Mileage Maniac: My Genius, Madness And A Touch Of Evil To Amass 40 Million Frequent Flyer Miles

by Steve Belkin

Steve Belkin is the 'Catch Me If You Can' of the frequent flyer mileage world. He spearheaded the murky netherworld of the airline mileage underground. You be the judge of whether Belkin's sometimes daring, sometimes dubious, but always madcap, multi-million mileage earning was the stuff worthy of admiration or derision. Belkin's attempts to stay under the radar were impossible with his over-the-top mileage earning plots; he couldn't escape the crosshairs of the airline fraud and security departments, the federal district court of Massachusetts, the Drug Enforcement Agency in Thailand, or the fearsome 'chocolate police' from Swiss Air. Even Belkin wasn't always sure whether each mileage project was entrepreneurial escapade or greedy exploit or dark scheme!Once Belkin discovered creative and convoluted ways to earn international Business Class award tickets for pennies (even tenths-of a penny!) on the dollar, it became increasingly hard from him to determine when enough was enough. Was his relentless pursuit of the Almighty Mile steeped in opportunity or obsessiveness?Belkin mastered the art of mileage laundering and scaling. He found otherwise arcane promotions and products like luggage tags, magazine subscriptions and hair transplant consultations which seemingly only yielded a few hundred miles. Yet, he bought thousands of these superfluous items to transform them into a multi-million mile earning extravaganzas.Airline mileage earning is an unwitting hobby for the millions of people who step on a plane or whip out their credit card. But, its a hobby fraught with frustration and resentment. The vast majority of people are thwarted in their attempts to redeem their miles at all, and those who do redeem, often are forced to do so at the extortionate peak rates. Mileage Maniac isn't a how-to book to make the mileage game easier for the reader. Rather, it's a chance for the reader to revel in the fact that somebody finally, namely Steve Belkin, actually beat the airlines (and beat 'em good!) at their own game.Mileage godfather Randy Petersen (FlyerTalk) and current mileage maestro Brian Kelly (The Points Guy) both concur that Belkin was one of the precursors of travel hacking.

209 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2021

Reviews

[CatReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steve Belkin is a self-proclaimed airline mileage maniac, racking up millions of frequent flyer miles on various national and international airlines to earn the big kahunas of top tier loyalty status and nearly free international business class travel and hotel stays. In his 2021 memoir, he recounts decades of finding (either by himself or with the Flyer Talk message board cohort) technically legal loopholes in mileage promotions and taking them to extremes to accrue massive amounts of miles. For instance, in the 1980s when Belkin was learning the mileage game and TSA measures were much laxer, he paid for dozens of friends to fly home for Thanksgiving flying under tickets with his name and loyalty number; in the 2000s he paid for hundreds of flights for rural Thai workers to commute pointless around Thailand for a similar mileage deal he would benefit from.

I must admit that my mind works in very similar ways to Belkin, though frequent flyer miles aren't my currency of choice, and I found many of his schemes a bit too risky and far-reaching for my more cautious financial sensibilities. I'm not sure that such airline promotions exist today, but many with similar inclinations play the credit card points redemption game for steeply discounted luxury travel. But, good for him for using his cunning and strategy, and for writing an entertaining book about his exploits.

My statistics:
Book 339 for 2025
Book 2265 cumulatively

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting. Can hear this Belkin's voice. The perfect "beautiful mind" meets Money Ball all for no other reason except "it's there" or "I can; so whynot?" Impressed, especially in this day and age looking back, it's great to hear stories of hustling (legally) the 800 pound gorilla that is the airline industry.

Reads like Steve is sitting on your couch retelling his adventures.

We all want to and need to hear a "Steve story" today. If only we could get the author to figure out how to do "it" with politics and all our world leaders to make the world a better place. He certainly has proven he has the stamina and, an odd ability to see beyond, or around, what the tangible world puts right in front of you to lull one into complacency, conformity and often boredom. Steve rings the wake up bell.

Curious to see what is next for this explorer of the unseen and/or hidden in the ubiquitous surronds us in daily life, as Belkin said in the book, "hiding in plain site."

[TJ Rosenbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mileage Scaling Opportunities Abound

Spoliler Alert!:You will find a story here of a guy who used some simp!e math to find ways to make the most of United Airlines miles and how he optimized frequent flyer miles. Programs that have sponsors in the past who didn't vet the offers as well as they should. You will find out about mileage malls and how a person can use them to get mIles. Ultimately I found the story informative and interesting. I may never have a million miles, but it was cool to catch a glimpse at an average person who was willing to risk everything for some airline miles!