75% Business
25% Leisure

No particular budget for travel on business. All leisure travel done on miles/points.

Over 200K miles in 2000 but am slowing down this year so will hit 100K.

Last year all on AA but now splitting between AA nad UA because of routes and fares.

Too many nights in hotels to count.

330K miles on Visa last year, Well over $1 Million on Amex.

Comfort Inn Rates = Hilton Value Rates.( Hamptons too )
Coach ticket + Upgrade = Business or First

You don't have to be a business traveller to be on the right side of the equation. All it takes is a bit of ingenuity and love for miles.

I'm glad to see so many leisure flyers! I am a 100% leisure flyer and my husband is about 50/50 with 3 or 4 business trips/year. I collect miles anyway I can but try not to spend extra money to do it. I've never considered mileage runs. My goal is not to buy a ticket over $250.

We took 4 family members to Hawaii over Christmas using up our stash of UA miles - finally! I used AA and Delta (thanks to Diet Coke) to take 6 of us to the Caymans for spring break. Now I'm busy planning for next year's spring break. I have AA tickets on hold to both Hawaii and Cancun... Will have to choose soon.

I have about 200,000 AA miles, 60,000 Delta, 25,000 CO and some orphans.

Deb

You are definitely not the only one on the board for whom coach is not a tragedy. I have had a lifelong desire to travel the world, and now that I have that opportunity, I'm certainly not willing to whine about how I get there or where I stay!

100% of my travel is leisure travel funded by prioritizing my discretionary funds and by working part time. My actual "seat in metal" miles for the year will be about 30,000-40,000 with trips to date being Belgium and Italy, and an upcoming trips later in the year to Peru and Sweden.

My flights are 90% leisure. The other 10% are business...and those are usually quick hops down to TPA on Airtran. As for my mileage though, before I moved to ATL, I primarily flew AA (out of MKE and ORD) and also still have their CitiBank AA card for mileage accumulation....so that's still who I accrue most of my miles with. My mileage totals are AA 60K; DL 15K; NW 30K; Midwest Express 5K and a couple free tickets on Airtran.

[This message has been edited by scotty00 (edited 05-09-2001).]

The only reason I consider flying in coach something of a tragedy (as much for seatmates as for me) is that I am a RATHER large person. That said, it is only very recently where I have been able to concentrate my flying on a single airline in order to get more than the occasional upgrade. Prior to that, I spent MANY years traveling in coach almost exclusively (including to Europe and Australia).

My travel is about 50-50. Last year I flew about 150,000 miles and spent 200 nights in hotels, but I've changed jobs. So far this year I've ONLY flown about 50,000 miles and spent about 25 nights in hotels. However, my travel is only just beginning. By the end of the year I'm sure I'll fly at least 125K, but have substantially fewer hotel nights.

This is for Mareh and PltPrincess and all the other leisure travelers who want to travel the world far and wide without spending a fortune.

I'm a youthful sixtyish grandma, retired, who absolutely loves traveling, (I get a high just from being in an airport) I only buy a ticket if it makes sense because of the low price. I primarily use miles, sometimes even in a market where I could get a good price but using the miles gives me the convenience of last minute travel, stopovers on the way, itineraries that would not be possible at the low price and, at least in the case of AA, holding a reservation for months without ticketing until I make up my mind as to the final routing.

When I add up all my miles I have about 1.4 million, the major ones being 130,000 on AA, 190,000 on BA, 50,000 on Air Canada, 160,000 on DL, 130,000 on US, 50,000 on TW, 55,000 on NW, 15,000 on UA, 100,000 on Hilton and 430,000 on Marriott. I keep a bank of miles in Diners and Starwood, plus credits at Southwest. The rest are in an assortment of airlines and hotels. I belong to every program because you never know when you will be able to move miles from one program into another. And by the way, I've never bought a ticket on AC,NW or BA yet my combined mileage on these is about 300,000.

Some of these miles and points were holdovers from working days, especially the Marriott ones. (I'll be turning these in for a 714 in July) But mostly I keep replenishing my miles annually. No matter how often I use them I seem to find that I can add them right back on without having to buy a ticket. Now of course this means that I do not get to elite status but since my goal is to travel a lot, as reasonably as possible, I can manage without the elite. (We will be going to Thailand on a tour this year and our air on UA is included. I think I read somehwere on this board that one such trip brings you fairly close to Premier. Is this actually so?)

This past year I calculate that I have added about 150,000 miles without counting the miles from my credit card purchases which themselves are a substantial amount since we put everything, but everything, on credit cards.

Where do the miles come from? Sure there are surveys and insurance quotes and on line statement bonuses etc., but those are only the tip of the iceberg. And of course, on the occasional time that I buy tickets, doing so online gives a bonus as well.

The big mile accumulations without actually buying tickets come from a variety of sources:

Telephone - we have two phone lines and change the carrier often, this year getting 40,000, last year 50,000 miles.

Credit card sign on bonuses - DL Optima 10,000, BA Chase 5000, Marriott Platimum 10,000, Hilton Optima 7,500, Hilton Platinum Visa, 7,500 and on and on. And that's just this year. They are all free cards for at least the first year. Use it once, then you can cancel, wait a while, sign up again. I just got something in the mail today for a free NW card but only 3,000 bonus points. I'll call them to see if they can do better before I sign up.

