corkeyva: how we fly THIS year will determine our status NEXT year. Many of us work out our inevitable business-based travel, both airline mileage and hotel stays, for the upcoming year, and then work in whatever extra we'll need in personal travel to achieve the status we hope for/ expect/ want/ crave/ dream of.

In this way, WE ARE VERY CONSCIOUS OF THE WAYS WE EARN MILES. Miles, HINT, HINT.

GG & I often know what cities & hotels we'll be in three or four years ahead. This helps determine our choices of how to grab status now.

For example, we'll be at a big show this summer with a Hilton main hotel. We've known this since 1999. We've worked VERY hard to make sure we have high Hilton status for 2002 based on this knowledge.

We also know that we're only 250,000 points or so away from Marriott Platinum Emeritus. We are skewing towards Marriotts in order to earn these points.

We'll need 100,000 Delta miles to keep Delta Platinum Medallion. They are running a double miles promo on M fares right now. Our M fare tickets to Gatwick in late March aren't eligible, but we're considering another, earlier trip, just to earn the miles. (M fares to England aren't much more than twice Ls to other places, and earn double status miles. Why not fly less and earn the same for the same money?)

Clear now?

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"Service" should be a noun, not a verb.
Delta Flyers' Guide