Friends,

I will be moving on from my current employer at the end of this year to a much better position at a much smaller company.

I currently hold AA platinum with just over 50K BIS miles each year and Starwood Platinum due to my moderate business travel.

My new position is going to require substantially more travel (particularly on the hotel side) as I will actually be splitting my time between my home office and their HQ a few states away.

After speaking with their corporate travel agent I learned that this company's policy is to either select the lowest coach airfare/hotel room (ok, I've dealt with that all along, usually AA cooperates) or, preferably, book air travel using their corporate amex's rewards points (not sure what the small business equivalent of MR is called.)

Eek. This means that not only will I have zero opportunity to upgrade flights (as far as I know no airline lets you upgrade mileage flights) but also I will not be able to re-earn status on any particular carrier since each of my "free' flights will not earn EQMs or segments or anything - a really nasty double whammy.

I know that it sounds crazy that I am even concerned about this, since I certainly am not about to decide about a job opportunity based upon FF benefits, however the intense amount of travel that this position requires would be made far more pallateable were I able to enjoy FF benefits. At this point I am far less concerned about upgrades and miles and moreso about security lines, phone assistance, help in delay situations, etc.

I would greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions that anyone may be able to offer, surely someone had to cope with a situation such as this in the past.

Best, Lewis

P.S. FWIW I don't disparage my new company for trying to save some travel $ - it's not the late 90s anymore and I wouldn't want to go to work for anyplace that still acted as though it were.

If the opportunity with the new company is that good, you might want to invest in an American Express Platinum card.

That way you will at least be able to retain some status, but I wouldn't do it immediately, as you still have a couple years for you to drop to the status that the Amex will give you. Check the site for details.

I wouldn't reject a good job offer because of FF benefits.

Just remember, now that you have to use miles/points to get your flights, sometimes, as it is with Delta, a SkySaver first class can be cheaper than a SkyChoice coach, so, not all hope is lost

I consider FF miles, upgrade and hotel points as perks of the job. I take a really nice vacation every other year cashing in tons of FF miles and hotel points. Upgrades are important to me so I stick with one airline. If I had to travel as much as I do and was forced to use discount airlines and whatever hotel is the cheapest then I would be losing a significant perk of my job. Pay would have to be much higher to recoup the cost of having to pay for these great vacations out of my pocket. I definitely take this into consideration in keeping my job. Yes my company will only pay for coach but I am frugal in booking my own tickets so they leave me alone and I get to stay with one airline and upgrade myself with coupons or miles. I won't stay at cheapy hotels. I have a standard of living at home, why should I lower my standard when I am on the road. I try to be frugal with the costs but I stay at reasonably nice places.

You have to make up your own mind if the perks are part of your compensation package or just something you don't consider when getting a job. Status is important to you so you can get the perks then you have to decide if the extra salary is enough to make up for not having the perks.

These are just my thoughts and opinions.

And what status (other than SPG Gold, which anyone with a pulse can get) is an Amex Platinum Card supposed to get him?

Great point (and thanks all for the responses BTW.) We've gone ahead and requested an upgrade of our AmEx gold to Plat for the minimal lounge access and a couple of other reasons, but sadly the much-diluted SPG gold wasn't one of them.

Baze, your point re: standard of living on the road is a good one. It's been made clear to me that I won't be asked to stay at any "scary or cheesy places" - it will be lots of Courtyards, Hampton Inn, etc - nothing lower end than that - but also nothing much higher end.

I've always been able to partially rationalize and deal with my needing to travel for business a lot - and on a business budget - by using my earned FF benefits (and often, as in the case of airline upgrades, my own money) to make the travel more bearable. While the new job is definitely a major step up for me career-wise, I am admittedly skittish about becoming "just another coach passenger on a 'free' ticket" - again, it's less about miles and upgrades and more about the little things.

I really need to come up with a strategy for making this work......

Thanks again, Lewis

If I were you I'd negotiate a deal with my new employer: agree on the value of miles. It doesn't make sense for them to spend 30000 miles for a ticket that can be bought for $200, so come up with a fair valuation of the particular airline's miles and say "if the ticket works out cheaper, I'll have a proper ticket. If it's cheaper to go with miles, that's what I'll do." So they get a good deal and with a bit of luck you will be able to reach some kind of status and enjoy FF perks some if not most of the time.