Special promotions - NW recent 10,000 promotion was a cinch. We registered our credit cards, went to 5 restaurants, asked for separate checks and ended up with 20,000 points in no time.The AA 20,000 promo is not going to be as simple and I think I may have to pass on that one.

Diners - I put everything that I can on Diners, leave the points banked until they come up with their annual double miles promo and transfer everything over. The only time I convert Diners is during the double promo.
Also, there is the Diners retention bonus which I just learned about thanks to Flyer Talk. One call and I have another 10,000 points.

Starwood - I have the old Sheraton Optima which is free. This is my second favorite card since when I transfer 20,000 they throw in a bonus 5,000. I only transfer 20,000 Starwood at a time to get this bonus.

Hilton update - this is a great deal. We each have a Hilton account. That's 16,000 points a year just for updating our accounts.

I' sure I have forgotten a few but these are some of the highlights.

I hope this has been helpful and if I have missed any other major way to accumulate points without buying a ticket or filling my garage with cereal, please let me know. I'm always grateful for new ideas.

We're off next month to Switzerland and Norway on AA and SR. Our reservation has been held and changed by AA for months while we worked on the itinerary. Now we have decided to also include a stopover in NYC. I just couldn't do this with a purchased ticket without incurring fees. Nor could I do a stopover both domestic and international without it having become an expensive ticket. That's what I love about flying on miles.

PointsGalore,

Wow, that's impressive. Thanks for some of the hints on how to accrue even more miles!

Just became UAL's top flyer with 380,000 actual flown miles this year. Have 27 more int'l trips left for the year which will net me a total of 537,000 for the year.

I did 55,000 flight miles with Air Canada last year....and will hit 65,000 this year.....I'm already at 36,000 YTD.

It's all leisure.....so my airline ticket budget is capped at $10,000 per annum.

I don't belong to any hotel programs, etc, either.

PointsGalore, you are an inspiration! It sounds like you are having a blast! I've done many of the same things that you have except for the Diner's Club card, which I will get before my next trip to Ireland for the auto rental coverage. I've also stopped switching my phone line (only have one) but I will probably change my mind on that before long. I do have a Starwood Amex, Hilton Amex and Hilton Visa. I switch cards around a lot to get the initial bonuses, did the Fly Free Faster promo, make sure to get those free Hilton points every quarter, etc.

For the record (not in response to PointsGalore) I do realise I could upgrade to firt class with my miles. My intention wasn't to complain. I just feel as though the non-business travelers are sometimes the quiet minority on the board. I am glad to see there are more leisure-only travelers than I realised. I am not in a low income bracket, but I still like to get the most bang for my travel buck. When the mileage earning opportunities are somewhat limited by being a leisure-only traveler, you do have to think a bit more about how you want to "spend" your miles.

I also believe that business travelers deserve the perks they get. My spouse used to travel on business sometimes, and it was no picnic.

And rtpflyer, if I were in your place, I'd be upgrading to first too! (Here is where I sheepishly admit to being 5 feet tall, 100 pounds.)

First of all ualtopdog, welcome to FlyerTalk. Glad to have UA's #1 top flyer on board with us http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif It looks like you've been flying well over 20k miles/week. Thats impressive. Are these trips mainly RTs to Asia, or mainly Europe/South America. I ask because you say that which indicates that for the balance of the year, assuming that you only fly interntional RTs, your average RT (assuming again that 27 refers to RTs and not segs) will be about 5800 miles, which indicates that you must have a lot of trips towards Central America, with a few European trips thrown in. So, up till now you were either doing about 1 RT/week to Asia, or 2 or more per week elsewhere! Interesting travel patterns.

I thought I was flying a fair bit this year, but up to the end of April, I barely broke 150k YTD actual miles. So, compared with your pace, I am sub-amateur (novice at best).

I hope that you decide to frequent these boards, and share your insights and opinions over in the UA forum from the perspective of a UFF (ultra FF) as to what it is like to call UA 'home' http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

While I can fly cheaply and get lots of miles, that is my first choice. The EUR00 bonus with AA practically gave a free trip for each cheap trip. When I have more time and less money I'll use all those miles. I am holding a FF ticket to Mexico because the fares are so high - if they come down, I'll give up my FF ticket and purchase a ticket. So now I have lifetime Gold with AA, working on lifetime Platinum, so that when I do the award travel I will have status. Could not have done it without this board!

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DtG

100% business (although leisure is always found), last year around 70k (SNA-SEA, SNA-OAK, ONT-LAS, plus some LAX-LAS, LAX/LGB-DFW). Mostly use AS and WN (had some AA and NW flights - credited to AS). My employer buys miles, so I sold 150k AS miles and 4 WN certificates - gotta use them for something. I still have 170k AS miles in the account, plus several tix laying around.

Being transferred to DFW this summer, so I just joined AA and CO (CO Silver Elite currently). Going to miss those AS FC upgrades, as I get an rt now every month. Seems almost impossible to get upgraded on AA and CO (unless a Platinum).

I don't know how much flying I will get to do in my new position. A lot of it will probably be on one of the company planes (darn, no miles).