Good Old Days

In 1999, I flew from Fort Lauderdale, FL, to Japan for$28.39 round-trip. Previously, a round-trip from Fort Lauderdaleto Turkey cost me $17 and change. On the Turkish flight, acomputer glitch wiped out my documentation shortly after I landedin Frankfurt, Germany. To compensate, Delta Air Lines upgradedme to BusinessElite class, featuring free champagne and choiceof filet mignon or salmon steak served on a cozy table set withsparkling crystal and the finest silver and china. Most of mycaviar lifestyle on a tuna budget has been based on United StatesSocial Security and Bahamas National Insurance payments, havingworked many years in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Whats the catch? Basically, it was playing the discount-fareand frequent-flier game to the Nth degree, N as in nothing, inmany cases. My best free junkets in senior-friendly skies camevia Delta Air Lines frequent flier mileage. My Delta SkyMileswere tallied by such senior-citizen bargains as a Fort Lauderdale-Hawaii round-trip ticket for as little as $440. That aloneadded some 10,000 FF miles to my account. Signing for a Delta SkyMiles credit card netted 10,000 miles;a switch to MCI telephone service scored another 5,000 or so. An MCI WorldCom/SkyMiles long-distance card is good for five10 HAROLD FLAGGmiles per dollar spent. There is at least one case where a motormouthliterally talked his way into a free trip!Investors can rack up major mileage via Delta