I had to laugh at this article.  Men may be from Mars but they have very definite attitudes on how to use – or should I say NOT use airline miles.  According to the article (written by a man), men don’t like to spend their miles, they value the status more than the redeemable miles and they take big pride in having a huge number of miles in their accounts.

Women, on the other hand, adopt a smarter, more pragmatic approach, which usually involves setting a mileage goal for a future free trip, and cashing in the instant it’s reached. These behaviors, he told me, are so entrenched that the airlines’ programs all but rely on them for viability: were men to adopt the same tactic and flood the system with those gigantic unspent balances, many programs would implode.

Well that’s me in a nutshell.  I do save for specific goals, I track my progress on a spreadsheet and once I get enough miles (and enough cash for non-miles/points expenses) I cash them in and start all over again!

You can’t take them with you, they depreciate over time so use your miles wisely and enjoy your travels!

See full article on Conde Nast Traveler.