Its that time of year.... Are you going to make it?
 

It is the middle of October and time to determine if you are going to make your preferred status level with your favorite airline and/or hotel. Will you make it? Is there a mileage run in your future? I'll start:

2000 -- American Exec Plat
Hilton Gold
Marriot Silver
Earned 300,000 miles YTD with American (with another 70,000+ expected)

2001 -- American Exec Plat (will make it 1st week of December)
Hilton Gold (with next stay)
Marriott Silver (maybe)

Mileage run -- yup -- 1st weekend of December -- JFK-LHR. Leave 9:15pm Saturday night and home by 3:15 Sunday afternoon. Exec Plat desk thought I was a courier!

--Jim

I'm pretty excited that I will make Platinum Medallion on Delta for the 5th?? straight year (ever since they introduced it). I have to go to FRA Saturday. Coupled with already ticketed itineraries between now and Christmas, I will make PM on miles (100,000) with a couple to spare. I'll end up with 44% of miles on business.

[*]United 1K: my one day ski-trip from Zürich to Vancouver-Whistler (travelling nov-24 to 27) will bring me just to 100'001 UA status miles.[*]LH Senator is good two years = until feb-2002.[*]Marriott Silver (>15 stays).[*]InterContinental SCSS: I will pay the yearly renewal fee[*]Starwood Gold: I will pay the yearly renewal fee[*]Fairmont President Club: basic leve, no minimum stays required (former Canadian Pacific Club)[*]Shangri-La Golden Circle: basic leve, no minimum stays required[*]Leaders Club (LHW-Hotels): by invitation, no expiry date[*]HHonours Gold: will expire per dec-31-2000

I'm sitting at 85,000 on Delta, and with upcoming trips to Boston, Washington DC and Tokyo, I'll easily break 100,000 miles by early November.

Every bit of this travel has been necessary (I would have had to do it even if there was no frequent flyer program). The only control is that, due to company contracts, I have to concentrate all my travel on Delta & United (and their codeshares). So, I made sure that I did most with Delta (I have a few thousand miles on United this year).

I'll be at Alaska MVP again this year. This is the highest level I tend to get. I normally get this with 0 Alaska miles. This time I've got a couple of AS trips.

LH SEN valid to Feb 2003
Starwood Gold - It was a comp but I need more nights.

I'm going to be close on a couple:

USAIR - need 100 segs or miles for Chairman's Preferred - currently at 82 segs, 78k miles.. at least 10 segs coming up in next few weeks, so i'm on track - may need a mileage run, but I doubt it..

AA - won't renew my gold status http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Given recent announcements, I'm going to get my miles over to USAIR .. somehow

NW, DL, CO - only "orphan" mile levels this year - will try to move them over to Hilton

HILTON - need 4 more stays for Diamond - will undoubtedly make it

MARRIOTT - made silver - no chance of gold this year

STARWOOD - Would like to pursue this one next year, but I have a hard time finding properties where I need them - comped elite this year..

Well I'm done for next year, but that doesn't mean I can sit back on my laurels and relax---I still have to travel for my company through year end. But here is where I stand currently:
CO- Platinum for 2001 (currently 82,400)
Hyatt- Diamond for 2001 (currently 30 nights)
Starwood- Platinum for 2001 (currently 28 nights)
UA- Premier Exec for 2001 (no flights whatsoever, but company policy gives it to me)
Marriott-currently Silver, probably nothing for 2001 (only 5 stays), but don't care
Hilton -currently Gold, but probably nothing for 2001, again don't care.
I guess if I really wanted to I could load up the remainder of the year with stays at Marriott or Hilton, but at the level I would achieve, I don't really see any great benefit.

[This message has been edited by mauld (edited 10-12-2000).]

Easily made UA PremEx.

WIll have about 21,000 mi for Continental One pass. May go for a mileage run or a FLorida/southwest hopping airport to airport to do it.

