences and perceptions. We actually ARE able to get FOUR seats together to Paris, without using double miles - - with less than 3 weeks notice.<BR>

Just checked my handy-dandy seat-finder tool and found a ton of availability for minimum award levels r/t to Paris over the next couple of weeks for my carrier. We decided on Monday to do something over the upcoming holiday weekend and found many options to a host of very desirable destinations from which to choose. The more flexibility a person has, the more options there are for using miles at minimum redemption levels. Many people aren't able to operate that way because of jobs or other obligations and for them, I'm sure the system is much more frustrating. For my part, I've found the possibilities with FF programs and the ability to earn very large levels of flight credit to be nothing short of incredible over the past half dozen years.

ttt

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