Elite Status Without Flying or Staying
Nov 6, 2011 | 2:07 pm
#241
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: Centurion Card, Executive Platinum AAdvantage, Platinum Medallion, Platinum Starwood, Platinum Hyatt
Posts: 7
Elite Status Without Flying
Ferdinand, you have provided an incredible summary. Thank you! I'm calling Centurion right now to buy my status
Nov 6, 2011 | 4:29 pm
#242
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 3,948
This has been around for a while, but anyway, after you book a ticket on Continental, you have the choice of getting more miles for additional payment with the One Pass Maximizer. This comes in two flavors, the Maximizer and the Elite Maximizer. The Elite Maximizer gives you both status miles and redeemable miles. You can book a refundable flight, take the Elite Maximzer option, get the status miles and redeemable miles, and then cancel the flight. Only the fare is returned to you; the miles, and the charge for the miles, remains in effect. According to Continental's website:
http://www.continental.com/CMS/en-US...lServices.aspx
the cost is 8 cents per mile (status and redeemable combined), but it actually varies from time to time. According to recent reports on FlyerTalk, it's now around 7 cents per mile. So, for instance, for $1750 of this, you'd get 25,000 status miles and Silver status, plus 25,000 redeemable miles.
http://www.continental.com/CMS/en-US...lServices.aspx
the cost is 8 cents per mile (status and redeemable combined), but it actually varies from time to time. According to recent reports on FlyerTalk, it's now around 7 cents per mile. So, for instance, for $1750 of this, you'd get 25,000 status miles and Silver status, plus 25,000 redeemable miles.
Nov 7, 2011 | 10:45 am
#244
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: SPG Plat, Emerald Exec., PC Plat, AA, CO, DL, UBS Charter Card, Palladium Card, Amex Plat
Posts: 1,694
Huh? If you do indeed have a Centurion card as your profile states, there is no "buying" of status. You are given Platinum with DL and US as standard features of the card.
Nov 10, 2011 | 9:01 am
#245
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 188
I am almost near *G. If I buy miles using mileage accelerator now, would I be gold this year only or whole of next year ?
Dec 12, 2011 | 12:30 pm
#247
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Orlando, FL
Programs: CO Gold, AA Plat, DL Gold, US Chairman's Preferred, Starwood Plat, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 187
"The Points Guy"
A comprehensive discussion from today's posting by "The Points Guy":
How to Get Elite Miles Without Flying
by THE POINTS GUY on DECEMBER 12, 2011 8 COMMENTS
in AMERICAN,CONTINENTAL,DELTA,ELITE STATUS,UNITED,US AIRWAYS
4
This is another installment in my Maximizing Elite Status series. Articles include: The Basics and Why People Mileage Run, Using ITA Matrix to Find Cheap Flights, How Much is Elite Status Worth?, Comparing Top-Tier Status, Comparing Mid Tier Status and Comparing Low Level Status.
Elite status is like a drug- once you get a taste of it, its hard to give it up. In fact, the thought of losing elite status is such a painful idea for many frequent flyers, that they will go to extremes to maintain it like taking flights solely for the sake of getting elite miles, otherwise known as mileage running.
However, mileage running isnt a viable option for many people because it costs a lot in terms of time. December is generally a busy month for many people and spare days to aimless fly around can be hard to come by.
Getting elite miles can be expensive, so before you do any of the ideas I highlight below, make sure your current elite miles are correct. I just checked my AA.com and for some reason I was not credited with a recent Miami to Aruba flight. The return flight posted fine, but my outbound portion is simply MIA (no pun intended). Additionally, if youve been re-routed this year to a more direct itinerary, you can request Original Routing Credit from the airline. For example, if you booked and American Airlines itinerary La Guardia-Dallas-San Francisco (to take advantage of the double elite miles on DFW-West coast routes) and then at the airport your LaGuardia to Dallas flight is cancelled so they change you to a nonstop JFK-SFO, you can request original routing credit to get those extra 1,731 precious EQMs.
You can also try to squeeze as many elite miles from existing itineraries by changing your routing through Same Day Confirmed changes. For example, Delta is very flexible with SDC (its free for Gold and higher Medallions and $50 for everyone else). As long as the route you want to switch to isnt completely insane you can have fun with this. If you are on Detroit to LaGuardia, you can Same Day Confirm to Detroit to Memphis to LaGuardia, turning a 502 mile trip into 1,573 MQMs. Last year when Delta was running double MQMs out of Pittsburgh, I turned a $60 PIT-JFK flight into PIT-Detroit-Raleigh Durham-Laguardia for a net haul of 3,000 MQMs! I originally changed to PIT-DTW-LGA, but once I got to Detroit I SDCed to DTW-RDU-LGA. And got my first class upgrades on all legs.
So what do you do if you still need elite miles to reach that next elite level, but you dont have any more flights planned? Below is a list of ways to get elite miles without stepping foot on a plane. Feel free to add any others that Ive missed.
American: AA generally makes it very difficult to get elite miles without flying. They were the last of the major airlines to offer elite miles via credit card and they just recently launched their co-branded card that offers EQMs.
Citi Executive AAdvantage card gives 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles when you spend $40,000 in a calendar year. Other benefits include: Admirals Club lounge access, no foreign transaction fees and free checked bags. Current sign-up bonus: 25,000 regular miles with $1,000 spend within 4 months. Annual fee:$450.
Continental/United
If you havent done so already, you can link your Continental and United accounts and combine any elite miles youve accrued this year between both programs to count towards status in 2012.
You can also do the Elite Maximizer: Continental will give you the option of doubling your miles buying regular miles at about 3.5 cents a piece and then also giving the option to get EQMs as well. The thing is, once you buy the maximizer, you automatically get the miles- not when you fly. So you can cancel your ticket and youll still keep the EQMs granted at a steep price. As the end of the year nears they raise the price of the EQMs because they know people get more desperate. For more info, check out my post on it from last December.
Continental Presidential Plus card. 1,000 Flex EQMs for every $5,000 spent. Other benefits include: Red Carpet/Presidents Club lounge access, no foreign transaction fees, 2 free checked bags, Hyatt Platinum, Avis Presidents Club. Current sign-up bonus: Nothing. Annual fee: $395
Continental Presidential Plus for Business. 1,000 Flex EQMs for every $5,000 spent. Other benefits include: Red Carpet/Presidents Club lounge access, no foreign transaction fees, 2 free checked bags, Hyatt Platinum, Avis Presidents Club. Current sign-up bonus: Nothing. Annual fee: $395
Delta: Delta makes it the easiest to get elite qualifying (Medallion) miles.
Buy MQM Program: Through December 15, 2011 you can buy up to 10,000 MQMs for $895. Delta also lets you rollover excess MQMs from year to year. So even if youve already achieved your status for this year, you can buy these MQMs and youll roll over any MQMs you have beyond your current elite level. So if you have 55,000 currently and buy 10,000 youll start January 1, 2012 with 15,000 MQMs because thats how many you are beyond the Gold level (50,000).
1,500 MQMs for purchasing SkyClub membership (starting at $300)
In addition, they offer several ways to rack up monster MQMs from their credit cards (and remember Amex will let you have multiple credit cards especially personal and business so think of all the possibilities):
Delta Reserve Card: 10,000 MQMs with first purchase, 15,000 MQMs if you hit $30,000 within a calendar year and then an additional 15,000 when you hit $60,000. Other benefits include; Delta SkyClub access, domestic first class companion ticket (this works for coach and discounted first class so its actually pretty valuable), free checked bag. Current Sign-up Bonus: 10,000 MQMs after first purchase. Annual fee: $450. Maximum potential MQMs with sign-up bonus = 40,000.
