Who: Systems engineer in the telecom industry
What: Made Platinum in Nov for the first time
How: Almost all for work, save 2 family vacations. All work travel domestic - that's called 'earning it the hard way'! Every single mile on UA/CO metal.
Where: All over the place domestically + one family vacation to CZM (that's it for my int'l travel)
Why: It's the economy (plus) stupid! Spending most of the year as a Lowly Gold, Flyertalk taught me that 1K's matter and I don't. Even as a Lowly Plat, I realize my place in the hierarchy and shall refrain from spoiling your precious boarding carpet with my Lowly Platinum shoe dirt. All I ask is for you important 1K's to be benevolent and allow me to spend my ~85k BIS miles in Economy Plus. I promise I won't bother you otherwise.
What: at least as much in 2013 would be my expectation, if not more. I took on new responsibilities at work that will probably require more face time.
Happy holidays!