Mileage Run Archives - Tagging Miles

Intro: Visiting the Christkindlemarkets of Mainz

January 3, 2016 By Trevor 6 Comments

I wrote in the early life of this blog, about Maslows Hierarchy of needs with respect to miles and points. In that post, I said the higher level was when you could share the best of “The Hobby” with family and friends.

This quick trip to Germany wasn’t the first such trip (the first was a round the world to China), but it was the first chance for me to bring both my brother –who had been to a Christmas market in Switzerland– and my father –his first time– to Mainz, purely to enjoy some gluhwein, chat, and bond.

Of course getting there is always the hardest part. I was able to fly us all on American Airlines 777-300ER in business, of course we had to connect in Dallas, and London, which made for a longer travel time than I would have preferred – map below:

Christmas Markets 2015

I figure that everyone’s seen so much domestic American Airlines First Class, and a ton of American Airlines Business Class on the 777-300ER, so I thought I’d share a brief review in photos below:

We visited the British Airways Business Class Lounge in Heathrow, here are a few photos of that:

I decided I needed to skip any photos of flying British Airways London Heathrow to Frankfurt, for a very selfish reason, my own good..

BAFlights

After an epic trip, we finally made it to the Hyatt Regency Mainz – that’s a post from last year, but I’ll be sure to update with this year, because my stay was amazing. To summarize, we stayed on the top floor of one of my favorite Hyatt Regencies in the world, and while it was unfortunate that my brother had to stay in Europe for work, my father and I flew Lufthansa First Class home, and even had some time to sample the First Class Terminal and First Class Lounge.

Making it all happen.

Getting 3 award seats on American is seldom easy. So, I went looking for the best bookable experience. BA was out, I didn’t want anyone to pay steep fuel surcharges. I wanted to avoid JFK if I could, since this was a quick trip. Ultimately I settled on DFW, which made for a long travel day with connections on both ends, but also offered a long enough flight from DFW to LHR for the 3 of us to get some good sleep. In total, the flight out cost a whole 150,000 miles (and an amount of greenbacks I won’t state since this was flying family that read my blog) for the three of us. In my opinion, that was quite the deal.

The hotel, I think I paid 6,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points per night for two rooms (so 24,000 points total). They folks at the Hyatt Mainz were kind enough to provide lounge access, and even put my brother in my former room for a night, after my father and I checked out (for better or worse, I made my father and brother share a room for two nights, and took the king room for myself).

Flying home for my father and I cost 110,000 United Miles per person, which was well worth it for Lufthansa First Class.

More to Come

I’ll cover the Christkindlemarkets in a further post, as well as the Lufthansa First Class Terminal and Lounge, and finally, Flying Lufthansa First Class. So stick around, won’t you?

Food for Thought: 2016 Airline Loyalty

December 23, 2015 By Trevor 4 Comments

Matt has an excellent post, Rethinking Loyalty, that, has been at the tip of my brain for a number of reasons, not the least of which being American Airlines’s AAdvantage devaluation.

Background

I’ve been an American Airlines’ AAdvantage Executive Platinum for years. I first status matched from United 1K, back when United introduced the Premier Qualifying Dollars (PQD) requirement, and I had just changed jobs, where flying United wasn’t as feasible. Since then, I’ve requalified via Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs), and the following year, requalified via Elite Qualifying Points, I also shared a status update on that strategy, and I can tell you that I succeeded in July.

More and more I’m questioning whether I should requalify for AAdvantage Executive Platinum. I’ve got 1 trip booked that will give me 20k Elite Qualifying Miles under the new program, I’m trying to figure out what the opportunity cost is of getting the remaining 80k vs. just chasing whatever the best fare is, irrespective of airline. Up until now, my strategy was to attain AAdvantege Executive Platinum Status no later than the end of April, to ensure that I earn the most Redeemable Miles (RDMs) possible, before AAdvantage goes to revenue based earning, which would likely lead to fewer miles earned for me, despite the fact that I usually buy business class tickets (but cheap ones).

