ejmelton

As a "local" flyer (who is lucky to get a SWA Compnaion Pass each year ), I have another question: WHY? What is the purpose of holding millions (10, 25 or whatever) of FF miles or points?

I have a few hundred thousand MR and HH points that I plan on using for vacations. I admit to some pain when using them. (Am I getting the best value? What if something else comes up?) But, if I was racking up a million FF miles per year, why sit on them? (Apparently you only need a million or so to get an airplane named after you.

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"I was once dissappointed that I didn't get an upgrade, then I saw a homeless man without shoes. Somehow, the upgrade didn't seem all that important."

SAT Lawyer

Presumably if you are flying a million plus miles annually, the last thing you want to see on your free time is the inside of an another airplane so I can understand why the miles may go unused. Of course, that presumes that all your trips are in business or first class. If not, then you'd be a fool not to use your miles to upgrade virtually every single flight booked in coach (and you might as well make the move forward from business to first whenever possible as well).

phoenixitc

Who's to say that this individual is actually sittin on them. It's possible that this person is using the points but also continues to add points.

transpac

FWIW, a mere ( ) 267,000 actual flight miles in paid first class on any Star Alliance carrier would earn slightly more than 1,000,000 miles for a Lufthansa Miles & More Senator. (Paid F earns 3.75x total program miles, which are also status miles.)

Evidently, based on inferences made in the LH forum, there may be quite a few annual million milers on LH? Certainly not all that unusual to rack up 750,000 miles (200,000 flight miles in F).

Edited to add: 200 round trips on AirRail, FRA-ZWS, would also earn 1,000,000 miles with LH M&M.

[This message has been edited by transpac (edited 07-30-2003).]

gleff

Just because a major firm has offices in SYD and LHR, and just because there's technology that allows more effective conferencing than before doesn't mean regular travel is out between the two places.

My uncle is SYD-based and for awhile was flying every few weeks to ZRH. He reached a place in his career and with his firm that he was able to say "if someone wants to see me, they can come to me." But that cut down on his travel... and two years ago was making regular runs in paid F to LHR and staying in LHR for only 20 hours or so.

When you're putting together details on a deal valued in the ten figures, and the deal is between companies based in those two cities, sometimes the key players have to get together. Regularly. Why doesn't the person in SYD just stay in LHR for awhile? Because they also have to get together with the folks in SYD. Sorry, but it happens.

And yes, the jetlag is a killer even in F. But you do what you have to do. And you make enough to take nice vacations, and you just have to have the discipline to actually take those vacations.

This isn't how MOST OF US live and work, and that's perhaps why it's so hard to imagine. But that's also why 20 million flight miles in an account is so rare and worth writing/speculating about!

Alas, my mileage balance is only in the seven figures and that includes affinity miles.

[This message has been edited by gleff (edited 07-30-2003).]

Stefan Daystrom

Ah, so it's only the highest that AmEx knew about.

How would AmEx know? I mean, what if the person who had more miles had them spread over a number of airlines, and didn't use any "mile manager" program that AmEx has access to?

Does AmEx (which I am not a member of) know exactly how many miles I have in all of my programs? (If they do, that sounds a lot scarier than anything else about this TV piece, IMHO!)

honmani2

Holy moly, bless my souly! 25M miles? And, yes, I guess the central point is whether those miles are in-the-seat miles or includes all the rest of it. To just fly 25M miles is mindboggling. Not impossible but truly amazing.

ozstamps

1. You have done a complete somersault on this.

2. You earlier posted re the above you "do not believe either myself or B-Watson". And that "I don't believe that for a minute. An urban legend for frequent flyers". So you now DO believe it? Or half of it? Or do you reserve the right to do yet another back-flip on your view????

3. When you have been around Flyertalk a little more than a couple of weeks your views hopefully will change. Insult my beautiful country all you like (and others will make their own judgement on the politeness and wisdom of that) but do NOT call me and other Flyertalkers liars please.

4. If you care to actually READ and hopefully comprehend what I posted, I simply used B_Watson as an EXAMPLE of a Flyertalker in our midst who I know flies big miles - as he has told me so. For all I know there are FT'ers who fly more than he does. I simply used an example I know to be correct, as Barton is in SYD each month or so from GRR - and also flies heavily to Asia, Europe, Sth Africa etc as well as he runs a large global business with several 1000 staff.

5. I was NOT saying the Qantas flyer with a million a year flown and anyone on FT was the one person. You appear to be the only one on this thread that mis-read that.