Starwood: With upcoming stays will requalify as PLATNIUM>

Hilton: Making under the gun.

Marriott: two stays needed for Silver, will probably look for cheap rates at Courtyard in my home town whenever they open.

OMNI: Hallmark Gold Crown Card Program: six cards or Keepsake Ornaments to requalify.

United 1K
Continental Silver (gold if I decide to do segment runs)

Starwood Platinum
Hilton Gold (3 nights short of Diamond)

Hertz Five Star (have no clue if I'm anywhere close to President's Club)

Rudi, had I known you were going to be in Whistler, I would have not cancelled my ski trip/segment run to YVR. I had tickets and car hotel reserved. Unfortunately, I made 1K and decided to canned the trip to YVR.

Delta Platinum- 25,000 miles to go, 40,000 booked through the end of the year. All necessary.

BA EC Gold-Done

BD Gold- Done

bad luck seawolf (may be next year?).

I will be in companied of Punki and Joe http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

UA: Re-qualified for Prem Exec back in July and will be flying segment #97 tomorrow. Should make 1K for the first time either within the next month or by mid-Dec. (depending on where I go for work next). Might need a segment run (or to just go visit friends!) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Starwood: Re-qualified for Platinum back in June on nights

Hilton: Got enough stays for Silver but will be curious to see if they'll let me keep Gold another year.

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Regards,
- Anna

AA EXP PLT - ytd qualifying miles 101,200 with another 10,086 base miles by 12/31/00.

2000 mileage flown 100% personal, 0% business.

Ok here goes:

AA
So far this year, 108 segments, ~85,000 miles. Probably end up with about 120 segments but will be making a mileage run to make EXP, booked LAX-LHR the second weekend of December. Anyone else going?

Budget
100+ rentals, but since they don't have any elite levels, I get nothing. Next year, I am moving everything to HERTZ since they comped me to Five Star and I'll easily make President's Circle next year.

Marritt
Won't requalify for Silver this year.

Starwood
Comped to Gold. Haven't decided for sure, but I will probably move all my stays to Starwood next year. Should easily qualify for Plutonium.

Koji Korean BBQ Restaurant in Gardena, CA
Just ate my 14th dinner there and I have #16 in my sights. I should earn my "free" dinner pretty soon.

Airline trips are 85% business (I get at least one vacation a year! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif), 99% of car rental and hotel are business, and Koji is 100% personal.

[This message has been edited by onedog (edited 10-12-2000).]

I suspect a lot of folks look towards December 31st with more dread than April 15th... (Warning: US Joke --- IRS Income Tax Deadline)

I clinched CO Silver last trip. I may shut down for the rest of the year --- which is fine with me. Ideally, I'd like to have a couple of trips moved to January to count towards next year!


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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

Go Annas! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

UA 1P - need 15K to requalify ... and I have no idea how I'm going to do it, but probably a mileage run to either Europe (Munich-Prague) or Asia (Sinapore).

Hilton - 1 stay away from Silver. If I don't requalify :shrug: .... hello Starwood.

Starwood - was comped to Gold this year, good through Feb. '01, but now that I've had a taste of the famed Heavenly Bed I'm sold. The front desk service on my one experience with them was far superior to almost every Hilton experience I've had to date (with the exception being the Millennium Hilton in downtown Manhattan).

i have big work to do, and not alot of time left.

us gold - need 2500 miles, have booked ny-bos-phi-dc-bos-ny for 10/20-21. $294, which isn't that cheap but needed 1500 shuttle miles to assist me in my quest for

aa exc plat - need 27,000 less 1500 shuttle miles. this will be two ny-europe trips via a hub, plus a isp-california run 1st week in november ($232!! thank you, sw).

nw platinum - as of today, it says i need 28,000 - however, missing 2000 yet to be posted. have 2 one way ny-dtw-ams-bru already booked (today & 10/27). so, i have one asia run to do, scheduled for thanksgiving, and if that doesn't get me there, i may just have to give up.

