bosman

Most programs don't count award tickets towards EQM, so make sure what the rules are for the program you are looking to earn status on.

ineedhelpwithmath

Numerous threads? I've made one single thread in all of four days, chief, this one.

UpgradeMe

The moderators combined your thread with one that was created by another poster after I made that comment.

msiegel67

I'm all new to this, hence why I am asking so many questions, trying to get every bit of info before I dive in. For me, I want status because I fly 10-12x a year. Having the luxury of getting automatic upgrades to economy preferred, and the slight possibility of getting upgraded to a whole higher class, really makes a difference. Now I have to pay $40+ each way for me and more if I have a companion, to fly in a slightly better economy, because all that is ever left in regular economy is the middle seat, or the very back rows (usually with no 2 seats together). From my understanding, you and a companion get upgraded to preferred at the very least with elite status.
I also fly from SFO down to southern CA at least a couple times a year, and that would net me the under 500-mile auto upgrades. Also in the case of a rare situation and my flight is cancelled, It would be great to be able to be higher on a standby list, etc.

I think I can qualify on my own if I stick to one airline to do all my flying. The issue I am encountering is the $ limit. After calculating the rest of my travel for this year, I can get to the 25K miles on United, but I will have only spent about $2K to get it. So I will be short. I think I will be able to hold the status with my regular flying, but I am open to smaller MR if needed.

Most people on this site are way more knowledgeable than me about all different types of status and benefits, that's why I turned to you. Please, correct me if I am wrong about anything, and inform me. I apologize for the multiple threads and many questions. Teach me how to fish.

Smiley90

Consider this though, what's cheaper:

Spending money just for the sake of achieving status

OR

paying for the preferred seats.

Say you fly 10 times a year and pay 40 dollars for a preferred seat on average that's 400 dollars. If you have to spend 1000 just to get status and free seats that's obviously not worth it. You dont want status just for the sake of it, always keep what you have to put in vs what you get our vs your regular spend in mind.

msiegel67

I agree, but it is at least $40 each way. So $800/yr if I fly 10 RT. Then another $800/yr if I have a companion with me on those trips. I absolutely see what you're saying though.

This year I am short because I didn't fly only one airline. It wasn't until this month that I started really understanding elite status. So for all my travel Jan-June of this year, I flew AA, DL, and UA, as well as JB and SW. Going forward I only plan on flying UA, to see if I can get to Silver by the end of the year. If I had flown UA a majority of the time for all my other trips this year, then I probably would have hit that $3K and 25K QM threshold no problem.

So I would like to get status for next year, and then I will always fly United, and it shouldn't be an issue to keep the status, and maybe even get Gold if I throw in a MR or 2 next year. I hope this makes sense? It may be my weird thinking.

Smiley90

Well keep in mind that for Gold you'll ned 6k PQD and if you have trouble getting to 3k, you DEFINITELY don't want to spend just 3k dollars extra to get to Gold benefits, which is basically an extra bag, lounge access internationally and 1x fare price miles extra (which is like 6k miles if you spend 6k, obviously, aka nothing to brag about)

MR's are really only useful if you're already close to the status and need just a bit more where the benefits from the higher status outweighs the cost of the MR. This is especially true at higher levels, where e.g. the difference between Gold<Plat<1k are bigger than between Silver<Gold (with Regional and global upgrades)

This is just talking about UA, of course.

So TLDR don't get too blinded by "OH SHINY STATUS MUST HAVE" when the money you need to spend to get it is more than the benefits of it. :P If you spend money on preferred seats EVERY TIME (which is VERY surprising to me, honestly, I barely ever have to, even just booking a month out), then it might be worth it to go for silver. Probably not Gold though unless you're close anyway.

One way to avoid PQD is having a foreign account, but I'm not sure that applies to you. You'll need e.g. a Canadian address or so.

msiegel67

I thought of one more thing. If I purchase a vacation package through an airline (I add on a hotel and car through the airline website), since it charges me all together, will I get qualifying dollars for the full vacation package? Or will they only give me QD for the flight portion?

tark

I just moved to a new department that will require frequent business traveling starting this Oct. After some research, I figured my monthly qualifying segment will be around 6, qualifying miles will be around 5000 per month (for both AA and UA).

So I won't reach even the silver status this calendar year with 18 segments and 15000 miles.

And since the airline mileage status calculation resets every Jan, I will only reach lowest premier status by next May (6 * 5 = 30 segments or 5000 * 5 = 25000 miles)?

Is there any way that my segments for this year not wasted?

swag

Hi Tark, welcome to FT.

On the AA side, there's a 90 day paid challenge you can sign up for anytime. It's based on points, not miles or segments, but 5K miles for 3 months is 15K miles, which should be enough for GLD and maybe Platinum, depending on fares. If you meet the goal, you'll get status through Feb 2017.

Many details here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html

Efrem

Welcome to FT!

Does your company have a travel coordinator or a regular travel agent? If it does, ask him/her to contact the sales rep of your preferred airline on your behalf. Sales reps can do stuff like this, possibly including getting you status initially.

(By the way, Gold is the entry level on AA. They don't use Silver. There's no standard terminology: on British Airways, Gold is the very top; they start with Bronze, and Silver is in the middle.)

tark

Thank you for your suggestions!