@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.