Hello all,
I'm a new member to this group(thank the Washington Post)and I have really enjoyed my time here. I'm also am pretty frequent traveler(2002 Gold CO, Silver US Air, 2003 Silver CO, lost it by 3,000 miles). I do have a question thought. Some people have spoke of achieving "Lifetime" elite status on some airlines (I think the one I saw was AA, but I'm not sure.) How can you achieve this? I've never seen this benefit in any of the FF info, so what does one have to do to bask in the glow of lifetime “eliteness?” Do all of the carriers outthere offer this benifit?Thanks for your responses.
On United, it's 1 million actual flight miles (does not count bonuses) on United metal that nets you lifetime Premier Executive status in United's Mileage Plus program.
That's roughly equal to American Airline's Platinum status.
American counts all bonus miles towards lifetime totals. United...only actual flight miles on them.
So while UA offers a better lifetime status level (one that offers 100% bonus miles, rather than just 50%) to it's 1 million milers, AA allows all miles to count towards towards million miler status, but you have to wait until 2 million miles to start to get the 100% bonus miles.
So it's kinda a wash competition wise.
[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 03-05-2003).]
Although they don't use the word lifetime.. rather, status is renewed annually. (Sounds to many of us like this way they could pull the plug t some point.) And these are flown miles.
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Thanks for the info folks. My next three questions become:
1) I'm assuming we are not talking amassing 1 mil miles in one year, although from what I have read here, that's not out of the realm of possibility for some people on this site. So, it is the basis of total miles accumulated over some time period, correct?
2) That being said, do I have to allow the miles to sit there until I hit 1,000,000 and then I get the lifetime status?
3) If I have to let the miles sit there, and I eventually get to the 1 mil mark, do I then have to "maintain the balance" to keep the benefit? Example, I hit 1,000,000 and get the card. Can I take that free around the world flight now(assuming the availability of seats) and not lose my status?
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Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by gerryallen:
1) I'm assuming we are not talking amassing 1 mil miles in one year, although from what I have read here, that's not out of the realm of possibility for some people on this site. So, it is the basis of total miles accumulated over some time period, correct?</font>
These are lifetime miles. That is, total miles earned in the program. With UA and DL, that's flown miles. (And I do know specifically, it's flown miles on UA metal and not partner metal.) With AA it's total miles from all sources.
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">2) That being said, do I have to allow the miles to sit there until I hit 1,000,000 and then I get the lifetime status?</font>
It's not mileage balance. It's total miles earned, independent of how many you have at any one time in your account.
Quote:
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">3) If I have to let the miles sit there, and I eventually get to the 1 mil mark, do I then have to "maintain the balance" to keep the benefit? Example, I hit 1,000,000 and get the card. Can I take that free around the world flight now(assuming the availability of seats) and not lose my status?</font>
See #2 above.
You can go ahead and redeem all your miles, have a zero balance, and still earn lifetime status...
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QF has status credits, if you hit 14,000 QF status credits (which clock and never expire), you will get lifetime Qantas Gold (which is the equiv of AA Plat). If you get 7,000 status credits, you'll get lifetime Qantas Silver (which is the equiv of AA Gold).
LH miles&more lifetime Senator:
* must be over 65, and
* must have been Senator, uninterrupted, since the miles&more program started (for future qualifications this probably, but unconfirmed so far, means: must have been, uninterrupted, Senator for 10 or 15 years?)
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Lifetime Admiral's Club access is the big perk for QF (14000 point level). As far as I can tell the only other plan to offer lifetime lounge access is DL at 4MM. DL used to count all miles (like AA) but now only counts flown miles (actually MQMs) so there will be very few with 4MM at DL (it takes 40 years at top-tier status, while QF will take me just under 3 years at present rate, and I'd make it in 2 years if I didn't also use miles to reach AA status). Are any of the other plans offering useful lifetime benefits? Lifetime US lounge access is worth a fair bit.
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PremEx: Sounds like by the time you earn your Lifetime airline lounge membership, your Lifetime will be just about over!</font>
Only on third-world airlines. QF really has this sorted, in fact you can buy lifetime lounge access (QF, AA & BA lounges) for either $$$ or points with "Qantas Club Lifetime Membership".
As previously mentioned, QF elites can also qualify for lifetime free membership by obtaining lifetime gold, at 14,000 status credits (the equivalent of 10 cunningly planned F RTW trips).
Or, in my case, about 7 years of extensive discount Y, short-haul international Y and long-haul international J travel...
If you travel occasionally on QF, and often on either BA or AA (or both), you'd be mad to sign up for their programmes, when the benefits of the QF programme are so much better.