Delta Business Reserve Card: 15,000 MQMs + 15.000 bonus miles when you spend $30K in a calendar year. Then, get another 15K MQMs + 15K bonus miles when you reach $60K the same year. Current Sign-up Bonus: 10,000 MQMs with first purchase. Annual fee: $450. Maximum potential MQMs with sign-up bonus = 40,000.
Delta Platinum Card: Earn a Miles Boost of 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) when you reach $25,000 in eligible purchases during a calendar year. Earn an additional Miles Boost of 10,000 MQMs when you reach $50,000 in eligible purchases the same calendar year. Current sign-up bonus: 20,000 regular miles and 5,000 MQMs with first purchase. 5,000 more miles when you add two additional users. Annual fee: $150. Maximum potential MQMs with sign-up bonus = 25,000.
Delta Business Platinum Card: Earn a Miles Boost of 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) when you reach $25,000 in eligible purchases during a calendar year. Earn an additional Miles Boost of 10,000 MQMs when you reach $50,000 in eligible purchases the same calendar year. Current sign-up bonus: 20,000 regular miles and 5,000 MQMs with first purchase. 5,000 more miles when you add two additional users. Annual fee: $150. Maximum potential MQMs with sign-up bonus = 25,000
If you took advantage of the max MQMs from all 4 co-branded cards and did a 25,000 MQM transfer, you could essential get 165,000 MQMs which would get you their top-tier Diamond status and allow you to roll over 45,000 MQMs to the next year which would almost get you to Gold all without stepping foot on a plane.
US Airways
US Airways Barclays US Airways Premier World Mastercard that offers up to 10,000 preferred miles. Current Sign-up Bonus: 40,000 miles Annual fee: $89, waived for the first year.
Buy Up to Preferred program (starting at $1,499 for Silver and up to $3,999 for Chairmans). They also have a Trial Preferred program which sells status for 90 days and gives you the opportunity to keep it if you fly a certain amount.
Buy Up to Preferred Prices
US also gave out Preferred Qualifying Miles as part of Grand Slam, so you may have gotten some as part of that promotion.
How to Get Elite Miles Without Flying
by THE POINTS GUY on DECEMBER 12, 2011 8 COMMENTS
in AMERICAN,CONTINENTAL,DELTA,ELITE STATUS,UNITED,US AIRWAYS
4
This is another installment in my Maximizing Elite Status series. Articles include: The Basics and Why People Mileage Run, Using ITA Matrix to Find Cheap Flights, How Much is Elite Status Worth?, Comparing Top-Tier Status, Comparing Mid Tier Status and Comparing Low Level Status.
Elite status is like a drug- once you get a taste of it, its hard to give it up. In fact, the thought of losing elite status is such a painful idea for many frequent flyers, that they will go to extremes to maintain it like taking flights solely for the sake of getting elite miles, otherwise known as mileage running.
However, mileage running isnt a viable option for many people because it costs a lot in terms of time. December is generally a busy month for many people and spare days to aimless fly around can be hard to come by.
Getting elite miles can be expensive, so before you do any of the ideas I highlight below, make sure your current elite miles are correct. I just checked my AA.com and for some reason I was not credited with a recent Miami to Aruba flight. The return flight posted fine, but my outbound portion is simply MIA (no pun intended). Additionally, if youve been re-routed this year to a more direct itinerary, you can request Original Routing Credit from the airline. For example, if you booked and American Airlines itinerary La Guardia-Dallas-San Francisco (to take advantage of the double elite miles on DFW-West coast routes) and then at the airport your LaGuardia to Dallas flight is cancelled so they change you to a nonstop JFK-SFO, you can request original routing credit to get those extra 1,731 precious EQMs.
You can also try to squeeze as many elite miles from existing itineraries by changing your routing through Same Day Confirmed changes. For example, Delta is very flexible with SDC (its free for Gold and higher Medallions and $50 for everyone else). As long as the route you want to switch to isnt completely insane you can have fun with this. If you are on Detroit to LaGuardia, you can Same Day Confirm to Detroit to Memphis to LaGuardia, turning a 502 mile trip into 1,573 MQMs. Last year when Delta was running double MQMs out of Pittsburgh, I turned a $60 PIT-JFK flight into PIT-Detroit-Raleigh Durham-Laguardia for a net haul of 3,000 MQMs! I originally changed to PIT-DTW-LGA, but once I got to Detroit I SDCed to DTW-RDU-LGA. And got my first class upgrades on all legs.