I was so close to pulling the trigger on this strategy, that over the weekend, I had found flights, that were crazy. Absolutely crazy. I was going to fly to Europe, so I could turn around and fly to South America, via the US, spend a weekend in Rio, fly to Sao Paulo (separate award), fly revenue to the US, then 2 months later, fly back to Sao Paulo, from there, fly to Europe via the US with a stop-over in the US for a couple weeks, then when I finally do get to Europe, I’d found another itinerary that would take us from Europe to Honolulu, via the continental US (I tried to go via Asia but it was much more), and back. Here’s an idea of what that would look like:

Courtesy of GCMap.com

All told, that would generate in total, 100k EQMs, under American Airlines’ new program. Depending on my timing, I’d probably get a bit more than the standard RDMs, probably somewhere in the range of 200-350k, to be, well, not terribly exact.

Looking at the Opportunity Cost

If I pursued the above routing, it would take, nearly a week’s worth of leave, which I would say is my most precious commodity. The cost, even with all my travel hacking, would be $763 (for my existing Brazil-US fare)–lets consider this sunk cost, since it was paid before the devaluation was announced–plus probably $3-5k for the other fares, plus miles for repositioning to Europe (although that’s a push, since I need to use the miles to reposition to Brazil). The value of requalifying early means that I avoid any revenue earning, as I would have my status locked in by April.

Looking at the Alternatives and Associated Costs

So, looking at the alternatives, its kind’ve a hard decision:

I keep an eye out for great mistake fares, or otherwise good deal premium fares that would get me to 100k EQMs before the end of the year.
- Risk: I may not earn as many RDMs if I don’t reach 100k EQMs before AAdvantage goes revenue earning sometime around mid-year. I get greatest value as an Executive Platinum from the dedicated phone number and lack of any fees for making awards, so not getting as many RDMs is a huge hit.
- Reward: I don’t waste leave / vacation time solely in pursuit of status.
I consider giving AAdvantage Executive Platinum up, and chase the fares or destinations that most entice me, regardless of carrier.
- Risk: My redeemable miles will be more diversified across multiple programs that may make it more difficult to redeem for premium air travel.
- Risk: By going elite status agnostic, I’ll likely pay booking fees or cancellation/redeposit fees.
- Reward: Potential for lower overall outlay for air travel for the year (but doubtful)
- Reward: Diversified mileage balances, if in sufficient numbers, can insult me from future devaluations.

Food for Thought: 2016 Airline Loyalty

I’m not sure I’m ready to make a decision on the path forward. I think I’ve begun the process by identifying the risks and rewards of various courses of action. It’s perhaps not as in depth as I would like, but, I still have some time.

Circling Back

Of course you’re likely wondering why I’m linking to Matt’s post (if you took the time to read it, which I hope you will). Well, for starters, I think he raises a great point on the hamster wheel that is the pursuit of published status. The second part of Matt’s thesis, that is, finding ways to leverage the unwritten benefits, is something that I need to work on, and may eventually write a post on. Of course, I am starting to think that it is an annual thing for me to question the value of elite status, which I think is an important question to ask each year. It’s just, this year, the question isn’t nearly as clean cut–at least for me–as it was last year.

But for now, I ask the question:

Given the various options, what do you think is the best course of action?

Review: American Airlines First Class –Santiago to DFW – 777-200

December 16, 2015 By Trevor Leave a Comment

Introduction: Vacation Run to Santiago, Chile
Review: American Airlines First Class – DFW to Santiago – 777-200
Review: Grand Hyatt Santiago – Executive Suite with Terrace – the Shakespeare Suite
Trying some Chilean Staples
Review: American Airlines First Class – Santiago to DFW – 777-200
Conclusion: Vacation Run to Santiago, Chile

I’ll keep this one shorter, still share seat photos, meal review, but the rest of the amenities, you can see in the earlier post

Once onboard, we were informed that the flight to Santiago would be just shy of 9 hours. In my opinion, that’s barely enough time to have dinner and a movie, and get a full nights rest.

The Seat

What can one say about the 777-200’s Flagship First Class seat? Well, it’s an older product, but it is a lay flat, that offers enough room to spread out. The seat is more than sufficient for an 8-10 hour flight, and in fact, we flew this same seat to Seoul last year , as well as days before.

The Food

The food was an interesting change for me. It was the first time I’ve seen Chateaubriand on the menu on an aircraft. Of course I couldn’t turn that one down. It turned out to be sliced pieces, unfortunately slightly over-cooked (at least to my tastes). Nonetheless, it was quite good. But before we get there, here were the opening courses.

The Chateaubriand

The rest of the meal was as you may expect. For me, ice cream with butterscotch.

I made a point to skip the breakfast.

