Ingredients of Frequent-Flier Travel

I enjoyed Lori Mayfield’s account of buying under duress 16,000 American Airlines miles (and 160 boxes of cereal) for $640 (“A Passage to India Paved With Bran Flakes and Mueslix,” Traveler’s Journal, March 31).

Though I have not been in her position, I’m an obsessive miles hoarder. Through various promotional and customer loyalty-building programs, companies offer countless ways to earn frequent-flier miles. Spend a buck and get back 2 cents’, 10 cents’, even a dollar’s worth of miles.

* Use a credit card, get back 2 cents per dollar.

* Rent a car, get 3 cents.

* Stay in a hotel, get 10 cents.

* Eat at certain restaurants, get 20 cents--22 if you use a mileage-accruing credit card.

* Buy Kellogg’s cereal, get 50 cents per dollar. Or wait until Kellogg’s is on sale at $3, use a $1 coupon and pay $2 a box.

DAVID HORNE

Los Angeles