The mania began in 1981, when American Airlines launched AAdvantage, the world's first mileage-based frequent-flyer programme, to encourage customer loy-alty. Today more than 130 airlines issue miles, and ac-cording to Randy Petersen, the founder of Inside Flyer magazine, 163m people around the globe collect miles of some sort. Indeed, calculations by The Economist in January 2005 suggested that the total stock of unredeemed miles was worth more than all the dollar bills in circulation. The record for the biggest individual account is 25m miles (enough to fly from London to Sydney and back 250 times), reputedly belonging to a publishing executive who charged his firm's postage bill to his own credit card.
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