I never killed a man… not for miles anyways.
Ok really, people do some crazy things for miles. And I’d love to share a few off of my “crazy things done for miles” list. But there are things I won’t do. Like arsen.
No, really this time. I mean things that are typically done in this game that I draw the line at, or am just too lazy to do. Rather, I don’t find worth it. Here are 8 examples.
1) Surveys on emiles
Have never done that crap.
Who the heck is still taking those surveys? It’s a menial amount of miles for a lot of time. And it’s not scalable so you get those miles, then you’re done for awhile. (Until they post the next set of surveys.)
Although I do get that if your miles are about to expire you need to have activity and they’ll work for that.
2) Buy and Return things
I won’t pass judgement here, as I have friends who have done this, but it’s out of bounds for me. Buying and selling because of miles bonus, sure whatever. Buying and returning to the same place is not something I’m interested in. Plus, I would be too paranoid to get stuck with a diamond studded watch I never really wanted in the first place.
3) I’ve Never Hired Thai Farmers
I’ve never hired Thai Farmers to fly back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, between cities in northern Thailand for weeks. But once upon a time, Steve Belkin hired a few Thai Farmers to fly between 3 cities in order to complete a promotion. The goal was to get enough segments and he found $8 flights. Huge bonus, low cost… So why not hire Thai Farmers to do it?
This isn’t really something I wouldn’t do. But man, this guy is a doer. How did he pull that together? Love it, but I would have passed.
4) I don’t load foreign poker sites.
I never looked into it much but there apparently are people who find foreign poker sites that allow you to load your account with a credit card. Apparently these guys are loading tens of thousands of dollars at a time.
Then they sit at a poker table, make small bets, and withdraw all their money.
I can see the appeal, as it’s apparently scalable… but… no way.
5) Make fake IDs.
I know a guy (probably tons of people) who made a fake ID for IBM or something, to show to his favorite hotel.
See there are these corporate rate codes (search: “corporate rate codes + [favorite hotel chain] site:flyertalk.com”), a deal made by major hotel chains and major companies, so the company employees get a discount on hotels. This is a win for the hotels, as they hopefully get the business of a major work force, and it’s a win for the company who is paying for their employee’s travel.
However, these rate codes used by employees have gone public.
I have used one corporate rate code, ever. And I kinda felt dirty about it. But it’s common practice in the frequent flyer community.
However, some have gone above and beyond the call of frugal and have made fake IDs incase the front desk agents ask for it.
In fact, with one of the car rental companies, there is a HUGE discount code for Florida state employees. Just checking the price online, it dropped my oneway car rental from $140 to $15. I’ve never seen anything like it. But apparently those who try to use it get rejected without an ID.
So if you’re crazy about chasing deals, you should either get a part time job in Florida or copy someones ID who already works there.
6) I don’t buy gold coins…
But I know people who do. People who follow coin trading and what not can spot a coin deal. Apparently pretty easy on ebay. One guy I met buys on ebay and sells at local shops and consistntely makes a profit. Good for him… But I’m not about to learn coin trading.
7) Complain for reward.
Don’t even get me started. For me, this is the epitome of justifying being a douche. People find faults with their hotel and write nasty letters just for miles… or justice? or some crap like that.
I hate this so much that I resent businesses for so easily accommodating the biggest complainers. What a positive reward for such negative character.
And the worst part is, that behind every complaint is a person at fault. Do you want to get someone fired? “No, no, it’s management’s fault!” Do you honestly think management will think it’s their fault? Have you never had a boss? Two words: kick dog.
Bonus: *8) Things that are small, a hassle and not scalable
When I hear that I can get 8,000 miles for setting up a doctors appointment and getting probed or whatever… Meh, I’ll pass.
Ironically, if I could do it as many times as I wanted. I’d be all over that. Everyday at noon would be my doctor’s appointment. Because for some reason 8,000 miles isn’t worth the uncomfort but 3,000,000 miles is worth a lifestyle change. Of course, I’ve never done this…
Instead, I’m saying I don’t chase small bonuses.
I wouldn’t open a checking account for 20,000 miles. There are already so many freaking accounts to keep track of and so much money tied up, I don’t need more for 20,000 miles.
Would you?
Many things I don’t do because, meh, ain’t nobody got time fo’ that. Other things just cross the line for me.
Which of these things would you do given the opportunity?
For convenience sake I would never do: #1, #6, & #8.
For personal reasons I would never do: #2, #4, #5, #7.
Now the Thai farmers thing was interesting, because apparently these farmers were disabled and basically out of work. Or something like that.
And the poker thing just sounds like legal trouble.
