spicymommy

I am about to book some international travel and am trying to determine which airline status I want to pursue this year - and if there is anyway to make that process easier.

We are based in Connecticut. For international travel I generally go out of JFK. Domestically, the Hartford, CT airport works, but so does New Haven or White Plains.

For work, I travel to Germany (cologne area, but often fly to Frankfurt) and Geneva Switzerland quite often. Later this year I will be doing a trip to Peru as well. Also go to Washington D.C. on a regular basis.

For personal travel, we fly to Dallas, TX most often.

Last year I made silver on United, and was about 10,000 miles shy of gold. I expect slightly more travel this year than last.

Should I stay with United or try to make American work? Is there a status challenge that might make sense? Or are there any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help!

spicymommy

I travel a fair amount for work and would like to maximize my chances of getting a higher level elite status on an airline.

Last year I had United Silver and was 10k miles short of Gold. I probably could have done a bit better with some planning. I am about to schedule some international travel for business and thought I would reach out for advice.

I am based in the on the east coast. Internationally, I usually fly out of JFK. Domestically, I prefer BDL or New Haven, but could also do White Plains quite easily (if the weather isn't insane)

For work, I most often go to Germany (Cologne area, but happy to fly into Frankfurt and take the train), and Geneva, Switzerland, internationally. Will likely need to go to Peru this year as well. Domestically, I am often in Washington, D.C.

Personally, we go to the DFW area a lot. We already have tickets booked on AA for that in February.

I was toying with trying to go after status on American, especially with the merger - but think United may be more convenient. Would appreciate your help in figuring out the right strategy.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and encouragement!

Mwenenzi

Welcome to the forum

What benefits do you want from status?
Status in different airlines has different benefits

If you have several flights with AA or some of AA's OW partners consider the AA challenge for fast track status.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html
http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index...lenge_%28AA%29

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onewo...help-here.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/star-...post-here.html

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

What perks do you want out of the status? Is it extra miles, lounge access, upgrades? If just miles I'd even explore AS. As an MVPG you earn a 100% bonus on EQM. And they partner with DL and AA. And with silver on UA, they may even match to MVP. However they are not part of a formal alliance so no lounge access for flying int'l and upgrades restricted to AS metal and lowest priority on DL.

spicymommy

Thanks for the response beckoa. Priority baggage handling is actually really helpful, and upgrades would be great.

The extra miles are an added bonus, but my emphasis is on upgrades as it helps me be more refreshed when I finally get home from traveling on business!

jackal

Welcome to FlyerTalk, spicymommy!

I'm merging your two threads, since they discuss the same/similar topic.

jackal
Moderator, Information Desk

spicymommy

Thanks Mwenenzi. Trying to decide if it's worth it to fork over the money. Appreciate your help!