I'm back :)
 

Well after a 6yr layoff I'm back in the consulting game and will be traveling weekly for the foreseeable future (atleast thru 2011) so I need to brush up on my FlyerTalk info.

So here is were I stand,

I'll be commuting from NYC to BOS weekly with 6 trips from NYC to Seattle slipped in and with my schedule i could fly

Continental EWR-BOS
AA JFK-BOS
US Air LGA-BOS
Delta LGA-BOS
Jet Blue JFK-BOS
United LGA-BOS


my FF history

US Air I was gold 6-7 years ago (still active member w/90k of miles)
Continental I was gold 6-7 years ago (still active member w/25k of miles)
AA active but 1-3 flights a year or so (just cashed 25k for reward miles)
JetBlue active but 1-3 flights a year or so
Delta, United active but little or no use.

not sure if I can leverage any of them off each other with maybe a level match type letter just stating 'hey I'm going to be on 80-90 flights in 2011 i'd love to fly with 'insert airlines so I was hoping you could fast track me to gold?? Who is better these days for upgrades??

also my Hotel choices are

Marriott
Westin (SPG)

I used to be gold with SPG and love the Westin so I figure I will stick with them, but these last few weeks ive used Marriott for some of their free nite promotions.

Would there be value in writing these 2 with the same proposition?

your thoughts and comments would be much appreciated

thanks

Bill

Where are you based. NNJ, Manhattan, Brooklyn, LI?
if NJ or Manhattan go with CO and have Amtrak as a backup while still earning miles.
If BK or LI I'd say B6

I think you need to consider the what you will want to get in return and services. If you just want free flights and movies then Jetblue is the way to go. If you know you will be travelling to Europe a lot from NYC then pick CO or United as they will be one soon and have great connections with *A. If you live in NJ then EWR is super easy to get to via train. Personally I think Delta is crap so I avoid them and US Airways is *A too.

Everytime I fly to BOS and drive over to LGA or JFK and fly AA. Continental fares are just outrageous.

I'd *probably* go AA with that mix. I'm not as up on who has the best shuttle services these days...if US is overwhelmingly easier/more convenient, then Star Alliance seems like it'd be okay.

AA has the Challenges you could look into, although it might be tough unless you have some of the Seattle stuff up front and are buying midscale coach fares or higher. (See the AA FAQ for a detailed explanation of the new Challenges, Q-points, etc.)

Marriott might hook you with a fast-track to Gold. Unlikely that either will throw you free Plat without a status match. I like both MR and SPG...if you like Westins, grab your SPG Amex, maybe hotel-hop a little bit to hit SPG Gold quickly, and you'll do just fine.

If you're a full-time consultant at any sort of medium-to-large firm, call your firm's travel agency and ask about status comps and matches. They will frequently have better hookups than you could get cold-calling programs on your own. That's how I received a couple of my hotel mid-tiers to begin with. Even got a no-questions-asked Delta Silver one year... (I believe our firm's travel was coordinated by Carlson-Wagonlit at the time, but I'm sure Amex Travel and the other biggies are similar.)

Hi,

thanks for the replies, I live right near the Lincoln tunnel so EWR is 25minutes and my flight out will be 630am-ish so getting to LGA at 5am is 30minutes or less so not a big deal, expensed taxi/limo to airport so not much of a factor.

Question, if I'm expensing everything I don't have to care whether I get a $170 or $400 flight so is there clear upside for not getting the cheaper fair because of miles or upgrades potential?

I'm sub contracting to Dell/Perot so I can look into who they use for travel services maybe I can leverage them for a speed pass.

thanks

Dont take this wrong-but that attitude in 2010 is likely to lead to another 6 yr "layoff". All companies whether they are small or large ;passing through expenses to clients or covering them themselves; are very cost conscious theese days.

I guess layoff was a bad choice of words, hiatus would've been better as I've had been employed full time here in NYC and just left that environment for the consulting environment. The client is somewhat conscious of expenses and has a $500 cap on flights and use the DOT per diem for hotel/meals.