Thanks all.

Besides/in addition to Amex Plat, are there any other cards/programs/memberships out there that can provide FF-esque benefits? I know you can't "buy" true airline status (and for good reason, IMO) but something approaching that level would be ideal.

Thanks again, Lewis

Actually, you can. The Amex Centurion (not Platinum; may have been a typo on jfe's part) gets you mid-tier (50,000-mile equivalent) status on Continental and one other airline I forget at the moment. Whether you'd qualify for one, since it generally requires a history of charging at least $150K/year on another Amex card, and whether it's worth the $2,000+ annual fee, are separate questions.

Beyond that, I'd try to make a case with your new employer that (a) status makes life on the road more tolerable for the reasons you mentioned and (b) it doesn't cost much, especially since they presumably can use up all their Amex points without trouble and it they save no more money using them on you than on someone else. (It would be different if total company travel couldn't use them all up, but I gather that's not the case.)

It's not like you're asking for paid F or anything. It's just that, for an occasional traveler, flying on an Amex reward or paid ticket makes no difference, whereas for a regular traveler it does, so why not use them where it does no harm and use paid tickets where it will do some good?

Oops, I meant Centurion, but even with the platinum card he will access to some lounges.

Centurion is a little tricky to qualify

LOL... tell me about it

few things...
1) if you would be able to stay in "courtyards", "hampton Inns" etc you will still be able to get status with some of hotel programs, if not by points but at least by nights. if you consider sticking with courtyards then you may try to call Marriott and ask for a Gold/Platinum challenge (search their forum).... in case of Hiliday inns you may buy their gold status (nothing much but anyway) for $50 or join their IC ambassador program (which have some nice benefits and PC gold status) for $150

2) Check Diners Club - if your travel patterns will frequently bring you to the airports where Diners have lounges then consider applying (with promotions it will cost you next to nothing, e.g. you can get it with annual WSJ subscription)

3) if lounges are important to yuou consider applying for priority pass - some employers who have harsh coach only policies often allow you to expense the cost of membership

4) can't remember which Citibank product (card) also offering some FF benefits - check them

All the best

You should let your employer know about your "ability" to fly "on the cheap". Show them how those miles they might use for your low cost flights can better be used for other flights... especially last minute flights.

As we all know, businesses - especially small business - watch every dollar. So, show them how their policy might actually "cost" them money in the long term.

Good luck... and congrats on the new position.

William

Some people just don't appreciate the fact that one can really travel on the cheap, and get good deals

I went to a week long Oracle training seminar in Dallas, can't quite remember the name of the place, but I got my usual cheap fare with DL. Then I booked my hotel for $45 a night, at the OMNI, via Hotwire, and got when it came to renting the car, which also was done via Hotwire, the guy at the desk asked me if I wanted to upgrade to a Jaguar for an extra $10 a day.

The only reason I didn't do it was due to the fact that the company was struggling financially, and although the extra $10 would have been out of my pocket, I decided not to.

I was laid off a few months after wards, , I should have done it.

I suggest you try to convince them that in fact you can do it cheaper, and mention the greatness of Flyertalk, where you get valuable information

For the airline tickets, where are all of the points on the AMEX coming from? Somebody must be charging on the card. Assuming there are others who are using the card, are you the only person in the company traveling? Why do you have to take all of the free tickets? Maybe you can negotiate to distribute the free tickets with others in the company.
In line with previous comments, the company should also consider the cost of the miles versus the price of the ticket. Maybe you can negotiate the purchase of an airline club, which can replace some of the elite status benefits depending upon the airline and make the business travel tolerable without the airline status.

Good luck

Thanks again everyone for your responses - they are all very much in line with what I am thinking.

To AX9465 who recommended a Citi card that offers some status benefits - any information you may know about this would be greatly appreciated. I checked out their site but could not find anything - we currently have a Citi Platinum Select card so I would have no problem asking for it to be re-affinitized to such a program if it still exists.

It seems as though my best hope here is to convince the CFO that their miles are better spent when folks need to travel internationally, and that my $200 fares are not a great use of 25K+ miles/points/whatever. As for flying the cheapest carrier (which it seems AA never is these days on my routes ) I am just going to have to deal with that.

Thanks again - any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I consider myself somewhat proficient at this stuff but far from an expert and always able to learn something new on FT...

best, Lewis