So what do you do if you still need elite miles to reach that next elite level, but you dont have any more flights planned? Below is a list of ways to get elite miles without stepping foot on a plane. Feel free to add any others that Ive missed.
American: AA generally makes it very difficult to get elite miles without flying. They were the last of the major airlines to offer elite miles via credit card and they just recently launched their co-branded card that offers EQMs.
Citi Executive AAdvantage card gives 10,000 Elite Qualifying Miles when you spend $40,000 in a calendar year. Other benefits include: Admirals Club lounge access, no foreign transaction fees and free checked bags. Current sign-up bonus: 25,000 regular miles with $1,000 spend within 4 months. Annual fee:$450.
Continental/United
If you havent done so already, you can link your Continental and United accounts and combine any elite miles youve accrued this year between both programs to count towards status in 2012.
You can also do the Elite Maximizer: Continental will give you the option of doubling your miles buying regular miles at about 3.5 cents a piece and then also giving the option to get EQMs as well. The thing is, once you buy the maximizer, you automatically get the miles- not when you fly. So you can cancel your ticket and youll still keep the EQMs granted at a steep price. As the end of the year nears they raise the price of the EQMs because they know people get more desperate. For more info, check out my post on it from last December.
Continental Presidential Plus card. 1,000 Flex EQMs for every $5,000 spent. Other benefits include: Red Carpet/Presidents Club lounge access, no foreign transaction fees, 2 free checked bags, Hyatt Platinum, Avis Presidents Club. Current sign-up bonus: Nothing. Annual fee: $395
Continental Presidential Plus for Business. 1,000 Flex EQMs for every $5,000 spent. Other benefits include: Red Carpet/Presidents Club lounge access, no foreign transaction fees, 2 free checked bags, Hyatt Platinum, Avis Presidents Club. Current sign-up bonus: Nothing. Annual fee: $395
Delta: Delta makes it the easiest to get elite qualifying (Medallion) miles.
Buy MQM Program: Through December 15, 2011 you can buy up to 10,000 MQMs for $895. Delta also lets you rollover excess MQMs from year to year. So even if youve already achieved your status for this year, you can buy these MQMs and youll roll over any MQMs you have beyond your current elite level. So if you have 55,000 currently and buy 10,000 youll start January 1, 2012 with 15,000 MQMs because thats how many you are beyond the Gold level (50,000).
1,500 MQMs for purchasing SkyClub membership (starting at $300)
In addition, they offer several ways to rack up monster MQMs from their credit cards (and remember Amex will let you have multiple credit cards especially personal and business so think of all the possibilities):
Delta Reserve Card: 10,000 MQMs with first purchase, 15,000 MQMs if you hit $30,000 within a calendar year and then an additional 15,000 when you hit $60,000. Other benefits include; Delta SkyClub access, domestic first class companion ticket (this works for coach and discounted first class so its actually pretty valuable), free checked bag. Current Sign-up Bonus: 10,000 MQMs after first purchase. Annual fee: $450. Maximum potential MQMs with sign-up bonus = 40,000.
Delta Business Reserve Card: 15,000 MQMs + 15.000 bonus miles when you spend $30K in a calendar year. Then, get another 15K MQMs + 15K bonus miles when you reach $60K the same year. Current Sign-up Bonus: 10,000 MQMs with first purchase. Annual fee: $450. Maximum potential MQMs with sign-up bonus = 40,000.
