Most decorated frequent flyer?
 

I've been lurking these forums for a quite a while and am still surprised at how many different elite status' flyers accrue.

So who do you think has the largest collection of programs in which they hold elite status?

George Clooney, naturally

I think that Traxo's leaderboards are the only place you'll find semi-accurate data, as it pulls status/account balances/travel/etc from the program websites, like Award Wallet and others. Unfortunately, programs cutting 3rd party access has severely limited the functionality/accuracy of these sites. They are now forced to allow manual inputs, which makes all data suspect.

There's obviously some gaming gong on, but the most I see that I can trust is someone with elite status in 12 programs - 5 airlines, 6 hotels, and 1 car rental.

The unknown is status matches and such. Before Feb 28, I was showing 12, but in reality only had 9 (4 air, 3 hotel, 2 car)

probably Mr Pickles

Probably These Guys

I'm at 17 total (8 air, 6 hotel, and 3 car) but most of this is from credit cards and status match. I really don't fly that much but if status is offered, I'll take it.

Most decorated frequent flyer?
 

Peter,

Any advice on the most likely OW and Skyteam airlines to status match for *G?

UA matches DL Platinum to UA Platinum but AA Platinum to UA gold.

The best resource I've found for status matching is

http://www.statusmatcher.com/

Somebody out there has to have a bunch of hotel statuses. Even a fairly regular biz traveler doing 10-12 actual hotel nights per month, and holding the right credit cards for his favorite programs, could probably hold 5 to 6 statuses of Marriott Gold value or better.

Perhaps a modest amount of hotel-hopping required for the stay-based programs, but certainly wouldn't need any crazy degree of manufactured spending or unnecessary mattress running.

I've had quite a few years where I've held all of MR Plat, HH Diamond, SPG Plat, PC Plat, and one or two more like a Hyatt or a Kimpton status. Usually 1-2 due to credit cards and sometimes a status or two granted to me for longer than I expected it.

Never held more than 1 airline top-tier at one time though. Sometimes 2-3 mid- or low-tiers. Clearly the hotel world has far more backdoors, fast tracks, comps, challenges, etc. than the airline world - especially when you're talking top-tiers.

Isn't this something more to feel sympathy for than anything?

Is there any travel experience that beats sleeping in your own bed and propping your feet up on your own coffee table and watching your own TV?

Is there anyone who gets to their destination and says "Oh gosh, I wish I could take another segment?"

For me personally there's a happy medium in there somewhere. My most enjoyable travel years were where I was doing enough to have one decent mid-tier airline status (preferably Star Alliance) and a couple of hotel statuses attainable with 50-70 total nights per year including vacations.

When I've gone more than a couple weeks without going somewhere, I get an itch for it. In the years when I was United 1K, I grew tired of it...especially tired of the little feeder segments and the hub connections.

This year I'll end up with Aegean Gold and my usual hotel statuses (since they're pretty easy to maintain). Plus AA Lifetime Gold, not that I'm really flying them much. Enough to have basic access to most of the world but not requiring so much travel that I'm never home...

Do credit cards actually give status, or only the equivalent benefits? I've never owned one but while I know the US card gives you a free bag, zone 2 boarding, etc., I don't believe you actually hold Silver status (e.g. no *A status).

Most status matches are one-time only, or once in a 5 year period, etc., so be careful about how you use them.


It's certainly possible to earn status in many hotel programs. My 125 nights go to MR (75) and SPG (50) PLT - I'm sure I could get lowest tier status in quite a few - but I doubt many savvy travelers would give up higher-tier perks after three programs at most.

Correct, the credit cards don't provide full elite tier benefits. No bonus RDM's, no status in the upgrade queue, no partner elite treatment at all.

If you really wanted to spread the 125 nights around and use the right credit cards to hit the various spending thresholds, you could probably have 6 or 7 top tiers. Of course, you might not get to enjoy them much if you're always chasing the next one! :o

Sure. I find being at home all the time to be exceedingly boring. Unfortunately there aren't many travel opportunities in my field.

If I didn't have to work I'd spend at least 3/4 of the year away from home. That being said not all of us live in areas that are at all nice or have much to do (see my home airport).

Huh? AFAIK the Centurion card to DL PM gives all the benefits and privileges of PM status but MQMs and RDMs, so that getting to DM would still require 125,000 MQMs. I'm not sure whether Centurion PMs get to pick a choice benefit such as four SWUs or gifting FO to someone.

Similarly, for SPG status, AmEx Plat to Gold gives all the privileges of Gold, including earning an additional point per dollar, late checkout, enhanced rooms, etc. Centurion used to give SPG Plat but it's been changed to just Gold.