enviroian

By Dec 14th I will have 92K EQM's soo far. I can either take a long weekend trip by 12/31 to visit my family in the UK and satisfy the 100K requirement or I am thinking about what seems a more logical alternative. The other way to do Chairmans is fly 32K EQM's between 10/5 and 1/31/06. Come mid January I have enough travel planned where I would be at say 27K EQM's for that 10/5-1/31 time frame. I could take my long phx-lgw trip then and this would have an added bonus: this trip would not only satisfy my 2005 Chairmans qualifications, but unlike if I took a December UK trip, I would also have those miles from a late Jan phx-lgw trip count for 2006 status as well. Seems like an abvious choice. Is there any flaw in my logic?

Ian

AZ Travels the World

No, you're right on the money. I know several people who are doing exactly that. One person will finish 2005 with about 40K EQM. But because such a large percentage of his travel is in Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan, he'll qualify for Chairmans via the 32K route. Ironically, the vast majority of that travel is on BA and Hawaiian, not HP, so he'll qualify for top US status almost without flying HP/US.

Anyone who is planning to qualify for CP via the 32K Oct-Dec route should pack as much as possible into January. As you have said, not only will it qualify for CP for '06, but it will also count as EQM's for '07. Now that's what FT is all about!

NerveEnding

Can you expand on this? I looked it up on the America West website but I couldn't find anything about it. Are you saying that if you travel 32,000 miles between October and January can qualify as CP? I have had a lot of travel over the last 3 months, and I would consider a trip to Europe in January to put me over the top if that is the case.

AZ Travels the World

If you were a 2005 HP Platinum member, you were upgraded to the new Chairman's level in early October for a trial period. Re-qualification for Chairman status for 2006 is based upon either:

* Flying a total of 100,000 miles or 100 segments in 2005; OR
* Flying 32,000 miles or 40 segments from October 5, 2005 - January 31, 2006

So, essentially, in order to re-qualify for Chairman for '06 via one of these two methods, you must have been a 2005 HP Platinum member who was elevated to the Chairman level at the time of the merger.

This is a way to protect current HP Platinum members who didn't know until October that the highest level in the program for the new year was now going to require 100K to qualify, rather than the prior 75K.

alanh

One caution, though: BA will no longer earn FF miles after 12/31, and Hawaiian trans-Pacific flights have to be ticked by 12/15 and flown by 6/14/2006. HA interisland flights will still earn FF miles.

stantonhog

Actually you can also earn platinum after the merger, and you will get the upgrade to Chairman, which you can retain through 2006 provided you fly the 32k miles between 10/5 and 1/31. So in effect if you were gold at 50K miles on oct 5th, achieve 75K by 12/31 (so still in 2005 year) you can get upgraded to chairman, and will retain the chairman through 2006 if you fly an additional 7K (for a total of 32k 10/5 - 1/31) during January '06. So any gold members close to platinum may want to consider a milage run to make platinum in time to be upgraded to chairman.

Here is the relevant passage from the usairwaysinfo.com site:

Those Gold Elite members who reach Platinum Status (75,000 flight miles or 90 segments) before December 31, 2005 will be automatically upgraded to a trial Chairman's Elite membership and will receive their Chairman's Elite card within four weeks from that date.

All trial Chairman's Elite memberships will be valid until February 28, 2006. Trial Chairman’s Elite members will retain their status until February 2007 by:

Flying a total of 100,000 miles or 100 segments in 2005; OR
Flying 32,000 miles or 40 segments from October 5, 2005 - January 31, 2006




I just made chairman today!