We gave up on using our miles years ago. We have the CapOne Venture card and get double "miles" for every purchase, which we use to erase travel purchases. Since our timeshare maintenance fees are charged to that card, we're able to erase them, and other hotel stays, etc. Much better than airline miles.

Years ago we did get a couple of trips to the island using miles, the last one was actually first class. That's when my husband was traveling a lot for work and racked up a ton of miles. We knew that was ending soon, so decided to use up all the miles while we could. I do check each time we fly to see if we can use the miles in some way, but it never works for us.

You can always buy magazine subscriptions with them. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />