flyingmike

Hi,

My travel this year has been at a record low for me, my first flight since June was today. My previous employer closing in July didn't help, but frankly I've never woken up the past few months and said "gee, wish I could go to Logan Airport today". In other words, I haven't missed it.

Although I have lots of miles with UAL, I have certainly lost 2010 status with them and any other airline so it is a clean slate January 1.

As a new job starts with near-weekly nationwide travel I am wondering about abandoning loyalty and just flying whatever is cheapest/quickest. Save a few bucks and get back home faster. Fares are cheap enough that the value of a free FF trip for the family on, say, UAL with connections, is outweighed by a paid direct flight instead. Once you are in your seat there isn't much difference between airlines regardless of your status- they all give out sodas and have lousy BOB meals.

Has anyone here gone down this path before? Any regrets or was there a new found sense of freedom not stressing over status?

Best.....Mike

flyingstudent

I for once do not care about status. I always pick based on schedule, nonstop flight, and then price (if 1 stop is at least $50 cheaper than nonstop departing at the right time). I've a UA account to collect points on *A and AS account to collect points on AA/NW/DL/CO. Points are just bonus. I'm sure you'll like this freedom.

StrandedinSC

So, you're happy making every single trip in Coach?

You know, for a domestic flyer with paid First, I think you're on to something. Pick one program per alliance, and collect whatever points happen to come.

But if your employer only buys Coach, it just doesn't make any sense.

aviators99

Shouldn't this be expressed as a percentage of the total cost? $50 less on a $1500 flight is a lot different from $50 less on a $198 flight.

Ken in Phx

Any of you ever just stopped caring about status & points?


.............NEVER..............



Then again all my trips are leisure in nature so arriving at the airport means the start of a new journey.

Gamecock

I don't worry about $50, one way or the other.

My cut off is $300, irregardless if it's a $198 or $1500.

Why? I dunno. It's just a random number that my wife and I have decided to use. We decided a long time ago if one of us wants to spend >$300 to check with the other, just to make sure we keep the books in order.

flyingstudent

It's more like $50 for domestic and $100 for international.

Earlier this month, I flew SJC-SEA-BLI ($90) instead of SFO-YVR ($160).

Late last year, I flew SFO-ICN-HKG-ICN-SFO ($750) instead of SFO-HKG-SFO ($920).

I do absolute number instead of percentages. If the price is too expensive, I normally change my trip dates to get cheaper flights. For high season like Christmas, I always redeem miles 10 months in advance.

pinniped

Would I change from one major alliance to another to obtain better routings/schedules for an upcoming year of business travel? Sure...I've switched back and forth between OW and *A several times over the course of 15 years.

I made the decision to use UA in various years nonstops where I needed to go or the best one-stops to the West Coast from MCI. I imagine I'd be at 2MM AA by now if I had chosen to take all of those trips through DFW or ORD, but when I think about how many total hours out of my life that would have cost, I can live with only be AA Gold for now.

In any given high-travel period of my life, I think I'd always try to select the best alliance for my destinations even if that meant switching, but I don't think I'd ever just "log in and buy the cheapest flight". I'd try to stay within my chosen alliance unless it was an awful routing. Possible exception would be if I was buying a ton of paid premium cabin, but I don't expect that anytime soon.

linsj

I care more about status and points and miles than ever. By watching fares, I've never paid more than a few dollars more for UA; and I'm enjoying the status, which is worth more and more as airlines add extra fees and take away services. I also like the hotel perks that come with status. For example, I recently had 10 free nights at a Doubletree in New York City where I got 2 free full breakfast buffets daily. I could not have afforded that stay if I had had to pay for it.

travelsavant

Stopped caring about miles & points? Methinks thou hast strayed to the wrong social community!

aauaflier

um - there's a HUGE difference between an F seat and a Y- seat and a Y+ seat. If I'm going to NY and I'm in Y- on something, versus my PS-C, ya...HUGE difference in comfort & food. IFE is great too, but i bring my own most of the time so i don't really care that much.

do you not see a difference between an F and a Y- seat?

TPA_813

I can say that if I am in an exit seat; I could really care less about being upgraded to first. Heck, I have been seated in coach with luggage all stowed and had a a flight attendant asked me to move to first. I told them No Thanks. Once I am sitting down, I'm not moving until I am at my destination. So, the only benefit that I really appreciate with status is priority boarding and access to exit seats. I carry luggage, so baggage fees wouldn't matter even if I didn't have status. The airline food is horrible for you, so I don't eat it when I do get the upgrades.

And the real kicker: My company takes our FF miles from us.

obscure2k

My husband has his FF miles on DL. Recently, he had to attend a conference in Denver. Did I want him to travel on Dl with a change of aircraft in SLC? No. Therefore, he flew UA non-stop from LAX/DEN and for a small fee paid for an Economy Plus seat. He could have cared less about FF miles. He was happy with his UA flts which were under 2 hours non-stop.

robsat1845

bottom line is that you should join the big 3...united, delta, aa. then fly how you want and earn miles as a perk...what they were meant for. today it is so hard to use them anyway...who cares.

CMK10

Status and points: no
First Class: Yes

The last few years I was flying with airlines (US/NW/CO) where I could earn free upgrade and paying for them with AA and UA as well as AS. I was spending a few hundred dollars to get into F. However, now that service has gotten worse (especially on United) and I tend to sleep more on flights I've spent a whopping $30 this year to get into F. I'm perfectly content in the exit row reading a newspaper or sleeping. My last SFO-PHX flight on UA in F where the FAs were in the last row of Y chatting when we boarded and then served us no snack mix but instead brought it to the back for their colleagues cemented this.