The Arrival Experience

Many onboard were rather focused on getting through customs quickly. My wife and I are kind’ve experienced in that as well, and were the first ones to Global Entry (and we didn’t even run!). As has been the case in previous visits to DFW, we got to the first Terminal D Security to find that TSA PreCheck wasn’t available. Of course we opted instead to walk to the Terminal D, D30 TSA checkpoint, since TSA PreCheck was in fact open (and in case you are curious, it opens from 3:30am to 9pm Central time).

Overall, we were less than 15 minutes from the door of our 777-200 to Airside once again.

Wrapping Up

To sum it up, this flight was pretty good. We mostly slept, but that Chateaubriand was pretty awesome.

Review: American Airlines Admiral’s Club, Santiago (SCL)

December 15, 2015 By Trevor Leave a Comment

Introduction: Vacation Run to Santiago, Chile
Review: American Airlines First Class – DFW to Santiago – 777-200
Review: Grand Hyatt Santiago – Executive Suite with Terrace – the Shakespeare Suite
Trying some Chilean Staples
Review: American Airlines Admiral’s Club, Santiago (SCL)
Review: American Airlines First Class – Santiago to DFW – 777-200
Conclusion: Vacation Run to Santiago, Chile

We opted to get to the airport roughly 2 hours before the flight. It seemed like a happy compromise, to leave a little extra time, in the event of traffic, or long lines at immigration or security.

International Terminal at SCL.

Ultimately, we didn’t really need the time, but it did allow us to have a pretty relaxed experience. I thought security was particularly interesting, because they were testing a couple dozen new security scanners. So we have ~20 folks watching on, 2 people (1 instructor, 1 student) at the x-ray machine, calling out each notable item in the suitcases, and another pair outside the metal detector conducting secondary. Now, every few passengers, they would switch the students out, which took a bit more time.

More interesting to me, was that my wife and I seem to be so well trained by the TSA, that we removed the metal items from our pockets, and walked through, to the surprise of both instructor and student, with no beeps or anything from the metal detector. This was after 3 people in front of us required additional screening.

Once we made it airside, we browsed through some of the duty free shops, and eventually made it to the lounge.

A rather apt sign for the Patagonia Cafe.

Note the no Priority Pass sign?

The Admiral’s Club had it’s own unique flavor to it, which was cool.

There were plenty of beverage options, and an area with some food selections. We were on the last American Airlines’ flight out, and had come in after the Miami bound flight started boarding, so the food was pretty well picked over. But, there was wifi, a level of privacy, and as I mentioned, a good drink selection, which was all we really needed for the half hour or so that we were there.

Really the last Pisco Sour before boarding.

It is important to note that there were also showers available.

Overall, the lounge was pretty lack luster, but, its a lounge. Probably not the best, certainly not the worst, other than a really, really slow elevator.

Introduction: Vacation Run to Santiago, Chile

December 3, 2015 By Trevor Leave a Comment

We planned this trip about a month ago (perhaps even less), when we realized that my wife wouldn’t re-qualify for American Airlines Executive Platinum (EXP) status on work travel alone. It wasn’t a question of not planning, it was more a change of requirements.

Perhaps irrationally, I chase status—of course, with American AAdvantage’s changes, that may change at some point, but, I already have trips planned in early 2016. My wife, on the other hand, has leveraged her status in different ways, and it has made her work travel more comfortable. When she asked me to find a way for her to re-qualify, without it costing an arm and a leg, I gladly obliged.

The result, was burning some vouchers I had laying around, and then correlating her flight, with a mileage award for myself – since I didn’t have enough vouchers to cover both of us. She’ll re-qualify via Elite Qualifying Points, much the same as my strategy, which wasn’t the original plan, but, with American’s current promotion for 2x EQPs for discounted business class, the math worked out.

So that’s all the backstory, where’d we go, what’d we do, and how’d we get there?

SCL

We did a quick weekend trip to Santiago, Chile, flying American Airlines’ First Class. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Santiago, and generally laid low, but had the added bonus of happening to run into some friends.

Arriving in Cairo and Keeping an Open Mind

February 20, 2015 By Trevor Leave a Comment

This is a continuation of the “vacation run” – a 50/50 mileage run / vacation my wife and I took to Cairo in January, 2015. Previous posts include: Etihad flight from Washington to Abu Dhabi, and Etihad lounge hopping and Abu Dhabi to Cairo.