So back to an earlier comment, if I go with CO, AA, or USAir does any of these 3 benefit me to buy a certain level of ticket knowing i have upto $500 a flight for NYC to BOS ? Is simply buying a refundable ticket give me better chances for upgrades or more mileage?

thanks just trying to maximize my potential


Bill

Since you are doing this weekly, I would recommend you choose the carrier based on who has the most convenient schedule for your normal commute. Trust me, after several weeks of the same drill, that extra 30 minutes heading to the airport at 6am, or time waiting coming home might get very old.

As crappy as US air is, their shuttle product is great. It is hourly all day long on A319s. When I was commuting BOS-WAS, I flew US air but credited to UA, so that I could get economy+ and upgrades on longer flights. I really didnt care about upgrades for the quick shuttle flights. The only issue with this is you will only get actual miles for BOS-NYC.

While US Air's first product leaves a lot to be desired, if you are looking for free international flights, crediting to US is great because you can redeem on any *A airline and unlike UA, they don't have *net blocking. As an EXP, I feel that AA has hands down the best program if you are top-tier but if your normal commute is JFK-BOS, I would NOT recommend them. You will be going out of your way to fly at best a CR7 and until you are EXP would have to use stickers to upgrade, if available. In economy, you probably won't be too happy.

Just my 2cents...

As far as Marriott vs Starwood, I'm Platinum with both and don't think you can go wrong with either. I actually made a spreadsheet at one point comparing point value of both programs, and found that with no bonuses, Marriott seems to be be a better value for earning free nights, but *wood has better promotions. It is also much easier to redeem on *wood, as hotels are rarely not available, and you can always use additional points if no standard rooms are available.

As far as quality of hotels, most Marriotts seem to be better suited for business travel. You get free breakfast and they have much better platinum amenities. However, I think starwood has much better resorts and generally prefer starwoods when on vacation.

+1 well and accurately stated in my view, although I no longer am a commuter on those routes, for which I am very thankful.

Marriott's Megabonus promotions tend to be lame, but on the positive side they have some ongoing offers that tend to be pretty good. The Elite Exclusive Offers (available to Golds and Platinums) yield at least 5 or 6 free weekend nights per year just by calling and booking the stays. The frequent Bonus Buck offers lead to a handful of other effective free nights each year.

This makes it a bit hard to quantify Marriott's total benefit in a spreadsheet, as a good portion of their benefit is in non-points value.

The aspect of Starwood that is hard to quantify in a spreadsheet is that (IMHO) their properties tend to have more character/flavor than the typical Marriott.



Oh, and one last comment about the $500 flight cap: your travel policy may allow them, but everybody knows what a shuttle ticket costs. Don't be That Guy who continually rocks $400 shuttle trips when everybody else gets them for $170. Nobody likes That Guy. Upgrading NYC-BOS? That has so little value it's hardly worth discussing.

I've done the consulting-travel gig for many years, generally with a very liberal "book it yourself - just don't do anything stupid" policy. Clients still get the invoices and find out quickly who's either purposely milking the system or just an inattentive, inefficient traveler who doesn't care about client value. Don't be That Guy.

Watch it now...rolls seem to have changed here based on recent reports. I don't believe UA *net blocks anymore and US is up to something (unconfirmed reports of *net blocking vs. technical issues).

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemil...s-getting-bad/

Question for OP, what are your priorities for rewards from frequent travel...upgrades, award travel, hard product, soft product, lounges, etc. Knowing this info will help up out.

Your trips to SEA might play into this too and lumping that travel into the same program as your BOS trips might be worthwhile.

Well my priorities would be

award travel (Free Flights, nites)
comps/privs/upgrades
Lounge I guess if I fly CO out of EWR

You missed Delta JFK-BOS. Delta still has 500-mile minimum for each segment. This goes for general members as well as elites. IIRC, only elites on UA get the 500 min but I don't follow UA very closely so I could be wrong. (IOW, please, people, don't flame on me just correct me if I am wrong)

While Jet Blue has really great coach the flight is really too short IMHO to value the TV. They also base their FF program on $ spent not distance flown.

While Marriott is running a pretty good DL promo right now, Delta is much more in bed with Hilton. They run numerous promos throughout the year and even promos where Hilton stays can earn elite qualification miles with DL.

Since you will also be going NYC-SEA I would definitely give DL a look. They are very generous with upgrades for the top elites and you would get to Diamond in no time based on your OP. Their soft product coast-to-coast is pretty good. (oh man, did I just open a can of worms)