Hey there,

Been reading these forums for a few months, thanks all for the great advice, especially on the Citi AA Visa/AMX 75K thread. Applied and received both for myself, and 1 for the wife.

Quick question - how do I build status? This is a vague question, I know, and I apologize in advance.

I fly often (perhaps 7-10 times a year, mainly on Delta, and I have the Delta AMX Platinum), but every time I rack up 30-40K miles (via spending and flying), I spend it using "Pay with Miles" on a new flight. I just can't help myself.

Do all of you, who have 500K, 1M, 2M miles, never use your miles? I understand you fly a lot, so you rack up quite a bit, but do you ever use them?

I just can't help myself from using what I have built.

Thanks for your help.

1 simple word. Fly. And when you fly, pay for your tickets. Then you get status. Using Pay With Miles means you get 0 MQM's and 0 RDM's for your trip.

These two questions:
Have nothing to do with each other. It sounds like you may not understand how elite status works.

It's not about how many miles are sitting in your account. For most airlines, it's about how many PAID "elite qualifying" miles you fly within a year. In most cases, unless a credit card offers a specific "elite qualifying miles" bonus, it has nothing to do with credit card spending and nothing to do with how many miles happen to be sitting in your account.

my info says 4.8 mm on aa.....i have ~225k left....the bw has 1.7mm w/~230k left....most people use the mis...

When you fly Delta, for example, on a paid ticket, you earn two types of miles for that flight. First, redeemable miles (which you use for award tix and cash+miles tix, etc) and Second, elite qualification miles (MQMs) which go to status. On delta, 25000 MQMs = silver status, 50000 MQMs = gold status, etc. If you use your redeemable miles to book an award flight or a cash+miles flight, you will not earn any MQMs or any redeemable miles on that flight.

So, to get status, fly a lot on paid tickets so you can earn MQMs. Earn enough and you get status and all the perks that come with it. Also, look into getting the Amex Delta platinum or reserve card, which also provide MQMs if you meet certain spend thresholds.

Exactly. I thought they were 2 of the same.

I actually do have the Delta Amex Platinum, but I don't think I received any MQM miles since I upgraded from the Gold version.

Thanks for all of your help.

If you're flying 7-10 times per year, mostly on Delta, you should be at least close to achieving Silver status each year. Sometimes Hilton runs a promotion that awards MQM with your stays. That might help get you the rest of the way.

But there is a dilemma that award tickets do not earn miles, either EQM or RDM. So if it's a year when you'll fly enough to qualify, but not by much, flying one trip via an award instead of a paid ticket could be the difference between getting status and not. Obviously advance planning helps here.

One way to redeem miles and still earn EQMs is to buy a paid coach ticket and then use the miles to upgrade. Another way, if you travel with a companion, is to buy your own ticket and use your miles to buy their ticket.