Our Etihad A320 as viewed from the bus at the remote gate.

We arrived in Cairo to a remote gate. I’m not sure that there are any non-remote gates, but nonetheless I was impressed with how fast we proceeded. The first bus was just business class and I was especially thankful of Nasra, our flight attendant because I had stupidly forgotten my personal bag as I carried both my wife and my rollerboards down the stairs – the bus was in motion as soon as Nasra handed me my bag.

We entered the terminal and bought our visas. We had hoped to get multiple entry but the “banks” present would only sell us a single entry. This was contrary to my research but at 4am, I didn’t feel I could argue too much.

From there things devolved. We were supposed to have a “meet and greet” service from the Marriott meet us and escort us through customs and immigration. We saw no one so we made our way through immigration and customs. No big deal.

Once out of customs I was struck by the lack of anyone waiting for us. Clearly the Marriott had dropped the ball. I started asking official looking folks. One gentleman, Rashed offered to help and to further bolster his legitimacy, escorted us over to the tourism police.

From there he called the hotel. Pro tip: always have your itinerary and hotel contact info printed out He handed me his phone, which I took, skeptical that it was the Marriott, but I spoke to them, when the person I was speaking to put me on hold, I was put a bit at ease. It was a Marriott sounding “on hold” music and statement, right down to their latest catchphrase: “travel brilliantly.” At this point I figured that they’d have to really want to deceive me to go to that level and I’m a nobody, so I took him as being honestly helpful.
While we waited for the car from the Marriott, Rashed recommended that we take a seat in the aptly named Aero Cafe, where we shared the area with a rather exhausted person.

Exhausted at the Aero Cafe of Cairo Airport

A few moments later, Rashed came over and escorted us outside to a waiting car that had no Marriott markings what-so-ever. I made it clear to the driver-George- that I would be paying the Marriott for the transfer, not him directly. Clearly, I was not feeling trusting at 3am in the morning. I felt this statement made it clear that we wouldn’t be “had”, at least I hoped. Luckily that rang true.

Our transfer to the Marriott. We came to find out that Ramas – the operator has a desk in the lobby of the Marriott.

George pointed out a handful of notable buildings on the drive and proved to be true to his word. We made it to the hotel and the night manager Ahmed apologized for the issue and committed to further investigation. For perhaps the first time in recent memory, I very politely asked when the general manager would be in, as I wanted to discuss the issue with them. I never did get to connect with the general manager, but did at least connect with the lounge manager who fixed things.

Wrapping Up
To sum things up: I arrived in Egypt with an open mind. Our Etihad cabin crew reassured our faith in humanity. Marriott clearly failed. Skeptical, we trusted folks that clearly wanted to help. Rashed offered taxis, but accepted when we said we had pre-arranged transfer. Rashed helped even when it became clear that they didn’t have any opportunity to gain.
There’s still more to the story of our brief trip to Cairo, but this skeptical New York born traveler has been pleasantly surprised already.

Etihad Lounge Hopping and Flying Abu Dhabi to Cairo

February 19, 2015 By Trevor Leave a Comment

This is a continuation of the “vacation run” – a 50/50 mileage run / vacation my wife and I took to Cairo in January, 2015. The first post was: Etihad flight from Washington to Abu Dhabi

We were only transiting in Abu Dhabi (AUH), but we had the chance to see Etihad’s beautiful new lounge business lounge (we would’ve been able to visit the first class lounge had it opened, but it’s not due to open until I think April). Of course our connecting flight was out of the old terminal so we had to leave the nice lounge, but did find an alternative in the old terminal. It was dark and the wi-fi didn’t work terribly well, but, still better than no lounge. I know, first world problems.

The new Etihad lounge felt roomy, with great lighting, and was certainly a breath of fresh air compared to Etihad’s older business class lounge which was always crowded, horrible wi-fi, and you had to take an elevator to get to.

Etihad’s New Lounge

Etihad’s New Lounge’s Spa

Etihad’s New Lounge – So big you need signs!

Etihad’s New Lounge

Of course we found ourselves at the — I dare say — stylish bar.

Etihad’s New Lounge – The bar

But alas we had to move on – but first, a brief stop to tour the Tattooine set for the new Star Wars movie (I kid!)

Tattooine?!

