Thanks Foo, and good to see you again stranger. Yeah, I have a whole file of similar websites archived, although I haven't updated it recently. (I didn't have your last url) Over the past few years, points have become almost useless, but sometimes I get lucky (like the LA trip I just booked) even though I don't know why I bother to book the flight I want ... because all they do is change it and put me on any frigging flight they want to dump anyway with no regard to what MY schedule requirements might be. The last time that happened, we were also flying out to see Lynn's mom. We booked the flight we wanted and were to hit LA around noon. Perfect! A few weeks later, they changed our flight to one that landed around 4:30pm. Thanks for nothing ... that put us in LA just in time for Friday afternoon rush hour! Bastards! But that's ok, we soon got bumped from THAT flight and moved to one that didn't arrive until around 9:00 - 10:00 at night!!! Not only did Lynn miss an extra day of work because of it ... we had to take a cab from the airport to her mom's house since her mom has night blindness and can't drive at night. (DOUBLE bastards!)

I used to really enjoy miles, knew all the in's and out's, knew every option for accruing points, etc etc ... it was almost like a hobby working points to my advantage. Nowadays, I'd almost be better off printing them out and wiping my ass with 'em! I even have a Delta Skymiles PLATINUM American Express Card and this post is a reminder to call and cancel it. It's no longer worth the annual fee. The only advantage now is I can check a free piece of luggage if I book a Delta flight with it. Thanks Delta, really white of you! Did I already say they're bastards? I still have a regular American Express Gold Card that I get points on and that's what I'll use from here on out. At least with that, I have a choice of airlines, plus I was able to use the points I had on that last cruise we took. Wanna hear sumpin' silly though? I get tons of email and mailers for Delta Skymiles Cruises. I called to try using my points for a cruise and was told they only ISSUE Delta Skymiles for their cruises ... but they don't ACCEPT Skymiles for their cruises! Oh yeah ... they're BASTARDS BTW. I don't normally buy merchandise with points because it's an even crappier value. I'll just hang onto them in case I get lucky and find some obscure flight we can take with them like this upcoming LA flight ... even though it's a total waste of time studying all the schedules and working out a convenient flight because all they'll do is change it to THEIR advantage anydamnway. Bastards! ( )