Delta Platinum Card: Earn a Miles Boost of 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) when you reach $25,000 in eligible purchases during a calendar year. Earn an additional Miles Boost of 10,000 MQMs when you reach $50,000 in eligible purchases the same calendar year. Current sign-up bonus: 20,000 regular miles and 5,000 MQMs with first purchase. 5,000 more miles when you add two additional users. Annual fee: $150. Maximum potential MQMs with sign-up bonus = 25,000.
Delta Business Platinum Card: Earn a Miles Boost of 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (MQMs) when you reach $25,000 in eligible purchases during a calendar year. Earn an additional Miles Boost of 10,000 MQMs when you reach $50,000 in eligible purchases the same calendar year. Current sign-up bonus: 20,000 regular miles and 5,000 MQMs with first purchase. 5,000 more miles when you add two additional users. Annual fee: $150. Maximum potential MQMs with sign-up bonus = 25,000
If you took advantage of the max MQMs from all 4 co-branded cards and did a 25,000 MQM transfer, you could essential get 165,000 MQMs which would get you their top-tier Diamond status and allow you to roll over 45,000 MQMs to the next year which would almost get you to Gold all without stepping foot on a plane.
US Airways
US Airways Barclays US Airways Premier World Mastercard that offers up to 10,000 preferred miles. Current Sign-up Bonus: 40,000 miles Annual fee: $89, waived for the first year.
Buy Up to Preferred program (starting at $1,499 for Silver and up to $3,999 for Chairmans). They also have a Trial Preferred program which sells status for 90 days and gives you the opportunity to keep it if you fly a certain amount.
Buy Up to Preferred Prices
US also gave out Preferred Qualifying Miles as part of Grand Slam, so you may have gotten some as part of that promotion.
Dec 17, 2011 | 10:35 am
#248
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: Centurion Card, Executive Platinum AAdvantage, Platinum Medallion, Platinum Starwood, Platinum Hyatt
Posts: 7
I'm new to this world. I have always paid full price for 1st Class. In this economic environment, I want to obtain the best value. My Centurion concierge still books all my international travel, but my staff has learned to play the game using my AAirpass. This post was for my employees who were barely shy of obtaining Diamond status. Centurion helped us buy EMQMs for my senior execs.
Dec 17, 2011 | 1:23 pm
#249
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: WAS
Programs: AA EXP2M, DL 1MM DM ext, UA PP <=> HH G/Marr PE/Hyatt G/IHG P FT RA ( Recovering Addict)
Posts: 4,900
Do not forget the AAirpass and the United PassPlus programs as well
You can get instant EXP on AA with a 40k AAirPass
As Ferdinand Magellan points out, Delta has the private Jets program for ~$100000 and you can nominate 2 to DM status!
You can get instant EXP on AA with a 40k AAirPass
As Ferdinand Magellan points out, Delta has the private Jets program for ~$100000 and you can nominate 2 to DM status!
Dec 18, 2011 | 12:19 pm
#250
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,657
The New York Times had an article about this, quoting our own Randy Petersen:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/12/18...r-account.html
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/12/18...r-account.html
Jul 30, 2013 | 12:32 pm
#251
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 26,113
Bumping this thread to update it a bit:
On in Dec 2011, AA stopped counting miles from all sources toward lifetime elite status. Now it only counts flown miles (not even bonuses on flown miles count any more). So if you didn't accumulate a lot of lifetime AA miles before that date, knowing that that's how it worked in the past doesn't help you any more.
However, there's a new wrinkle: Be elite in a certain hotel program, and you can get some elite perks at a certain airline.
Recently, SPG and DL paired up with a "crossover" program, although it doesn't give full DL status of even the first level. See here.
To counter that Marriott and UA paired up with a somewhat difrerent "crossover" program, and it does gives those who are Marriott Platinum full first-level (Premier Silver) status at UA:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...announced.html
This new hotel-airline pairing may help those who stay a lot in hotels but only do ground travel the bulk of the time. (It's not likely to help those who neither fly a lot nor stay in hotels a lot.)
