Until recently, I've never done much business travel. Never earned elite on anyone or even come close. But in the last 6 weeks, I've done MSP-DEN on NWA 5 times. I'll probably do the same route another 25-30 times before '04 lets out, and another 30-40 times in '05.

The route yields a scuzzy 1386 EQM per RT, and I have no recreational travel planned until 12/04, so I need 14 more RT's (19 total) just to claw my way to Silver. In my humble, neophyte opinion, it's a TERRIBLE route for attaining status.

With UAL and Frtr. sitting in Denver, there is beaucoup competition on this route. I've just faxed in a request to NWA to consider my future travel needs and comp me elite status in order to ward off the competition. What are the odds NW will go for this? My guess is not good, given the airline's history of treating Minnesotans like conscripts.

Oh, and am I being a baby to think 19 RT's is a lot to earn Elite status?

Thanks,
TP

TP,

Good luck with your request. Often NW will grant you status if you have status with another airline. They basically will offer a challenge (x number of return trip in so many weeks) and then comp you.

You are travelling a lot, but you are right that miles are few. Are these on any fares that give you segment credits? The higher the fares, the more "credits" NW will give you.

Good luck.

BTW, never hurts to ask NW to see what they will grant you. Let us know how it turns out.

Not in my opinion - Especially when you could earn elite status with one nicely routed trip to Asia. I'm flying DC-HNL-TPE-HNL-DC in November over Thanksgiving & it'll be 20K EQMs for ~730 bucks inclusive of taxes (used a 35.00 voucher) - your 19 roundtrips will cost you or your company way more than 730 bucks. In my opinion, 19 RT's is a lot for status. You could easily make that with 5 non-mileage maximized coast-coast RT's. I imagine it's a little harder living in MSP because of all the direct flights.

Welcome to Flyertalk!

TP:

If you have flexability over your flight planning, you might want to consider taking a few of your MSP-DEN trips on Delta. You will earn 100% EQMs on Delta in all fare buckets and can "enjoy" their fine coach product. Think of the mileage possabilities: MSP-ATL-DEN, MSP-SLC-DEN, MSP-DFW-DEN, MSP-CVG-DEN.

Edited to add: Welcome to FlyerTalk!

You bet, I've considered Delta. But with so many direct flights available, it's hard to justify spending even more time in airports. My current "personal sanity" standard is that if DLT's price beats NWA's by 75 quid, I'll do the connecting itinerary. Hasn't happened yet, but unless NW surprises me and agrees to comp me to Elite, I'm sure my standards will drop and, I'll be spending some time in SLC and DFW this year.

Or I could do the DEN-LAX Triple EQM mileage run in between meetings

Thanks all, for the welcomes.

TP

Consider this:

MSP--LAX is running $99 round trip.

LAX--DEN is running around $100 round trip.

LAX--DEN is giving triple elite mileage

You could fly from MSP--LAX--DEN and back for a bit over $200 per round trip and yield some 4000 elite miles each way.... at 8k elite miles per RT, you'll get to Gold/Plat in no time.

Note the triple mileage promo and the $100ish fares won't last forever--- but if your trip dates are fixed, you may want to buy tickets and plan ahead right now.

Good luck!!

Yes, but NW seems to think that any departure from LAX within four hours of your arrival qualifies as a connection and voids the triple EQM, even if you're on a different ticket.

And the terms and conditon of the LAX to DEN promotion states that "Travel on flights between Los Angeles and Denver that include a connection from another flight do not qualify for this promotion. Example, MSP-DEN-LAX itinerary does not qualify.

However, Viajero Joven might have been suggesting the following:

If you want to earn 11,238 miles for $276.40 you can register for the new route promotions on nwa.com - one is from MSP to LAX (double miles) and the one from LAX to DEN (triple miles.) Each ticket is $138.20 if you return to MSP on Monday (if you return on Sunday, the MSP-LAX fare is $158.20).

Example Itinerary:

Friday, June 4 Ticket #1
Lv MSP 7:05 a.m.
Ar LAX 8:52 a.m.
Lv LAX 11:45 a.m. Ticket #2
Ar DEN 2:51 p.m.
Sunday, June 6
Lv DEN 4:00 p.m. Ticket #2
Ar LAX 5:19 p.m.
Monday, June 7
Lv LAX 3:45 p.m. Ticket #1
Ar MSP 9:11 p.m.

Play around with the dates. Register and buy your tickets by May 31 and travel by June 30.

And what I am telling you, based on personal experience, is that the June 4 travel would earn neither MSP-LAX double miles nor LAX-DEN triple miles under NW's definition of a "connectiion."

It doesn't take 19 RTs to earn elite status - just do it by segments.

You can only earn segments flying P,F,Y or B fare classes on NW.

The definitive answer from NW:

Dear UpgradeMe,

Thank you for contacting Northwest Airlines.

A connection is a flight segment connecting to another flight segment
the same day. Per the rules, the LAX/DEN/LAX must make up the entire
itinerary to qualify for bonus mileage.

Thank you for choosing Northwest/KLM Airlines. We appreciate your
business.

Sincerely,

Susan Curtis
Executive Assistant

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Ms. Curtis:

Please do me the courtesy of defining a "connection" for purposes of the

LAXDEN promo. Is it two hours? Four hours? Six hours? Any onward
flight the
same day? Some other definition?

Thank you.

UpgradeMe

aa has a challenge 5k for gold and 10k for platinum. If you can fly AA on several of trips you can get status and NW will match. This seems your fastest bet although if you have other destinations they may be better on aa. MSP > den on aa is quite circuitous.

another thought would be to fly UA but have miles credited to USair. With 10k prefffered bonus you can get in early 05 for spending 25k on a USair visa you could get silver with them with a few less flights. I don't know if NW will match this particular program however.

So if I flew MSP-LAX, LAX-MSP, within two hours of each other in the same day, is the second segment considered a connecting flight, voiding me of the double miles bonus?