6. There are presumably many thousands of folks out there who fly more than B_Watson does each year, but I can believe at that flying level have no interest in READING about flying on FT or anywhere else when you do it half your waking days.

7. If you bothered to have an email address visible I would have shared this commentary by email. Most folks do have one visible. Your choice, not mine.



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~ Glen ~

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JohnG

Gleff,

I do not doubt the fact that these deals happen every once in a while, and can indeed cause huge spikes in someones travel, but I was surprised as to people doing this over several years, as this is how I understood the example Ozstamps was giving.

Nonetheless, I have thought about it some more and do believe it is possible, although very,very tiring and rare.

I thought back and remember a few years ago, I was working on a project in London which was being run by a board member from NY. He commuted via Concorde (F after the Le Bourget crash) for about 6 months. Went home virtually every weekend. He also had a permanent room at Claridge's. I suppose he would have been in this league had he continued to do this. Guess it is possible after all, although probably not in this economy......

Bookexp

A simple math.
They guy says he gets his miles mostly from flying, assuming he flies first class with EXP status at AA.
A round trip Chicago to Rome will award him 25,000 miles, counting 50% class and 100% EXP bonuses. He only needs to fly 40 round trips a year, which is reasonable.

flamboyant 1

Uhhhh, what a high-maintenance life

ozstamps

I think a lot more folks fly the big miles than we sometimes think. A neighbour of mine used to fly weekly to SFO on UA as he had a medical consulting business there. He just liked SYD due to weather, and family and religious ties here so came back for weekends. Had an apartment in SFO that doubled as his small office, and for him it worked out fine.

It usually cost him only about $A1,500 (then only about $US750) round trip, and he'd book bulk tickets whenever cheaper deals were running, and used 15% off certs etc.

The SFO flight leaves early afternoon and arrives morning in SFO. It leaves SFO late evening and arrives early morning here.

Remember that a RT runs about 15,000 miles, or 13 hours each way, and he'd do this 40 weeks a year, so without ANY other flying at all [f which he did often do intra USA] he was on around 600,000 flown miles a year right there just for the weekly "commute" to his office.

I am sure we all know folks who drive in grid-lock or travel by train 2-3 hours each way to the office each day - or 20-30 hours a week, so his commute to the office a week was similar - or actually less in hours than some of those folks.

He did it all in coach, and of course was one of UA's biggest flyers from here. He told me Sales Dept approached him now and again with offers of OP upgrades where possible, [hoping like heck he'd never defect to QF!] but oddly he did not like the UA biz seats, and instead did a deal with them that they'd always if space allowed block him off a full centre row of coach seats so he could lay flat and sleep. This would show as officially blocked on manifest, and others could not use them. He preferred that! He was a quiet doctor type, and very unassuming.

He did this for several years, and only stopped last year when he sold the business and retired. But there is one person I know locally who usually did about 700,000 flown on UA a year ..... nearly all in COACH!

nehopper

I believe that an Australian could rack up big miles. But Oz was not mentioned in the show - as a matter of fact the implication was all short jaunts (at least to me). Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc. Occassionally London. Tougher to do on the short hops. I know.

B Watson

Since I have been mentioned here, I can take a moment and clarify my travels -

I take on average 1.5 RTW's per month generally of 10 day duration - therefore 30 days every 2 months of RTW travel. The average 35K miles which ends up at 630,000 - add in the point to point trips which will often include 1 day trips to the UK and I must be at 800K - I also have at least 3 employees who are at the same level.

To finish the logic, this ends up around 2M miles per year with bonuses and such plus an equal amount from CC charges (almost all company charges of course) That would = 25M in a bit over 6 years - I have been doing this for 5 and will be for at least another 5 wich = 40M miles over 10 years - so basic math says this is not all that difficult

I can not believe that I am all the unique - however, I will say that the poster who did not bother to think through the logic of travel schedules and simply concluded at OZ was fabricating this does not really understand the concept of this community. There are several ultra high volume PAX here - we don't do this for fun - it is simply the way of life for our business.

divaof travel

Thanks for the clarification, Barton. Glen claimed that you were flying "well over" 1M flight miles each year, over a period of years. You seem to indicate it is slightly less.

800K is still pretty amazing to me, as 300K almost killed me when I was younger.

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United UGS, MM
Hyatt Lifetime Diamond
Starwood Platimun

[This message has been edited by divaof travel (edited 07-30-2003).]