I want to come up with a plan for getting to Million Miles. It's going to take a while, and I don't expect anything set in stone. Would just like to have an idea of how it's going to happen.

Right now I have about 200k lifetime points on UA. 100k lifetime points on AA, and about 90k AA Amex MR points (not terribly useful here I guess).

Now I admit I'm a newbie, but it seems like the only way to march towards 1 million miles, regardless of UA or AA, is by actually BIS flying. A lot of tricks used by people in this community is great for racking up points (like credit card churning, Fidelity account sign up, special promotion here and there like US airway grand slam). But at the end of the day, those tricks don't really do much in helping towards million miles. AA used to have a generous program where all points would count, but that gravy train stopped Dec 2011. And I understand I can buy miles, but elite qualifying miles are pretty expensive unless it's a great deal like AAdvantage 11 pts per dollar. Even then, very few merchants offer 11 to 1, and I'm not sure if getting couple hundred grand there (and then flipping on plastic jungle/ebay) is the right thing to do.

So what should a guy like me do? I don't fly for work. So I end up flying a little over 25k miles a year - barely qualifying for the lowest status. At that rate, and I need another 800k on united, that'd take 32 years. Is that my only way?

If I do more credit card churning, I'll be able to fly for miles more often, so revenue generating miles would be even less. Meaning it'd take me even longer.

Am I missing something really obvious?

Funny. Then I would probably be lying to you if I said that I have close to two million miles and points in my account right now (granted that's together with wife, but that's also after having done lots and lots of award flying and staying).

Only I'm not, and I could happily prove it with my Award Wallet account--that's if I had to prove anything to anybody. I don't fly on business, I rarely use any sort of shopping portals to accumulate miles, and believe it or not, I never did the Mint. I know it almost sounds like blasphemy, but I thought it would've been too much effort.

The only thing I do is churning credit cards. Start now and you'll get there in a year if you're aggressive enough, or a year and a half if you're mellow.

If you mean you want the MillionMiller status with airlines... BIS is the only way I think on AA and UA (and most other airlines) hmmm, a whole lot of MR if you dont fly for work.

How to get a Million Miles.

1. Start with 2 million miles
2. Travel a lot.

The OP is obviously referring to MillonMiler status, not redeemable miles. Churning credit cards will get you few, if any, elite qualifying miles.

One thing you could do is pick one airline and stick with it. If you have 200k lifetime miles on UA then only fly UA and not AA or any other airlines. Also avoid Star Alliance partners is possible as these flights get you EQMs but not lifetime miles.

You mentioned flying about 25k miles per year. If you doubled that to 50K (a few MRs a year) you could reduce your 32 years by 2 and get to the million mile status in 16 years instead of 32. I know that's still a long shot but it's a start. Also maybe look for a different job with more travel involved if that's at all possible.

If you only fly 25k miles per year on your own dime there is no reason to pay for any of it. All the card offers and bonuses here are enough to cover you. You won't be getting the BIS miles (unless you use pay with points cards) but you will have more money in your pocket to spend at you destination.

I doubt it's worth it to achieve lifetime status for you in your current situation.

After all, all you'll gain is perks you can mostly enjoy when flying. Do you really want to MR for 16 years just to enjoy a few perks (most of which can be bought anyways) for the rest of your life at 25-50k a year?

My take is that MM status is worth something if you spend a good chunk your life travelling at 100/200K levels. People that fly that much, actually need the extra perks.

If you are trying to get to a million mile status for the persk/benefits, you could save your money on MR and just buy business or first class tickets whenever you tarvel on intl routes and enjoy the same benefits. You could end up saving a lot of money and headaches.

With the change in AA's program, actual flying is the only way to achieve lifetime status. And for travelers whose occupations don't require frequent business travel and with the mileage totals you've indicated you have, it will take a long time to achieve lifetime status.

But what's your real goal in trying to get to million-mile status? There are generally five major advantages to status: higher baggage allowance, increased miles earning rates, lounge access, flying in business or first class, and a better customer service experience. That order pretty much goes from lowest priority to highest in my mind while others will have a different point of view.

In a sense, you can achieve the first four of those through credit cards. First, many of the airlines' co-branded cards, such as those associated with AA and UA, now include a free bag as one of their perks. If you travel with checked bags more than a couple of times per year, the money saved more than justifies the annual fee.

Second, you won't get a higher earnings rate for flying, but given that many frequent flyers who are not regulars of FlyerTalk probably never think of the kinds of credit applications that are a fact of life here, you'll still earn miles at a higher rate than the average traveler by collecting bonuses. Short of the "Up in the Air" kind of traveler, you're more likely to get 50K miles from an airline by taking its credit card than taking its flights.

Third, lounge access now comes easily through several high-end credit cards. Amex Plat offers access to a number of airline lounges while AA and UA both have higher-end cards that allow access to that airline's lounge. Figure the cost here to be higher--$400-500 for the annual fee--but, if you fly more than a half-dozen times per year, that fee can be worth it and certainly more sensible than buying an annual lounge membership.

Fourth, status offers the possibility of getting upgrades from coach to a higher class of travel, but assuming you're using the techniques you learn about here at FT, you can accumulate enough miles to get business or first-class travel on your own.

Finally, while there is no doubt that status will improve many aspects of customer service, such as the assistance you may get when weather and equipment problems cause significant disruptions in your travel plans, you can achieve some of this by avoiding DYKWIA syndrome and, again, learning and using techniques discussed here at FT. If you consider overt recognition of your status by airline employees to be a part of good customer service, however, you won't be satisfied with this approach.

I came a little late to the lifetime status party myself and even using credit card apps with Citi/AA, couldn't accumulate more than 250K miles before AA changed its program. I, like you, have a job that doesn't require much travel. I will never achieve lifetime status with any airline. Nevertheless, I've found that I have achieved a "status lite" with a number of airlines by following these steps.

People that fly that much are probably top tier status anyway, so in many cases lifetime status wouldn't change anything until you stopped flying that much.

Not to mention if the program/airline stays around that long and/or changes. Take a look at the recent UA lifetime changes...some people are pretty upset over that one.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/chica...ry?id=16443814

Duh. It was late and I wasn't reading straight, I guess.

Just curious (I'm sort of a newbie) but how can you earn miles from your wife's travel? When I tried to use my FF number on my GF's ticket for our upcoming trip it wouldn't let me b/c the names didn't match...

His Award Wallet account

sorry for my ignorance, but what does status get you? Also, once you achieve it, is it for life, or do you have to 'earn' it every year to keep it?