Thread: Using FF miles?

I've been with ITT Sheraton Club (now Starwood Preferred Guest) since the very early 90's. Back then, they were about the only one's to pay points for airline staff/travel industry rates, at least on a one for one basis. 10 stays within a year get's Gold level with some associated perks like late check-out (1600 - a real bargain for people like me when all flights back home to Oz from Northern Hemisphere are in the evenings) and more earnings power (3 points per $ spent). I'm more than happy with SPG/Starwood.

I used to be in Mileage Plus as it was relatively easy to get upgrades and the such. However, I now am in another Star partner scheme as you only require 35K miles in a year to earn Star Gold status with all it's perks like lounge access, extra baggage, upgrades etc.
I'm not using it that much for redemptions and the such, but in this day and age when you can find Poz space uber-cheap web type fares and use them rather than play nonrev lotto, then it's nice to have an account to put the miles into.

I have an Alaska account and I have the affiliated credit card because it is such a good deal for me. Not only do I accumulate miles from my credit card but I get a companion certificate every year (which I have yet to use ). One of our perks here at AS is that we get miles credited to our account if we meet all of our goals (quarterly with a bonus at the end of the year if we met every month during the year) so the miles build up fast. So what is the fastest way to earn miles? Work for Alaska! We could use the help here in rez.

I just used miles to fly on Delta last week because I had booked a house in Corolla, NC and didn't want to take a chance on nonrevving. 'Course, I booked the tickets in September to fly in May but still . . .I find myself using miles more and more for things I have to make sure I get to.

I am enrolled in several hotel programs and have used them in the past for free rooms when I am going somewhere expensive like DC. They take forever to build up enough points to use, though, so I tend to take years to redeem anything.

With Hilton you get a big amount of bonus points when you sign up with their (free)HHonors Amex and Visa.
There is something called thank you rewards Citi banks they have free CC with bonus points it 1$ for 1 mile on major airlines.
I never cashed any points yet.
HHonors was not really useful for last minute booking when I was stuck at an airport bt it can help if you plan in advance.