Tip 79: Numbers, Please Sunday, January 17, 1999; Page E03

The problem: You're at the airport, hotel or car rental place and you are suddenly asked for one of your many frequent flier/frequent guest/frequent buyer cards. You fumble through your purse, pockets or wallet, swearing quietly, while those in line behind you grumble. Your Blockbuster Video, dental coverage and Hecht's charge cards clatter to the floor. Behind you, the line begins to smoke.

Solution 1: Ellen Phillips of Ashburn, Va., keeps all of her frequent-flier cards stashed in the built-in nametag holder on her roll-on bag. "That way I always have the membership numbers with me, right where I need them," she says. "And my wallet doesn't look like George Costanza's!"

Solution 2: Nolan Danchik of Kensington says he and his wife have "written all of our frequent-flier numbers on the back of a business card which we carry in our wallets," effectively putting all numbers in one easy-to-remember place. "We mark big Xs on the front of the frequent-flier card," he adds, "so we don't hand it out by mistake."

Two useful solutions to that unsightly problem of frequent-flier wallet bulge -- and two Washington Post T-shirts, one to each of our tipsters, as our tokens of gratitude for sharing them. Want to win a T-shirt of your own? Read the fine print below. But don't stuff it in your wallet.

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