We soon found ourselves in a smaller lounge in the “old” terminal. It wasn’t glamorous, but alas, it was a place to enjoy a cold beverage and some food. Although they also had arabic coffee, which I availed myself to.

Etihad lounge in the old terminal

Before we knew it, it was time to move on. It looked like they were doing some renovations in the terminal — the last time I was here, I could’ve sworn they had a Ferrari where the black tile is in the photo.

You’ve got to clear security at the gate in the old terminal, so we did that, far too early, yet the seats were all full, so we–unceremoniously–proceeded to be gate lice, waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

Boarding out of the old terminal at Abu Dhabi

But alas, we were finally let onboard, and we were met with a much more–dare I again say–stylish interior than Lucky experienced only a few months prior.

New-ish Seats

The aircraft was only a single aisle A320, but, it proved to be an excellent 4 hour flight.

Seat Controls

And of course, since now it was after midnight, I thought I might enjoy a mimosa.

Pre Departure Drinks

The In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) was reasonable, although of the “flip up” variety. The movie selection was the same as I recalled from flying the A340 from Dulles to Abu Dhabi earlier that evening.

We were served a reasonable meal, and then kept well provisioned by a wonderful pair of flight attendants.

Dinner

Dessert

Tea serving.

The flight overall felt very comfortable for being a 4 hour flight in a recliner seat.

Review: Etihad Airways From Washington Dulles to Abu Dhabi

February 16, 2015 By Trevor 2 Comments

This trip was 50% vacation and 50% mileage run. My wife and I had wanted to make it to Egypt, in fact, we had wanted to visit Egypt on our honeymoon, many moons ago, although that didn’t pan out. No regrets there, the honeymoon was perfect, and in line with family tradition–in Bermuda–I highly recommend it! That said, this trip availed us the opportunity to see the Pyramids, visit a new country, fly Etihad first class again, and see Doha’s new Hamad International Airport.

Starting Out

We leveraged Etihad’s complimentary car service from our home to Dulles International Airport (IAD). Once at the airport we checked in with Etihad, and admittedly were a bit surprised by some of the luggage (not the most I’ve ever seen).

Etihad check-in

Of course, once through check-in and security we made our way to the Etihad Lounge

Etihad Airways Lounge

Once in the lounge, we learned the flight was delayed. The next thing we learned was that the lounge wifi on par with a third world country. I tried to get it better, in fact I even traded messages with Boingo, hoping to get things resolved, but, no luck. Thankfully, we could leverage our Verizon phones.

Besides, getting past the wi-fi, we were able to truly enjoy the found. Just take a look, I think the photos express at how great it really was. I had the lamb.

Light Lamb snack in the Lounge

Dessert in the lounge

Before long, it was time to board our flight. Etihad’s lounge is great in that you can board the plane from the lounge. Even better, you make the first left to the First Class jetway. The flight ended up leaving full in F. We even saw 1 upgrade clear in the lounge.

Pre Flight champagne

The onboard chef served us champagne, and we noticed the first vestiges of the changes that Etihad instituted from the introduction of their new A380, namely the trays. I’m not going to mince words – the tray didn’t do a whole lot for me itself, but it certainly looked cool. In addition to the tray, we had upgraded pillows, an upgraded amenity kit (which I’ll get to in a moment), as well as a really super soft blanket/throw, which my wife fell in love with. I dare say it’s the nicest throw in the air.

A word about the amenities: amenity kits consistent with last trip (May), perhaps slightly upgraded. Pajamas very much improved. To early to tell if they move to second best (behind LH). Depends on how they wash–but so far they’ve proven to shrink a little–I will request XL next time. All that said, I’d put them as my second favorite pajamas in the sky (behind Lufthansa).

Once we got in the air, the cabin manager warned us that we’d have turbulent skies soon. In fact, he worked with the onboard chef to ensure that we had our meal–which my wife was kind enough to join me in my suite for–before we started encountering the really bad turbulence. The cabin manager was so good, that as we were enjoying our entree (below), he let us know roughly how long we had before it would start to get bumpy. He pretty much coordinated the speed of our meal to allow us to finish before the really strong turbulence started. He did so perfectly.

