I'm surprised no one has mentioned the American Express Membership Rewards Program. Granted, it costs me $40 a year, but that is more than made up by these benefits: <BR>*You can use it the miles on more than one airline. I have used it for FF miles on Delta, Continental and USAir. (It's also good with these airlines' flying partners, as well as Marriott, Hilton, Starwood hotels, etc.) <BR>*They often have bonuses for using your card in supermarkets, gas stations, etc. (Just last month, for example, I picked up 500 miles for getting gas at certain stations.)

Alice, I was just wondering: How do know that Patrick, Elvira, Paulo, Bob and others don't also contribute anonymously and throw zingers as well? I could one of them right now!

Actually, since Alice's support was the first one to appear, I tried to email her and thank her, but guess what? Apparently her email address was a fake! <BR>But thanks to the support from others. I guess I am proud and grateful for the amount of travel I get to do, and sorry if my longwinded answers seem to offend or appear to be "pompous". I guess I still feel if you start to read them and they're too detailed it should be pretty easy to just go on to another response. I just like to give the detailed responses that I also like to receive.

Patrick, I too appreciate your ond the other regular contributors responses. Keep it up. <BR>Interesting how some people have bad experiances on some airlines and good on others. My own experiances with United have been mostly terible. I used up the last of my FF Miles on United to go to the Chicago gettogether. The buld of my miles are on American and NorthWest and have had very good fortune with both of them. Both of them allow you to use their executive lounges when you upgrade to business class in the US and other countries, at least this has been my experiance. <BR>

Patrick, I love your last posting about Alice. That sort of takes the wind out of her sails, I would say! You just can't trust anyone these days.

Thanks for the info about stopovers. It truly is helpful and useful.

I'm a Swissair Qualiflyer myself. And now it's an added bonus that I can get Swissair miles on American. [I just did it on a RT to Syracuse, NY! Almost made it feel like an international trip:)]

I have been collecting American Express points for over four years for a total of 70,000 points. The first two years it cost $25 a year, then they raised it to $40 a year. Unless you charge a lot, it really isn't a good value. So far I have spent $130 for the privilege. If you charge a lot, the value comes from the choices on where to use the points. I cashed in some for a rental car a couple of years ago. I have found that I prefer to use points for a discount on a rental car charged to my American Express card so I have some insurance. If the car is totally free, you need to purchase insurance as you're not using a credit card, losing any insurance benefits. Has anyone else dealth with this? Is my thinking correct?

Diane, I agree that the Amex Membership Rewards program is most worthwhile if you use you card a lot. However, your experience is not such a bad deal. You spent $130 to get 70,000 points. Considering that you can fly to Europe with 50,000 points (or 40,000 off-season), that's not such a bad deal! It would cost you less than $100 for that ticket. <BR>As I said previously, its advantage is that you can use it with several airlines. In my instances, I've been able to combine the Amex miles with earned miles on three different airlines. Plus, I have picked up many bonus Amex miles by taking advantage of its special offers of extra miles. <BR>I might add that I use my Amex card for business quite a lot, the the dollars/miles add up quickly.

I like American and USAirways' frequent flier programs and do not like Northwest. The best thing about American to me is that if you have ALMOST enough miles for a free ticket but not quite, they will let you go ahead and hold the reservation until you get enough miles. The others will not do this, in my experience. I find that it is hardest to redeem miles with Northwest.

For me it's been Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan-Hands Down- <BR>partners with American/Swiss Air, British, Northwest,TWA Continental, Qantas, KLM. Plus most rental car companies, and many chain hotels. So just about any flight I take I get miles for. I've never had any trouble cashing in my miles, 40,000 Europe Oct-April on BA. 20,000 for Alaska Airlines Flights. <BR> <BR>My husband was a BA mileage plan member. But we learned that unless he paid full-fare he didn't get mileage credit, while I would with the same flight with the Alaska Mileage Plan. Needless to say we're both enrolled now.

I only have experience with Continental and United FF programs. Personally, I prefer Continental's over United's (I am Elite in both). Continental (if you're elite)gives you unlimited space available upgrades domestically while on United you have to fly a certain amount of miles before earning upgrades as a Premier member. With Continental, you also have access to Northwest, KLM, Air France code shares and also Virgin Atlantic code shares. Also, I prefer Continental's President's Club to the Red Carpet Club. Just my opinion.

Sometimes where you live dictates what FF program it is best for you to choose. In my case I am lucky because Continental has a hub in Houston and that airline is consistently winning awards for the best FF airline. I agree. There's only one problem with that now, of course. EVeryone else seems to be persuaded by Continental's relentless advertising that it is the best. The result of that is that whereas in several previous years I called Continental 6 months out and could get 2 coach tickets easily for Europe, this fall when I tried it was hopeless. I was told it was because their wonderful program has gotten so terribly popular. Well, at least their connections with Northwest saved the day. I hate/dread flying on NW, but at least we are getting to Europe in April with our FF points. It was that or pay. I just hope that NW doesn't fall out of the sky OR have its often notorious huge delays. Fingers crossed...