[quote=edna_mode]@earlyretirement: is there someway to name your frequent flyer account as an asset to pass on to your descendants? I know British Airways allows householding of flyer accounts, but it would sure suck to die with X00,000 miles and not be able to pass that on.
With that in mind, realize that miles are another type of floating currency WHICH IS NOT PEGGED TO THE DOLLAR (unlike credit card “points” or Southwest’s “points” program). The accessibility of the miles to the flight you want, when you want it, is not guaranteed. British Airways is doing this right now with their program (go see thepointsguy.com if you want all the gory details)
So: earn miles and burn em as fast as you can, is my philosophy. Thus you must have vacation time, be able to plan far in advance to use the miles…or be comfortable burning the miles for non-flight stuff.[/quote]
Hi Edna,
To be honest, I’m not sure if American Airlines allows you to pass on miles to your heirs. I know some airlines do and some don’t. I just read an article on this subject not long ago here:
I think a good strategy is to just make sure your family has your username/frequent flyer # and password to your account. I typically book my awards online for my family members typically bypassing any agents on the phone unless the itinerary is complicated. And then they email tickets so it would be a good idea to leave your password to your email account too.
I agree with your strategy to burn miles as many miles as you can. I try to burn through as many miles as I can and it’s not difficult when you are traveling with a family of 4 or using them to upgrade. Still I have over a million miles sitting in my account that I’ll use for future flights. I’ve not had problems using them planning far enough ahead of time.
Also, I didn’t in any way want to try to say this was the best ROI. Not by a long shot. Only for those that have cash sitting around that don’t want to enter the stock market, don’t want to put them in riskier type investments or major purchase like real estate.
For those that have cash sitting around that they don’t want to roll over into another low paying CD, I’ve found it great and manage to get a great ROI with how I use them.