STEPHANKOENIG

Hi,

(please correct me if this is the wrong forum to post).

I have to go TPA-HAM multiple times a year. I have been using Continental ever since they put on EWR-HAM. Now United has discontinued that flight. Going TPA-FRA on Lufthansa is the best alternative for me. (I have tried lots of other UA connections, they are bad.)

The only problem: I have 800.000 lifetime miles on UA and flying LH does not give me any lifetime miles.

What would you do? UA MR to get to MM?

Thanks for your ideas ...

Stephan

MSPeconomist

STEPHANKOENIG

Thanks. Yes, I have been on flights via MUC and FRA as an alternative with UA. But they always give me an extra stop and I got stuck more than once.

LH has a direct TPA-FRA.

wh6cto

A little slower going to 1MM, but an option is to fly LH outbound, then fly UA back, to reduce your overall risk.

If you want to avoid the extra connection, you might be able to take the ICE between Hamburg and Berlin, and fly UA TXL-EWR/IAD-TPA. (Haven't been to TXL myself, so I can't comment on the practicality of this.)

garykung

OP - You actually have the answer yourself - UA MR to MM.

You simply need someone to affirm your choice.

Seriously - if you are not in concern of the BIS miles, you will not bring it up.

Beside - it is easier to score a UA status than LH.

STEPHANKOENIG

I was hoping to find something less crazy than a 200k MR ;-)

Pat89339

For a few years I flew UA one way and LH back as suggested above, but it was slow going to reach my goal of 3MM and it would take twice as many flights. This year I stuck with UA metal and I have the goal in sight with 65K miles remaining to reach 3MM and will easily do it next year. Every IRROP and bad/inconvenient connection is worth that to me for "lifetime" 1K.

For 1MM, it all depends on how much *A Gold and companion benefits mean to you.

ck3kk

Hi Pat with a bunch of numbers: I'm wondering why your goal is 3M for 1K lifetime status and not 4M for GS lifetime status? I was in your position 4 years ago (I was 300K short of 3M), had an opportunity to change to a cool job with mucho UA travel (which I took), and promptly (within 18 months) blew past 3M. I'm now at 3.5M and thinking I might make 4M before I retire if I make an effort. I haven't decided whether to make the effort yet or not and always interested in hearing someone else's thoughts about the merit of such a crazy goal... I envy your HNL location...

STEPHANKOENIG

I would love to have your problems ... I need to pay for my own flights through my own little business.

garykung

Deleted

Pat89339

I'd prefer to answer for myself.
As do I.
I looked at it this way. I wanted to have lifetime 1K status as soon as possible before the proverbial rug is pulled out from under me. Who knows what the future will bring, both for myself and what the Kirby regime will think of next. I regret that I didn't push for 2MM before the Club benefit was taken away. It was a conscious decision to MR this year to get me closer. I put in around 250K BIS, consisting of regular travel/commute supplemented by few long haul mileage runs. I was able to keep the out-of-pocket cost to .05/mile (even though I had 20 premium fares in the mix). I could continue to do another 250K a year for the next 4 to get GS, but I think I'd rather spend a little more time flying *A carriers now (I'm not a fan of the Polaris seat--I find it a bit claustrophobic). If GS happens in the future, that's great, but it'll happen in the ordinary course of flying. I won't MR to get there unless I had fewer than 200K to go. Plus I'm really annoyed that they raised the spend for 2019. I take pride in the fact that I won't have to meet that spend to be a 1K in 2019 onward.

Good luck in your reach for 4MM! I hope you make it before retirement.

ck3kk

Hi Pat, makes perfect sense to me. Before I switched jobs and had ~300K to go to 3M I had started (at wife's request) to get in an occasional MR to get to 1K lifetime. It turned out I got one MR flown and another scheduled but not taken (ended up eating the ticket because I couldn't take the flight due to the new job). 300K seemed doable with MRs for the benefit at that time. I have 2-3 more years of work and currently flying 120k-150k a year, so thinking when I get closer I might resort to MRs again. And, the wife and I are finally taking advantage of my vacation time and accrued travel benefits and targeting distant locations (I pay, she usually travels on points).

Where do you find premium fairs at about .05 / mile? I should be paying more attention!

- Clarence

Pat89339