How to keep my Silver Elite Status
Jan 24, 2007, 1:12 pm
#17
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: New York, NY
Programs: Delta - Gold; Starwood - Platinum; HHonors - Diamond & Avis Preferred
Posts: 10,869
Jan 24, 2007, 1:20 pm
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Between AUS, EWR, and YTO In a little twisty maze of airline seats, all alike.. but I wanna go home with the armadillo
Programs: CO, NW, & UA forum moderator emeritus
Posts: 35,561
Jan 24, 2007, 2:51 pm
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Los Angeles, California
Programs: United, American, Delta, Hyatt, Hilton, Hertz, Marriott
Posts: 14,928
icydog, are you going to be flying in 2008? I just wonder if you're not doing much flying, why do you want to retain your silver status?
Jan 24, 2007, 2:58 pm
#21
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Clinging to the edifices of a decadent past from the biggest city in America nobody really cares about.
Programs: (ಠ_ಠ)
Posts: 9,077
Hey Marylyn,
If you just want the softcore benefits of elite status (that's essentially elite access) have you considered the Chase Presidential Continental Credit Card?
It gives you elite access and access to the PC for ~$400/year.
Plus: no excess flying, retain 'blue carpet' benefits
Minus: it's Chase, no upgrades...but as a Silver is that a loss?
Hope that helps
If you just want the softcore benefits of elite status (that's essentially elite access) have you considered the Chase Presidential Continental Credit Card?
It gives you elite access and access to the PC for ~$400/year.
Plus: no excess flying, retain 'blue carpet' benefits
Minus: it's Chase, no upgrades...but as a Silver is that a loss?
Hope that helps
Jan 24, 2007, 2:58 pm
#22
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: DEN
Programs: UA MM Plat; AA MM Gold; HHonors Diamond
Posts: 15,867
Jan 24, 2007, 3:01 pm
#23
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Los Angeles, California
Programs: United, American, Delta, Hyatt, Hilton, Hertz, Marriott
Posts: 14,928
Jan 24, 2007, 3:22 pm
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: DEN
Programs: UA MM Plat; AA MM Gold; HHonors Diamond
Posts: 15,867
is right.
Jan 25, 2007, 6:26 am
#25
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2006
Location: EWR
Programs: UA Silver, MRP Platinum, Marriott Vacation Club Chairman, SPG Platinum, Cunard Platinum,
Posts: 967
PHL is a different market, with different fares. Compare EWR-SEA with PHL-SEA, for example. From PHL you can route through IAH and it generally costs a lot less as well. Why? WN is there... Similarly, check out the difference in fares between EWR-IAH and JFK-IAH. Different airports mean different options. If you go PHL-IAH-FLL, for example, you'll get more EQM than just EWR-FLL. We're talking 1065EQM vs. 2290EQM each way.
Jan 25, 2007, 6:53 am
#26
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Programs: DL SM Plat, B6 TrueBlue, UA MP, AAdvantage
Posts: 10,008
I certainly would never spend one penny more on air travel than I need to. After all, to me the benefit of a ff program is that, as a result of my loyalty, I spend less money not more on air travel.
Also, the less time I spend traveling period the happier I am.
As others have said, the benefits of OP Elite Silver (especially at EWR) are so minimal, I don't think it's worth it to go out of your way to retain it.
I have given up my elite status on CO and I have noticed virtually no difference.
I still do OLCI (on line check in). I don't have access to the elite security line, but I have found that the peon security line is actually usually quicker because they have many more stations operating.
I don't have elite access boarding, but at EWR that's well over half the plane, so unless you're one of those people who rushes to the front of the line, there is very little benefit. If you're one of those people who boards the plane with a huge roller suitcase, then the blue carpet is a real benefit. But I always have a small carry on.
I don't have access to upgrades anymore, but since I went 0 for 26 in the last 2 years anyway (as an OP Gold), that's not much of a loss.
And, finally, I don't have the 25% premium added to my miles, but with reward tickets so difficult to book that's also not a major issue.
The bottom line is that CO--understandably perhaps--has tailored the program to primarily benefit its top-tier elite flyers. That's fair enough. So if you don't fly 75,000 miles a year, the tangible benefits really are very hard to identify (especially for those based at EWR).
I think you for someone in your category (flying less than 25,000 miles a year) you will find you will get much more value and enjoyment flying by simply picking your airline based on the cheapest fare and--if it's important to you--the comfort of the coach cabin (low cost airlines like jetBlue, Southwest and Frontier all have far more comfortable coach cabins than CO).
Don't waste your time or your money.
Jan 25, 2007, 6:58 am
#27
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: DCA, ex-IAH
Programs: nada
Posts: 1,368
As for flying out of PHL, as sort of mentioned before- it forces a connection unless you are going to houston, making your trip include more miles through a less than optimal routing (from CO's standpoint)
The second part of your question--on a few markets, it actually costs LESS to fly with the connection and added miles/flight times. SEA, SLC and PDX are prime examples. I'm flying EWR-SLC in a few weeks for 330 all in, but I could have had it LGA-IAH-SLC for far less than that (275 maybe?)
One additional expense for the stopovers is taxes/fees and such that are usually $20 a segment or so.