Airline miles

[Johnny_L.A]

I just checked my Alaska Airline Mileage Plan. More than 63,000 miles in it. Since I moved up here, I no longer have to fly up here. So much for frequent flying! I only use my Alaska Airlines credit card for gas, every other month (I alternate months with my American Airlines card), so miles are now building very slowly. Still, if I can make it to 80,000 I can use them for a coach ticket on Air France or KLM for a r/t flight to Tahiti; or Air Pacific, Cathay Pacific, Delta, or Quantas (85,000) to Australia or New Zealand. Or I can use 55,000 points to fly Air Pacific from Hawaii to Oz.

Since I don’t have anyplace I need to go in the U.S., I don’t really need mileage plans. But I inherited American Airlines miles and have six figures there, and I do have the Alaska miles. I only use the credit cards so the miles won’t expire. Someday I’ll burn those Alaska miles and then I can cancel the credit card.

[picunurse]

Keep in mind that Cathay Pacific’s seats are made for little tiny Asian butts. My BIL flew them and ended up having to upgrade to first class, because he’s 6’2" tall and has a normal sized American butt.

(I am not implying yours is too big, so don’t go there! )

[MsChilePepper]

There are plenty of ways to accrue more miles than just using your affiliated credit card or taking a flight. Do you shop online or eat in restaurants? Check Alaska’s Mileage Plan website for info on all the participating sites.

When I was a travel agent, one of my clients was a restaurant owner. He paid for ALL of his supplies with his Alaska CC, and racked up hojillions of miles.

[DMark]

Johnny L.A., are you a member of FlyerTalk? It is a board similar to SDMB, but with people who (duh) like to fly a lot. They also have lots of info about frequent flier miles, discounts, special deals, travel tips, etc.

BTW, hate to bring up sore subject, but isn’t/wasn’t Alaskan Airline ranked kind of low with safety? I recall a series of horrible accidents with them and reports of spotty maintenance and bad management.

[Johnny_L.A]

No, I’m no longer a frequent flyer now that I’m up here.

According to their Wiki page, there Alaska Airlines have had three accidents/incidents in the past 20 years:

On March 13, 1990, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 727-227 (Registration N271AF) operating Phoenix-Tucson, struck and killed a pedestrian during the takeoff roll. The man had apparently wandered away from a nearby mental hospital. How he made it onto runway 26L was not determined. (Runway 26L is now 25R)

On January 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, an MD-83, plunged into the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu, California while preparing to attempt an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport en route from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and Seattle, killing all 88 people on board. In its final report, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the cause of the accident to be failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system jackscrew acme nut threads due to insufficient lubrication of the jackscrew assembly by Alaska Airlines.

December 26, 2005: Flight 536, which was headed from Seattle to Burbank, California, was forced to return to Seattle and make an emergency landing. The cause was a foot-long hole in the fuselage of the MD-83 aircraft, which caused the plane to lose cabin pressure.

Only the 2000 crash was due to poor maintenance. The 2000 incident was caused by a baggage handler running into the plane. Since the crash near Port Hueneme, maintenance oversight has been strengthened. Also, the company no longer flies the MD-80 series. (They’re all Boeing now.)