morphius909

yes 553...

Should I roll the dice and send the email ?

Should I do a cheap (is it EVEN possible) MR out of YEG?

Do I simply stop travelling? My travel plans next year are completely up in the air..might do as little as 3-5 trips in NA or might go hard again. NO IDEA.

xLuther

Fly to YYJ for Weekend, worth 4 X 500

or just find a good day/price to go to YYC for the day, worth 2 X 500

Stranger

Have you looked at the status mile promotion? Now apparently wide open.

morphius909

Just did YEG-FLL so 50% status miles promo wouldn't work
ugh

7E7

I would do a quick MR to YYC, or somewhere, whatever is the least expensive.

WhiteYUL

I wouldn't bet on the email.

How 'bout $308 (L fare) YEG-SEA, same-day turn in Dec. At 1,258 it's more than enough miles. Or if you value your time a bit more $459 (S fare) YEG-YYC airport-to-airport in 2 1/2 hours, or about the same as a nice trip to the hardware store .

AirWei

A little side trip like the ones suggested won't harm, just to be on the safe side!

Or, you may be lucky (and AC may be generous...), as two years ago I was missing almost 1000miles, and they still qualified me as Elite. But I wouldn't bet too much on this, especially given how much benefits have been taken back as of 2012!

PS: I'm chasing miles to made 50k too... tough after the new thresholds came into effect this year!

gabdusch

With the addition of the two new tiers for 2013 no way I would count on it!

margarita girl

They certainly aren't going to give it to you before the end of the year, so by the time you find out, it will be too late to do anything about it.

Besides it doesn't matter what anybody on this forum tells you. Even if people tell you there's a 95% chance you get comped, what happens if you don't?

Braindrain

The question now is: Will you do those trips in upgradeable classes? If not, the bennies may not be worth the price of admission.

slashd0t

I'm going to be 70 miles short of SE.. I'm doing a YYC MR

hearna

Do you have any existing travel this year that you could simply pay the same day confirmed change fee and change to an alternat routing to get the miles you need? 85$ is a lot cheaper than a YYC-YEG RT!

wildflower

I just made it to 36 segments -- am excited (I think) about E35 after having never made it past P. Thought I was done for the year and then another required trip came up that puts me at 39 or 40 segments depending on how inconveniently I book one leg. Getting back home (YUL-YYT) is another 1 or 2 segments, or potentially even 3 or 4 if I do a wacky routing. All of which raises the possibility of pushing for 50!

So, my question is: should I go for it, or just chill at 39 (take the easy routing outbound) and then go for cheapest non-status-earning fare YUL-YYT (Tango; Reward ticket; WS; PD) -- or push the segments + add a segment run from YUL or even BTV? I found a 6 segment US same day run on Dec 18 (one of the only days I could spend doing something like that) from BTV for ~$450. Haven't found one in that price range from YUL yet, though I'd be glad to skip the YUL-BTV drive, if possible.

Most of my travel next year will be North America, except probably one TATL. Seems like the big differences E35 vs E50 are: *S vs *G; & opportunity to use eUpgrades. Anything else I'm missing? Any ideas/recommendations from the FT experts? Thanks!

HerpaYvr

I never hope for something if you are short of the cut off you are short of the cut off, so just book a flight. I had to book three unplanned itineraries for the month of December and when I did the math I was 1,788 miles shy of 180,000 so I called AC (within 24 hours) and we simply added four cities to my route for another 2,000 status miles and it cost me about $126.

If you want that 50K goal, book a cheap flight and play it safe.

nave888

I'd do a quick YYC MR. The way I see it, one step ahead when upgrading can make the difference between a middle seat in Y and a seat in J. Your spot on a standby list could mean the difference between 4 hours in the MLL and 4 hours in bed...Can you tell I've fallen victim to both in the last month

I'm going to end the year with 47 segments, after losing 2 return YYC trips because of AC's inability to keep planes moving (unlike Westjet..don't get me started on that). I think that if you can, you should. A return to YYC is easy, and if it's going to pay off for you next year, its worth it.