::Leader Board:: Ahnko Honu Takes The Lead Chapter 22!

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Learned that the Captain on the Southwest flight was one of the first female fighter pilots in the Navy. Handled the emergency in a thoroughly professional manner, just as you'd expect.

I'm flying Southwest to Denver next week.

I'm not scared.
 
American pretty much owns the Philadelphia market, so I've been pretty committed to them (and USAir before them). The good news is that your American miles will not expire as long as you have a transaction with American at least once every two years or so. It doesn't need to be travel; American has a shopping site, and if you buy pretty much anything there, it resets your expiration clock.

That being said, I'm not a big fan of American's frequent flyer program. The number of tickets available for award travel are extremely limited, they are usually the worst flights, and you have to pay a fee if you book within 21 days of your flight. Additionally, you still need to pay all taxes and fees in cash; this isn't too bad for domestic flights, but it's a fortune for international flights.

Here's an example: when we went to Italy, I figured I'd cash in my stash of AA miles. Buying tickets outright as about $1300, and we could take pretty much any flight we wanted to. Using miles, it required 150,000 miles, we would still have to pay about $800 in taxes and fees, and we could only choose from a limited selection of inconvenient flights with with 7+ hour layovers. No deal.

Marriott rewards, on the other hand, is a great program.

My primary hotel rewards is Holiday Inn (IHG hotels) because I stay in one when I go to school (and it's VERY nice and the school has negotiated a KILLER deal with that hotel). BUT we stayed in a Marriott property for my work trip a couple weeks ago, so of course I signed up for their program. The cool thing? You can have your Marriott points transferred directly to your Southwest account.
 
My primary hotel rewards is Holiday Inn (IHG hotels) because I stay in one when I go to school (and it's VERY nice and the school has negotiated a KILLER deal with that hotel). BUT we stayed in a Marriott property for my work trip a couple weeks ago, so of course I signed up for their program. The cool thing? You can have your Marriott points transferred directly to your Southwest account.

I don't know how Southwest's program works, but I find that Marriott points will buy a lot more value in hotel value than they will in air travel value. A lot of the less-fancy Marriott brands like Fairfield Inn require surprisingly few points for a free night, and you aren't charged any random fees; free is free. For example, a suburban Fairfield Inn might require on 8000 points a night, while those same 8000 points would buy me 1/4 of a roundtrip flight on American, assuming I could even find a flight at that level, and I would still be on the hook for taxes and fees. USAirways had pretty good frequent flyer program, but when they acquired America, they adopted American's program, which kind of stinks.
 
My hotel rewards of choice is Starwood Preferred Guest. I think Marriott is in there too. SPG folks treat me like I am a bigshot even when I am trying to whittle rates down to the absolute minimum.
They have made fantastic recommendations on where to stay, and come through with cheap rates at expensive properties.
I stayed at the Moana Surfider for less than the Ukulele Guild negotiated rate and got free parking, late check-out, and there was a bottle of champagne and chocolate in the room when I checked in with a card from SPG saying happy birthday.

I also got some great deals in San Francisco and Maui using them.
 
Marriott owns Starwood.

My hotel rewards of choice is Starwood Preferred Guest. I think Marriott is in there too. SPG folks treat me like I am a bigshot even when I am trying to whittle rates down to the absolute minimum.
They have made fantastic recommendations on where to stay, and come through with cheap rates at expensive properties.
I stayed at the Moana Surfider for less than the Ukulele Guild negotiated rate and got free parking, late check-out, and there was a bottle of champagne and chocolate in the room when I checked in with a card from SPG saying happy birthday.

I also got some great deals in San Francisco and Maui using them.
 
I have never used any.of the points or miles programs that are offered. They just seem like another level of complication that I don't need in my life....
 
I have never used any.of the points or miles programs that are offered. They just seem like another level of complication that I don't need in my life....

I guess I don't see it. You sign up for an account, you get a card, you give them your number when you make reservations. That's it. In fact, since my numbers are all in my online profiles, I don't even have to give them my number anymore.
 
I guess I don't see it. You sign up for an account, you get a card, you give them your number when you make reservations. That's it. In fact, since my numbers are all in my online profiles, I don't even have to give them my number anymore.

Agreed. But redeeming them on SouthWest at least, is a nightmare. They make it soooo complicated it’s impossible to make happen. Every time I log on to try and use it they want me to BUY more points. Screw that.
 
Agreed. But redeeming them on SouthWest at least, is a nightmare. They make it soooo complicated it’s impossible to make happen. Every time I log on to try and use it they want me to BUY more points. Screw that.

I don't know how Southwest works, but I will definitely agree that airline programs have become unnecessarily cumbersome. I used to travel a LOT for work, often cross-country, and I racked up a lot of miles. I virtually never paid for my personal travel because I could always get free flights. And it didn't hurt that all those miles put me in the premium tier which meant I got upgrades at least 50% of the time. Similarly, my girlfriend at the time collected gobs of Starwood points, so we almost always had a free hotel. I can see how it might be of limited attraction to those who travel infrequently, since it can take a long time to build up enough points to do anything with.
 
I haven’t been backpacking in 35 years. We are slowly acquiring equipment for next years trip. I am amazed at the advances in equipment. My new pack weighs just 2lbs 2oz. It’s 60 liters and can easily support 35 lbs and it’s nowhere near a top of the line pack.
 
I haven’t been backpacking in 35 years. We are slowly acquiring equipment for next years trip. I am amazed at the advances in equipment. My new pack weighs just 2lbs 2oz. It’s 60 liters and can easily support 35 lbs and it’s nowhere near a top of the line pack.

But can you support 35 pounds? I don't care how light you think you pack, you need less. Aim for 10% of your body weight.
 
With the condition of my back (which seems to be getting worse :(), my backpacking days are over. I did a lot of it in the Boy Scouts, somewhere back in a different life....
 
With the condition of my back (which seems to be getting worse :(), my backpacking days are over. I did a lot of it in the Boy Scouts, somewhere back in a different life....

My flat, flat feet made backpacking - even when I was a skinny little kid - an exercise in torture. I hated every moment of it, but Dad required boy scouts and that meant backpacking every month.
 
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