Well cooked steak

Ice Cream

Ultimately, the cabin crew and chef were amazing. They worked as a solid team and did whatever was necessary. Chef – Donagon (sp?) Irish, grew up just outside of Dublin, Ireland was very personable and a great cook (with the tools he had available)

After the wonderful meal, we had a slight issue with my seat going to/from bed mode. Cabin manager resolved in moments. It was for me, more pronounced going from bed to seat later in the flight, although my wife was sure to inform me that they had an issue going from seat to bed while I was changing into my comfy pajamas.

A few words about the bed: the bedding was ok, not great. A second full sized bed pillow would have been appreciated. About the seat: I usually prefer to sit in 1 or 2K. This flight I was in 1A. I definitely noticed more noise from the galley. Still much better than 1K would’ve been as the larger of the two lavs is right in front of it. A very popular place with a full F cabin.

One rather interesting experience of this particular flight was that we took a rather different route. I don’t have a photo of the larger airshow, but suffice it to say that we cut across the Atlantic along the most southern route I’ve ever taken. So much so that we passed over Madrid, flew over the Mediterranean, then hung a right at Egypt, a left over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and made it right into Abu Dhabi. The tailwinds clearly did us much good, and offered the flight crew flexibility–I dare say they made significant time up in the air too, perhaps to our detriment (because the flight was so enjoyable).

Air Show

As we approached Abu Dhabi, I opted for an afternoon tea–even though it was approaching 8pm local time, but really, what does local time mean?.

High Tea

My wife also enjoyed the tea as well. Ultimately I have to say the crew was phenomenal on the flight.

Summarizing the flight, I’d say this: The food was good, if not great, but not top-rate–I’ve had better, such as on my Swiss flight last year–the quality of their service was top rate. The bed was comfortable, it would’ve been better with another pillow. All that said, I can’t wait to fly Etihad again.

Revisiting my Star Alliance Identity Crisis: United Airlines

December 17, 2014 By Joe Cortez 1 Comment

Last week, I wrote about the particular problem I have with Star Alliance. After having Aegean Airlines Gold Status for the past two years, I’m disappointed to find out that it will probably come to an end in 2015 thanks to higher requalification requirements. And I’m not sure that flying nearly 50,000 miles is worth it to justify my status on an airline I will most likely never fly.

In that spirit, I’ve begun investigating different options to help me retain some semblance of status when I fly Star Alliance – because when the choices from your home airport are the “Big Four” airlines (American, Delta, Southwest, and United), you need all the help you can get. This week, I’ll investigate the pros and cons of going for status from scratch on United Airlines.

Come fly the friendly skies?

According to Wikipedia, United directly flies to 78 airlines across the United States, and over 100 more around the world – not that you would want to fly United internationally, but you could. Once a leader in air travel, United serves more destinations than American Airlines, but less than Delta Air Lines. None the less, United offers a healthy mix of destinations and air routes that will allow me to get to where I’m going with relative ease.

As published earlier this year, the same 48,000 miles I would have to fly on United to requalify for Aegean Miles and Bonus Gold would get me most of the way to United Premier Gold Status. As a Premier Gold, I would benefit from many of the elite benefits that I enjoy today, including priority check-in and boarding, free checked luggage, and same-day flight changes. In addition, I would get the added perk of qualifying for upgrades – something that I don’t get as a Aegean elite.

Out of my home base of Port Columbus International Airport, discount award seats are often plentiful on United, allowing me to fly on miles nearly at will. With all of these perks, making United my new Star Alliance partner seems to be the best route.

Or is it?

But are they that friendly?

As I outlined in my previous post, there are several inherent flaws with United that I find frustrating – to the point where I’m not sure that United is the best partner for my flying habits. To begin, the new mileage earning system has lost all semblance of generosity. Instead of earning award miles based on actual air distance, I’m earning based on the amount spent on my ticket…with limitations. Let’s take this example fare for example:

If I were to buy this ticket as a mileage run with no status, I would earn 4,730 Premiere Qualifying Miles, but only 1,825 award miles. Makes perfect sense, right? Flying that route and price combination 11 times a year (roughly once a month) would get me to my Premier Gold mileage, but only earn me just 20,075 miles – which may not be enough for an award ticket.

On top of this is the minor detail known as Elite Qualifying Dollars – which you probably know about by now. In the same scenario outlined above, I would have spent an estimated total of $4,015 Elite Qualifying Dollars, leaving me $1,000 short of reaching Premier Gold Status. This now turns my planned 11 flights into 15, just to make status for 2016.

But, as always, there are ways around the system.

