Is Low Tier Status worth it?
 

My question stems from the fact that I no longer fly for business; so all of my flights are out of pocket.

Since leaving my last job and moving to PHX, I've been taking less than a dozen flights a year. Mostly my destinations are Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Florida and California.

Upcoming travel in the next two years includes these destinations plus Hawaii, Spain, Austria and Ireland. Northwest could do dor most of my Domestic travel back to the Midwest; but they aren't always the cheapest of flights. So my question is, what do people think of trying to maintain status for my dozen or so flights a year?

I dont know what your experiences have been, but gerally NW is the same price as any other major unless they have a large dominance in a city, like MSP, DTW. However, even those cities can be cheap at times. I have flown NW back home now for the past 3 years, and always find them to be the cheapest, sometimes as low as $108 non stop, but I do fly into a SW market.

Give NW a try, you should be able to upgrade a good 75% of the time even with silver status, but if you are doing all the trips you mentioned in one year and fly all on NW you should get at least Gold status if not Platimun.


Eric

For what its worth,

Silver status may help in opening up some previously restricted award seats. Probably not much, but it may help. Anyone else agree?

You might want to have America West give you an Elite Match, as PHX is the airline's hub and there's lots of good specials out of there. They also have non-stop service to the east coast, unlike NW. Also, you receive 3000 miles on tickets purchased on their web site (through 12/31/02).

In my mind, the biggest benefit of elite membership is not having to wait in line. In PHX, there is also an elite security line that saves time....

I'm not aware of having an edge on award seats, but I agree 100% with the idea that silver elite status has substantial value. Getting 50% bonus miles on flights and a better than even shot at FC upgrades is nothing to pass off lightly. Neither is having a shorter line. Having a dozen flights a year passing through hubs might easily make a WorldClubs membership discount an attractive feature to consider in the equation, too. Go for it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[This message has been edited by Standby4321 (edited 05-16-2002).]

One thing that I have appreciated immensely being an Elite (on CO) is NOT having to stand in those horrendous lines to check in and to go through security. Preboarding also guarantees carryon space. Those things, plus the pretty good upgrade percentage even as Silver, and now even more so as Gold, make it more than worthwhile.

I think it's definitely worth it. My upgrade percentage as silver has been close to 90%, and the ability to use elite check-in and security lines can be invaluable.

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mylez2go
DTW
Worldperks/HHonors
Agreed to the voluntary TCC Rules

At least here in DTW on NW, the elite lines for security seem to be reserved for Gold and Platinum and First Class, so if your upgrade to FC doesn't come through before you pass through security, you're stuck in the same security line as everyone else. Other airlines seem to be letting their silver's through the shortcut line, so its something to note if that's factoring into your decision.

I'm sure there's nothing here that you haven't heard before and that you haven't thought of but here goes anyway.

Northwest has pretty good elite benefits for domestic travel (unlimited free upgrades when available) but very poor elite benefits for International travel and Hawaii travel. You may want to consider your travel patterns and see whether any of the other airlines would provide better benefits for your plans.

Otherwise, as you said, it's a matter of cost vs. benefits. How much extra would it cost for the benefits that Elite status would get you? If minimum cost is the most important thing then buy your tickets through Priceline and forget the FF benefits. If convenience, FF miles, and occasionally sitting up front are more important than find an airline (or more correctly an alliance) and stick with it.

i would say go for the cheapest most convenient flight. If you travel for leisure you can time your trips for the least busy periods - which should help with avoiding long lines. If you can realize considerable $ savings on buying non-NW tickets I wouldn't bother with trying to only go NW.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

As someone who obtains gold status on my own dime, I certainly think it's worthwhile. I lost upgrades into DCA as a silver maybe half the time, but it seems that since 9/11 the routes to westernn locations have space (based on the number of companion upgrades I've been seeing). Since silver status trumps all companions, I'd go for it.