dps5

I'm looking at my travel plans through the end of the year, and it looks like I'm going to come up short by 12 segments or 22k miles for Gold. Can anyone recommend the least-cost strategy to get the necessary segments/mileage for the next level, please?

Flying out of Philly.

Thanks!

clacko

the least cost plan is to buy the cheapest fares....

seriously tho, when can you do the runs?....is it 12 or 17 segs?, you don't need 22,001 q mi...

clacko

phl-bos, 4 segs, $240....on ua mid week in sept & oct...

i'll look a bit more later...need to do the nyt xword....

edit to add....bwi-tpa 10/9 4 seg $193...

dps5

Thanks for the suggestions, clacko. I can do the runs anytime between now and the end of the year. My work travel plans are set, so I won't get any more segments from work travel. I do need 12 more. If I don't do any personal travel before the end of the year, I'll end up with 48 segments and 28k PQM. So, from what I can tell I'll need either 12 segments or 22k PQM, right?

I'm trying to figure out if it would be more cost effective to do a couple of long MRs to get the 22k, or some short multi-segment hops?

TheBOSman

Gold is only 50,000 PQMs, so you need either 12,000 more PQMs or 12 more segments.

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid...toqualify.html

dps5

Typo.. I'll have 28k, not 38k. Sorry about that.

clacko

if you aren't going on a long vacation trip, segs are the way to goyou should be able to get 12 for $600 or less w/same day turns....

for the mi, you need sub 3 cpm.....but some factor in the rdm value....to each his own....

does us ever do a 2x em promo?

TheBOSman

I'd probably go with the segments then. 3 RTs can be 4 segments each, but you won't get 9k on each of 3 RTs without going international. clacko has some good suggestions for shorter trips. Ex-PHL is hard, maybe look into going up to EWR/NYC or down to BWI if possible. US is difficult to find, fewer people look for US fares on here as there aren't as many US elites as for AA/DL/UA, and US has fewer hubs to route through in any sort of meandering fashion. Maybe PHL-Florida via DCA or CLT can work too. Below 3 cpm flights are nearly impossible with US, the routings just aren't lucrative enough for most fares. Only when US has a major, major sale can 3 cpm be achieved. I would definitely look at the segments in your case.

JMN57

less glamorous but you could just write a check (but check when status extends to)

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/divid...preferred.html

clacko

use orbitz/other for searching.....you can see both us & ua fares for the city pairs & multi task w/laptop while watching sports....

Biggie Fries

This one is easy. PHL-DCA/CLT-RDU-DCA/CLT-RDU same-day turns are plentiful this fall, e.g., $182ai Sat 16 October. 3trips x $182/trip, with 4 segs/trip, means you spend $546 total. It's $45/6 per segment which is not super duper in the larger world, but in terms of something from PHL:

It's easy and not far. Benefit of DCA is you are close to PHL by train if some IRROPS, but less capacity to find an upgrade to F since most flights don't have F cabin.

Speaking of IRROPS. Remember that if, say, an RDU-CLT is cancelled and they offer you RDU-PHL instead, because you are on US and not another *A carrier they don't have to give you original mileage credit. So plan to knock-out your three trips before end of the year and/or disappearance of these fares.

This trick will no longer work after March and the departure of WN from this route, so make hay while the sun shines.

SuperG1955

When you add the other costs such as parking to the fares, paying $789 for 12-18 segments is probably cheaper and certainly less effort.

JMN57

To pile onto my original point, you can wait pretty late into the year, so you can just buy what you need (if your projections are you need 12 and you actually need only 11, the price drops to $579 - you might want to figure out how to cram an extra segment onto travel you need to take).

Only warning is:

Now's your chance to upgrade or maintain your current Preferred status through February 2013

I'm not conversant on US so I don't know if that would be true if you did the buy up in December so I would recommend you check with US flyers &/or US itself as to whether they would give you Gold thru 2/14.

phlwookie

Generally, the buy up will be for the following full year after Oct 1 or so, so buying up after then would give status to Feb 2014. Come over to the US forum for more on that (and that Oct 1 date could be different this year, but we have no reason to think it'll change):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/us-ai...er-thread.html