Are there alternatives to United elite status?

There are many alternatives that I can use to either help my quest to elite status, or simulate the benefits of being an elite. Let’s start with the credit card route.

In 2015, United is continuing the Elite Qualifying Dollars waiver for Chase United credit card holders who spend at least $25,000 in a year. Though creative manufactured spending, I can probably make that threshold without many problems. This solves two problems: allowing me to make up for the missing elite miles that I would have earned from flying and gives me some elite benefits (like a free checked bag and priority boarding) until I hit Premier Gold.

But this still doesn’t solve my problem of domestic lounge access – because who wants to sit among the hoi polloi? This can be solved by upgrading to the Chase United Club card, which comes with a 50% spending bonus and United Club membership. The card also comes with a $395 fee, which is less than the American Express Platinum, but more than I’m paying now for access to the United Club.

The Verdict: Pass (for now)

If I was convinced that I would be flying exclusively on United, then this plan could work to solve my Star Alliance identity crisis. The problem that I’m facing is that I’m spending more money annually for the same benefits I receive now, with no consistency in my product or experience. Not to mention that the price of award redemption- especially on premium products to international destinations – is going up. For now, it’s time to pass over this plan to see what else is available for my flying dollar.

Next time on Tagging Miles: solving my Star Alliance Identity Crisis with international partners – is it possible??? Stay tuned!

Last mileage run of the year and a nice surprise

December 11, 2014 By Trevor 3 Comments

So, I flew my last mileage run of the year yesterday. It was like a Dickens novel except mostly good. It would’ve been a tale of three cities but I didn’t get any good photos of Miami done up for the holidays.

DCA Christmas Tree

Starting out at Reagan National (DCA) at O-dark-30 in the morning was met with a beautiful view of a rather large Christmas tree in the main concourse. I though it was nicely complimented by the American Flag in the background.

I had been hoping for one of the new 737’s with IFE for the flight from DCA to Chicago O’Hare, but alas, I didn’t get that lucky.

Upon arriving in Chicago I had the chance to snap a brief photo of Chicago’s holiday flair (Check out this Office Space clip if you’re not familiar with what I mean with Flair).

ORD Christmas Tree

Flying from Chicago to Miami though was the real treat. Our aircraft was supposed to be a 737, but they had an aircraft swap and we instead were met with what I believe was an internationally configured 757. I kind’ve had the M&M Santa Claus type of response to it. Why you might ask? Because this looked nearly identical to the seat from Up In The Air.

“Up in the Air” seat (forgive my photoshop skills)

Needless to say, I was really enjoying this flight. I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier, reclined, relaxed, and soon realized the WiFi was either not turned on or inoperative. Alas, I relaxed. It was a great flight.

Once I got into Miami, I really didn’t see a whole lot of Christmas Flair, so I hopped the skytrain to the Admirals club, leaving that to take the skytrain to D17, only to find my flight was delayed 45 minutes, so I went to yet another Admirals club. I haven’t flown through Miami before, but it really wasn’t my favorite. The skytrain was fast enough.

The last flight was uneventful, aside from being late. In fact, this was the only flight (departing about 2:30) that didn’t have a meal service, rather it had snack baskets that included sandwiches. Nothing to write home about.

Conclusion

Overall, the true highlight of the trip was seeing an international business class seat on a single aisle… I know, all the big airlines fly some sort of international configuration between New York and LAX, but I hadn’t been aware of American flying a single aisle 757 (United does). I’m sure the aircraft was on its way to somewhere in South America.

Intro: Visiting the Christkindlemarkets of Mainz

Food for Thought: 2016 Airline Loyalty

Background

Looking at the Opportunity Cost

Looking at the Alternatives and Associated Costs

Food for Thought: 2016 Airline Loyalty

Circling Back

Review: American Airlines First Class –Santiago to DFW – 777-200

Review: American Airlines Admiral’s Club, Santiago (SCL)

Introduction: Vacation Run to Santiago, Chile

Arriving in Cairo and Keeping an Open Mind

Etihad Lounge Hopping and Flying Abu Dhabi to Cairo

Review: Etihad Airways From Washington Dulles to Abu Dhabi

Revisiting my Star Alliance Identity Crisis: United Airlines

Come fly the friendly skies?

But are they that friendly?

Are there alternatives to United elite status?

Last mileage run of the year and a nice surprise

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