January 1, 2009, marks the day where the sky's the limit for more than 61% of American adults who want to cash-in on their piece of the pie and experience a little economic relief of their own, thanks to a marketing ploy that went into action more than a quarter of a century ago.
 
Since 1981, the airline industry has been rewarding it's loyal customers with presumably an endless supply of frequent flyer miles, to the extent where the reward programs, in some cases, are actually worth more than the airlines themselves. (according to the Travel Editor of MSNBC's TODAY Show - Peter Greenberg).
 
With more than 17 Trillion unredeemed frequent flyer miles in existence today, worth a reported $500 Billion, consumers have at their disposal the means to create a whole new global economy, thanks to an innovative site called Mile High Swap (milehighswap.com). The premise of the site envelopes many of the most successful attributes of some of the online market's most established sites. It provides an open consumer-to-consumer marketplace like that of an eBay, the match-making element of an eHarmony or Match.com, with the offline communication and open negotiation between individuals that you would come to experience on a site like Craigslist. Only in this case, instead of cash, the currency - is strictly miles.
 
On MileHighSwap.com, consumers (not retailers), can post items or services that they would be willing to swap for miles or straight-up tickets. They can also post miles that they are interested in swapping for miles on virtually ANY other airline.
 
According to one of Mile High's founders, KW Jacobson, "when we read an article in The Economist Magazine that stated that frequent flyer miles were "the second largest currency next to the dollar", we knew that there was the potential to create a vehicle that would offer people a real alternative. We could truly provide them the means to acquire the things that they want and need during these difficult economic times without having to go further in debt, by simply “spending” their miles."

Membership, as well as posting the items, services or miles that you would like to swap on MileHighSwap.com is free. However, if you find something you like and you have the miles to spend, it’s going to cost you $0.99 to contact another member to initiate a swap. A small price to pay, especially if your miles have nothing better to do than just sit there and expire.

“We know that people out there have things in their homes or in their possession that they believe would be of value to someone else, it’s simply a matter of finding a match.” says Jacobson. “It’s a model that has already proven itself over time and a concept that people are more than familiar with. Whether it’s a set of golf clubs, a cabin on the lake that they would be willing to swap, an antique lamp, collectable doll an iPod or maybe even some questionable gifts that they got over the holidays. The bottom line is, with 17 trillion miles to spend, the sky really is the limit.”

The founders of MileHighSwap.com feel that the beta launch of the site will give them a true sense as to the potential impact that their model will have on the economy. “The fact is, the worse the economy gets the stronger our model becomes. When you step back and look at it, it’s actually recession proof.” says Jacobson. “It’s time that we offer people real options. Right now if someone doesn’t have enough miles for a free ticket, it seems like the most that they can hope for is to spend 8,000 miles for a magazine subscription or 20,000 miles on a toaster.”

Today, with the emergence of MileHighSwap.com, it appears that the airlines are not the only ones who have been busy changing the rules.