eefor jfp

So, for the month of February 2016, I have that most auspicious of "honors"--top status in all three alliances. oneworld emerald (earned with BA which I will renew this year), Star Alliance gold (earned with Asiana but expiring at the end of the month) and SkyTeam elite plus (brand new--a gift match from Alitalia because of my status with BA). The sad thing is that I do use all three alliances from time to time but can only really earn one top status in a given year. So it was Asiana three years ago (their Gold was good for two+ years) and then a switch to BA when LH group devalued their earnings chart.

I'll miss Star Gold status on all my local trips in Europe but such is life. And I really am in awe of those that fly enough to earn top status annually with all three alliances, knowing how much I'm already away from my family.

Just some musings and a fair bit of gratitude to FT for making all this possible (or, at least, a lot easier). Mahalo.

TheTakeOffRush

(a) awesome! you seem enthusiastic. glad you enjoy the status buzz.
(b) but bragging would be more apt if you had earned top airline tier in representative airlines for each alliance, and done it from zero to hero since 1 Jan 16.

GRALISTAIR

Impressive - best I did was last year when I had DL Diamond and American Plat (but not exec plat) and still have these - but I only had United 1K status for 3 months and have now dropped to Silver. Not easy to do - as TheTakeOffRush says " doing it from zero to hero" since ----- would be impressive - but I think impossible.

Long Train Runnin

I'm in a similar boat, and not sure what to do for this years requalifications. I am AA Exec Plat, Copa Platinum and have whatever Alitalia calls their top tier. Would have to fly over 230k miles to keep all of them lol. I think that star gold is probably worth figuring out how to keep. Last year I overshot AA Exec platinum by a large margin, so I'm not sure if I should switch after 100k. I am already almost Plat again on AA for the year, so I guess I have to decide if being a OWE is enough or do I want to maintain *G too.

JerryFF

Miles Buzz Discussion of the latest frequent flyer & hotel program buzz...only

Very informative thread so far.

jjmoore

United Airlines Global Services / *G
Marriott Rewards Platinum Premier
Hertz Gold President's Circle

I think there is more power in achieving top status in one program for airline and hotel, as lifetime status is a long term goal for me.....this is much more difficult to do if trying to maintain mediocre status on multiple alliances.

Speaking from experience, my airline status is more important to me than any other program status, and keeping all my business with UA has enabled me to get to their top top tier, which affords peace of mind when I travel knowing that the perks of having the status will keep me out of trouble. I am only a couple years away from lifetime status with UA and that will afford my spouse equal status....

I will cross into lifetime platinum status with Marriott shortly as well... they have treated me very well, and cover all the areas of my personal and business travel thoroughly.

With all this said, this is how I would approach managing my programs... though I am sure there are some of you out there that travel enough miles / revenue to make top tier on an airline in every alliance.... and I can't argue with those that choose to go that route in that case.

TOMFORD

How much did you fly???

pinniped

I've never approached more than 1 top tier on an airline. In my United 1K years, it took my regular business trips plus usually a paid ticket or two in Nov/Dec for some type of leisure trip to hit 100,000. (I've never done a pure mileage run, but I've certainly taken trips partly inspired by my desire to qualify for a status.)

I've held the three big hotel statuses simultaneously before: HH Diamond, MR Plat, SPG Plat. Of course that can be done with relatively few total actual bed-nights: for a period of 3-4 years when I had this, I only really focused closely on getting the 23 SPG nights. The HH came with credit card spend and I swear Marriott gave me an extra year or two of Plat for reasons I don't fully understand.

Annalisa12

Well done! Truely a frequent flyer.

I have the auspicious honour of having no status at any airlines!

shuigao

* opens wallet *
* looks at *A silver card *
* alt-f4 *

Unsub

Same here. *A G until 11/17, Skyteam Elite+ until 03/17 and OWE until 9/16, which I will renew for at least another year. First two matched, of course.

DieselYVR

At one point I was CX-DM (OWE) and ACSE100k (*G). I lost my *G altogether for a while but have since re-earned it on OZ. Nice to have the two year benefit from them for my comparatively infrequent *G flights. I get 180-200k/year on the CX program.

expatOWflyer

Same here. I have recently earned that honor, with BA GGL CCR, Flyingblue Platinum and SQ PPS. Thinking of double dipping with SQ PPS, but can't turn down SQ Suites redemptions

s0ssos

But Tom Stuker doesn't post here.