What I’ve learned in convincing people into air miles.

At some point during your time exploring the air miles hobby you will no doubt encounter some people who think you are crazy for what you do. It's strange to think how 5 years ago, I was getting ridiculed for playing air miles as aggressively as I did, and now the same people who dished out the dirt are back asking how it's done.

British Airways Club World. From ba.com
British Airways Club World. From ba.com

Over time I've learnt that getting people on your side requires a couple of quick wins to spark their interest. Fast redemptions of air miles after little effort . To truly maximise your chances with air miles, you need every family member to put their earnings on credit cards and help keep the air miles rolling in.

One quick way is to sign up for a credit card which offers a decent sized bonus and blow them on a trip somewhere. It doesn't have to be business class or a fancy cabin – economy will do. A likelihood is if they're infrequent flyers then maybe free food and drinks in the lounge would probably already have them overexcited. Maybe you will need to throw in a free hotel room somewhere to add to the fun.

After that you can bring it up a couple of levels and start staying in hotel suites and fly around in business class. If they are still not convinced or seem apathetic after this, then you should stop!

There will come a time when you know you have captivated them. They will do things like:

  • Drive the extra 10 mins to refuel somewhere which gives more air miles
  • Ask you every time how many air miles they will get from a flight
  • Be more tolerant of connecting flights
  • Start to search airlines in a particular alliance by default.

If they do reach this level, then congratulations! They will probably be self-sufficient from here, like graduating from a high school. It's time to move on to brainwashing the next person 🙂

What has your experience of trying to get friends involved in air miles?

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