On in Dec 2011, AA stopped counting miles from all sources toward lifetime elite status. Now it only counts flown miles (not even bonuses on flown miles count any more). So if you didn't accumulate a lot of lifetime AA miles before that date, knowing that that's how it worked in the past doesn't help you any more.
However, there's a new wrinkle: Be elite in a certain hotel program, and you can get some elite perks at a certain airline.
Recently, SPG and DL paired up with a "crossover" program, although it doesn't give full DL status of even the first level. See here.
To counter that Marriott and UA paired up with a somewhat difrerent "crossover" program, and it does gives those who are Marriott Platinum full first-level (Premier Silver) status at UA:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...announced.html
This new hotel-airline pairing may help those who stay a lot in hotels but only do ground travel the bulk of the time. (It's not likely to help those who neither fly a lot nor stay in hotels a lot.)
Jul 31, 2013 | 1:55 am
#252
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: India
Programs: DL Diamond, Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, ALL Platinum, IHG Platinum
Posts: 30,697
Recently, SPG and DL paired up with a "crossover" program, although it doesn't give full DL status of even the first level. See here.
To counter that Marriott and UA paired up with a somewhat difrerent "crossover" program, and it does gives those who are Marriott Platinum full first-level (Premier Silver) status at UA:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...announced.html
This new hotel-airline pairing may help those who stay a lot in hotels but only do ground travel the bulk of the time. (It's not likely to help those who neither fly a lot nor stay in hotels a lot.)
To counter that Marriott and UA paired up with a somewhat difrerent "crossover" program, and it does gives those who are Marriott Platinum full first-level (Premier Silver) status at UA:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...announced.html
This new hotel-airline pairing may help those who stay a lot in hotels but only do ground travel the bulk of the time. (It's not likely to help those who neither fly a lot nor stay in hotels a lot.)
Jul 31, 2013 | 2:19 am
#253
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: NL
Programs: FB M&M AA Amex HH SPG and others
Posts: 1,929
And another update:
while in the past you could earn level miles with a French cobranded Air France/KLM Amex-card for every purchase, this was ended a while ago.
But from September 2013 when you buy from Air France/KLM you earn (only for those purchases) level miles. So when you book tickets for other people you can earn elite status without flying again, only it will be much more difficult then before.
The new rule is not only for the French cobranded card, but also for the Dutch one.
The Silver card does not earn level miles, the Gold card earns 1,5 mile per euro, the Platinum card earns 2 miles per euro.
while in the past you could earn level miles with a French cobranded Air France/KLM Amex-card for every purchase, this was ended a while ago.
But from September 2013 when you buy from Air France/KLM you earn (only for those purchases) level miles. So when you book tickets for other people you can earn elite status without flying again, only it will be much more difficult then before.
The new rule is not only for the French cobranded card, but also for the Dutch one.
The Silver card does not earn level miles, the Gold card earns 1,5 mile per euro, the Platinum card earns 2 miles per euro.
Sep 20, 2013 | 8:55 pm
#254
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: puget sound area
Programs: AA lifetime gold, starwood fanatic
Posts: 63
What hotel / airlines allow status upgrades based on CC spending?
Just like the title says. Business spends a lot ea month and Im wondering what card I should use for the best hotel or airline experience. Hoping to get status upgrades based on spending or lifetime status based on spending. I used AA Citibank as my only card until they dropped the lifetime status bumps based on spending.
Sep 20, 2013 | 9:35 pm
#255
Original Member and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Programs: DL PM/MM, AA ExPlat, Hyatt Glob, HH Dia, National ECE, Hertz PC
Posts: 16,619
The only ones I'm aware of that allow you to earn status based solely on credit card spend are the Hilton HHonors Surpass Card where you get Diamond for $40k (and Gold for $20k, and I think you can get Gold with their Visa too for the same) and Delta Reserve where you can earn 30k status miles (enough for Silver and you'll even rollover some for the next year) by spending $60k (and you could get additional Business/Personal cards and earn even more actually). Other programs' cards only give some help towards elite I believe, not enough to earn elite on their own.