My buddy Joe was in Finland last week. Before that he was in Boston. Next week it will be Washington D.C. Yep, Joe travels a lot. So when he finally gets around to taking a family vacation he’ll have tons of airline miles saved up and will go anywhere he wants for free, right?
No so fast.
With fewer flights available now Joe has to take what he can get. Sometimes it’s U.S. Air, other times it’s United. Maybe Quantas. Who knows, perhaps even Singapore Air. Isn’t this (one of) the bane(s) of the modern business traveler? There should be a way to aggregate all of those miles so he can use them with the airline of his choice.
You know what we need? A frequent flyer mile collaborative. “Sell” your miles to a brokerage that pays you a cut rate, but allows you to redeem all of your various airline miles for the one voucher you really need. Getting the airlines on board might be a challenge (don’t they just love that ‘non-transferrable’ clause?) but wouldn’t it be great if it could happen?
I’ll be the first to sign up. They also should access AMEX points. That would be a dream!