nlkm9

Ive been a road warrior for close to 10 years, and earlier this year the start up I was in first grounded us from travel for a few weeks which turned into several months--a lot of e training rather than in person...I also had to stay in several different hotels and had travel booked for me on different airlines..so now Im not traveling at all and am losing all my statuses....this will be the first time in close to 10 years that I wont have status with anyone and was just wondering how other folks have dealt with this...I LOVE being home more but Im so used to earning more and of course being able to book better seats, etc...last year just as i hit X plat in AA I was grounded.......its probably a silly complaint but just wondering if anyone else is in same position. I plan to continue to treasure my time at home and starting from scratch again if travel starts up.

Segments

Been there although for me it was usually changing projects resulted in different hotels / airlines making sense and impacting status.

Wish US was still around for you. Colleagues with higher travel could gift status via special dividends or I could buy up status when the cost made sense due to increased travel.

Best bet is to see if any status matches make sense before your current status' expire. Also chains you used to hold status with may offer challenges to re-gain you when travel resumes.

Look for CC that include mid tier status as a quick boost when needed.

superangrypenguin

I'm current Plat/Diamond at all the hotel chains I care for and *G. Next year i'll probably do MAX 4 days of travel, so I'll be in this boat soon.

jinglish

Not worried right now but really hoping I don't have to in the not-terribly-distant future. I just hit MVP with AS, and I'll absolutely be able to maintain that status for at least the next few of years (and maybe even hit MVP Gold one year if I get sent to India for work and get to take EK). But I'm not so sure I'll still be living in Portland in five years, and I'm already planning to scout out other cities to see if I want to live there. But none of these potential new homes cities are AS hubs like PDX is, which might raise some complications.

Next year is going to have an unusual amount of domestic travel for me, at least distance-wise, but even then I'm probably not going to hit the 20k miles I need to requal on AS metal alone; international flights on FI, AA, and BA are going to boost me far past the 25k AS/partner mileage requirement. This year, more than half of my qualifying miles came from DL, KL, and EK. I get EQMs on all of those carriers because of AS's range of partnerships. If I move to someplace like Nashville or Kansas City, though, I might have some troubles. Not because of a relative dearth of direct international service--DL flies from PDX to AMS and NRT, but the DL-AS relationship is on the rocks, so FI to KEF is the only international flight I can count on in the future anyway--but due to the fact that if I have to change allegiances I won't have the same array of options providing EQMs as I do currently. I think the best I can hope for at the moment is that I'll head somewhere with decent AA service and keep my AS status, since MVP gets me the same benefits as AAdvantage Gold except FC upgrades and Oneworld status. But we'll see how much my AA earnings get devalued now that AA is overhauling their program.

waylook

My only status is with hotels - SPG and Hyatt match. All of our travels are leisure. DW and I hope to have twins (don't ask) later in 2016. I strongly suspect that we won't be requalifying for when we could use the suite upgrades the most. And that bums me out.

dvs7310

Like Segments brought up, if you think there's a chance you might resume travel within a year or so of when your status expires, then I'd pursue a good status match. Recently AB, O6, and AZ.have had an easy one for airline matches, that's one in each alliance, some good into 2017. I know AZ is still ongoing, not 100% sure of the others, but worth a look.

Hotels also tend to have quite a few match opportunities that can extend your benefits another year (or two), albeit in another chain.

Only thing to watch is that they tend to be a once in a lifetime deal, but usually that doesn't matter in obscure programs and in others you.might get away with creating a new account if necessary.

Tchiowa

My planned travel is cut in half next year so I'll drop from 1k to Gold. Which I get free from my lifetime Marriott status. And Gold is fairly meaningless on status.

It's not unusual for small companies to cut back travel when things get tight. Things will loosen up eventually. I'm in the oil business. Imagine how things are for us! Travel isn't being cut all that much. Actual employment is being cut.

rbrenton88

I lost all mine due to a job change from 50% Int'l to 100% work at home. I was sad at first, but I did manage to squeeze out some nice leisure trips for the family and close friends.

I didn't miss the life because of the increasing problems with lost luggage, stolen luggage, declining benefits, etc. Most Flyertalkers enjoy the hunt, but for me it became a stressful part-time job.

txflyer77

I lost all my status last year, except for Hyatt, Hilton and Club Carlson status via credit cards.

Now I just pay for whatever benefits I want per-trip.

Beven12S

Some of us actually pay for our travel on our own dime. How about funding your own travel to make those levels like Seat 2A?

darthbimmer

I hear ya. I've gone through a few losses of status in recent years. The first drop came when my small company downsized/outsourced its overseas operations. I had been a United 1K flyer from doing monthly transpac flights. I would've dropped to Plat that year but did one MR and paid with cash instead of points on one leisure trip, and requalified for 1K that year.

At my next job my portfolio was unexpectedly reassigned partway through the year, turning me from a twice-a-month transcon flyer to a twice-a-month short-hop flyer. I had Plat with UA in the bag but decided not to stretch again to renew 1K. Instead I switched allegiance from UA to Southwest, whose program made more sense for my new travel pattern. Plus, this was a few years ago when UA was really pissing me off by gutting its elite benefits. As a 1K that year I was 0% on upgrades even with confirmed instruments.

I went pretty much all-in with WN for the next 18 months or so. It was a sweet ride while it lasted, with A+ benefits and CP. But then a few months after I switched jobs last year my portfolio was changed once again, leaving me nearly grounded for the 12 months up 'til now. I'm nowhere close to requalifying for even A-list on WN. And most of the qualifying points I do have are from leisure trips in BS.

Through this all, as my job-related travel has ramped down I've traveled more on my own dime. It's just that with so many airline points banked, my "dime" is frequently points rather than cash. Hotels I've been continuing to buy with cash more often than points, plus I need a hotel even if I drive somewhere rather than fly. So while I'm becoming a nobody as far as the airlines are concerned (yes, that includes Lifetime *G from UA) I've maintained top tier with two hotel chains.

swag

I'll be traveling in 2016 just as much as I did in the last half of 2015. I'll be losing my Hyatt Diamond, losing my Marriott Platinum, losing my SPG Gold and losing my Carlson Gold. But since I'm staying almost exclusively at mid-level hotels (Hyatt House, Springhill, Holiday Inn) where status matters little, I'll survive. I actually made a conscious decision months ago to chase promos across chains, instead of chasing status with one chain.

On the other hand, I'll be bumping up from AA Gold to Platinum, which should make my flights a bit easier.

nlkm9

I think im most sad about the AA platinum...I had just gotten there and the travel stopped. and as soon as I am making real money again, i would love to fund my own travel

moondog

I'm now down to OWS status only, which is almost useless in China. As such, I've recently started killing my airport time in restaurants instead of lounges. In the process, it's registered with me that airport restaurants often have MUCH better food than lounges.

RustyC

I have the lifetime 1MM on DL and currently gold status with Etihad and gold with AA. The last two likely won't be requalified. Am totally self-funded and the cup don't runneth over there, so changes that hurt RDM earnings for low fares on DL/UA/AA have me rethinking the whole loyalty thing. No more paying $200 more to get a DL or AA ticket to Asia for the miles, or taking trips to run up EQMs and requalify status if the RDM benefits are gutted.

Ironically, 2015 had as many trips as ever, but many domestic ones were ULCCs.