Originally Posted by
sxpsxpsxp
I was so close to getting there back when it was briefly open, but didn't quite make it... I just looked at my stats (below). I'm sure there are people with even higher numbers who missed it... *sigh*
Yup. I'm LTP at 878/16/13/13. As I recall (and I don't care to inflict even more emotional damage by looking for the exact details
,) I was less than a year's worth of travel away from LTT at the deadline.
I missed this thread at the time, but the 2nd or 3rd post up that Marriott killed my aspiration (my words) fits me pretty well. My travel patterns lean more toward a driving trip with 2-3 nights in a hotel. I'll never have any meaningful status with the airlines, but PP/Tit with Marriott has always been relatively easy. (My Silver years were from incidental personal and business travel before I took a position that required regular travel.) And, while I make an 'aspirational' (barf) trip every few years, what I really want is the comfort in knowing that I'll be guaranteed a level set of benefits for the rest of my life*, whether business or pleasure. LTPP/LTT *was* my aspiration, not the Royal Grand Pooba Resort of Nowheresville, and that's gone now. Sure, LTP gets me the most necessary of benefits, but I feel a little is lost knowing that I simply can't achieve what I set out to do. Look, I get it, the calendar was not my friend this time. It happens. I have zero doubt that it has happened to other travelers in other programs, but this was 'my thing' with 'my program.' MI doesn't owe me anything, but I feel like I was marginalized a bit. A new LTT level at, say, 1000/15 or 1000/20 would add some purpose back to my travel life.
*Yes, I know that nothing is guaranteed, and one would be a fool to think that even the lifetime tiers won't be devalued sooner or later.