Anyways, what would do? Or rather, what would you not do? And what other common things would you not do that I missed?
No need to make *fake* IDs there are companies with great rates where you can become an official affiliate online for free.
And Steve didn’t just hire disabled Thais and rice farmers, he hired New Zealand college students too back when Air Canada Super Elites got any seat on any flight with points (no capacity controls on Air Canada metal for their 100k flyers)…
Like I said, that guy makes things happen. And he must have a way with terms and conditions if the airlines let this happen.
Drew more details on Gary’s first sentence seems like a great topic for your next newsletter.
2nd this..
will, andy…
if you haven’t figured it out, go read a blog more your speed. i recommend a site with arrows and boxes.
drew – respectfully, don’t. gary said more in his first sentence than is necessary for anyone who knows how to type the word bing.
I heard Steve Belkin’s stories at the last Chicago Seminars. Hilarious to hear, but he wound up needing to make several trips to Thailand himself and getting asked a lot of uncomfortable questions by lots of people I wouldn’t particular like to get asked uncomfortable questions by.
I’m pretty much with you on your list. To me a way of getting miles and points either needs to be fun or it needs to be genuinely lucrative for the time invested. It also needs to be not obviously unethical (borderline maybe…)
Funny.
Yea, I wish I sat in on his class. Don’t know what I was doing last time… talking or something. But I’m sure that guy has stories upon stories… if even from that one stint.
I don’t buy and resell products, that isn’t manufactured spending. That’s called arbitrage and the amount of time people spend for the benefit is truly the worst waste of time I’ve ever seen.
If it had a higher reward… I would under stand it a little more. Maybe I’m lazy, but that’s never appealed to me.
For me, pure laziness is a prime reason why I no longer participate in many miles/point earning activities.
That said, I still do e-miles. E-miles surveys require at most, no more than 3 clicks and less than 2 minutes. At 5 miles a survey, they do add up and are quite useful in keeping orphan accounts alive.
OTOH, e-rewards requires an absurd amount of time, both for the crazy long prequalifying screen & if approved, the survey itself. IMO, the surveys are mind numbing, and the “rewards” are not commensurate with the required effort .
Orphan accounts might be a good reason to do emiles. But I couldn’t do it otherwise. Maybe when my first account goes dud, I’ll see the light.
funny post Drew, had me humming “meatloaf,” (I would do anything for miles, but I won’t do that….)
Confess though I did do a lot of both e-miles and e-rewards — helped me get the extra 6k points for the Southwest companion. (silly, yes) But uggggh, the e-surveys are abominable…. and nothing WORSE than enduring five minutes of an intrusive, poorly designed surveys, only to get booted out for being told you aren’t the right fit. hate that. Won’t do that, ever again.
I don’t understand “Complain for reward.” Why is this something you wouldn’t do for miles?
I had a stay in Paris and the hotel air conditioning was broken. I couldn’t sleep in the room because it was uncomfortably hot and complained to the front desk many times during my stay. I wrote to management and they offered half my points back.
AC sounds like a serious issue. The problem is some people use it as a strategy. And also, complaining as a habit seems… like a bad habit.
So I’m not saying it’s evil. I’m saying 1) it’s not a strategy and 2) it isn’t good habit, so avoid it as much as you can.
It’s a problem when people invent things to complain about. I know someone who complains at every hotel about something to get discounts / points / whatever even though 95% of the time, there are no actual problems. IMO, she’s a terrible person.
Great post btw. I’m with you on all of these things. Many of them are tempting, but I choose not to partake when considering my time and the risk involved. There are plenty of other points to be had
With today’s ease of earning millions of miles/points with minimal effort, life’s too short to scam.
Scalability is the key. I earned 1.1 million Avios two years ago when a UK bank was offering 25 per £1 for foreign spend for 3 months (long story how I put the money through).
Before that, I was picking up six-figure Avios sums annually when the UK tax people started taking credit cards and were charging unrealistically low card fees. It wasn’t easy to juggle the credit limits to pay the sum required but I managed it.
Very little point doing lots of tiny things when you can do the odd big thing very seriously every couple of years.
If I have nothing better to do, I will do surveys. Usually while I am getting paid to do something else (my library job works great for this). E-miles is only a couple clicks, I wait and only do it once a month or so. Good for 2-3k miles per year, I’ll take it. E-rewards I have had a lot of success with and earn a couple k per year. United Opinion miles is generally a complete waste of time since it usually asks you a bunch of questions and then tells you that you don’t qualify. Solves insomnia pretty quickly though.
If I could actually get a decent job then it wouldn’t matter, but since I can’t seem to, I’ll take what I can get…for free!