[This message has been edited by lonman (edited 10-12-2000).]

For 2001:

UAL 1-K
AS MVP Gold
HHonors Diamond

Just booked Joe's last 12,000 mile flight to accomplish UAL 1-K. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

AA ExPlat 2001 (joined AAAdvantage when I moved to US on March 15 made ExPlat in September.

BA Exec Gold 2001(needed 600 points to requalify under European scheme standing on 2130 points year to date)

Iberia Plus Platinum 2001 (dont use them much now but they have a 2 year qualification

Starwood Platinum 2001 (36 stays 75 nights this year.

USAir Dividend.Want to go Gold from current Silver need 11,000 miles more but have trip from Philly to Madrid and Paris back to Philly on Envoy which should help.Should be able to engineer it

TWA Elite 1- at 33,000 today, with two TA RTs coming up, SEA-DCA and SEA-MCI will hit it by Nov. 5, everything else is gravy. Anyone know if they give threshold bonuses on TWA?

AlaskaMVP - got it in September, at least three more trips planned this year. Oh the excitement. Not that it means anything, you getTWO bags of cashews in FC.

No hotel stays, I stay with friends or in b&bs.

No rental cars, though I just got my Hertz Gold thing in the mail.

Coffee:I have two free lattes at my favorite coffee place in Seattle. 60th St. Desserts. Great cookies, closest place to work and locally owned!!!!!!

Reads like some of us maybe running into each other at airports throughout Q4. Here's where I stand...

DL - Gold Elite (?) : 83 segs a/o 10.11. Had a trip to coporate (SAN) scheduled for 1st week in Nov. that got cancelled yesterday. Too bad, thanks to fellow FTers, used itn.net to make it 6 seg trip from ATL. Fortunately, am a member of DL Escape, and may be able to make Platinum that way (along with a lot of day trips to SAV,MYR,RDU, or any other AirTran city http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif).
As always, any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Not even close to most of you. I only began flying regularly for work this year. Over 60k actual flight miles so far this year and will probally only make AA gold and NW prefered (lowest tiers). Can't seem to find runs any that will rack up 25k status miles that I can afford so I guess I just hope for next year.

Intering note: Milesmax says "based on your flight activity in 2000, you are on track to be in the top 3.7% of all frequent flyers!"

And they don't even list all my programs. Funny I don't feel like I'm in the top 3.7% http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

Trips on AA from LAX-LHR for late november and early december are pretty reasonably (which I guess could be relative depending on each person's finances) priced right now (~$500ish r/t). Two weekend runs and you can earn (and your rear end will remind you that you are earning the miles http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif) the additional 25k miles you need for PLT. Depends on how much you will be traveling next year and if PLT is worth it to you, but getting 100% mileage bonus as PLT i/o just 25% mileage bonus as GLD could make a significant difference depending on how many miles you will be flying in 2001.

If you are going to fly about 50K miles next year (enought to requalify for PLT), PLT will provide you with 37,500 additonal bonus miles, which is enough for at least one domestic r/t so maybe spending the $1k may not be worth it. If you are going to be flying a lot (100K miles) then the 75k bonus miles may be worth it. Plus, if AA have any type of TTBNS bonuses on top of the regular PLT bonus miles, then making PLT could be worth 150k miles.

Not to forget being able to upgrade at 72 hrs before your flight as PLT i/o just 24 hrs before your flight as GLD.

[This message has been edited by onedog (edited 10-12-2000).]

I have some work to do, and that's cool...

United: I am already requalified for 1K in 2001.

British Airways: Already requalified for Gold in 2001.

American: I get free Platinum status through my company, so no need to worry about requalifying. I use BA for all my non-AA oneworld flights, and AA on AA-operated flights (for upgrades, etc.) which I do few of.

Continental:I currently have Gold for 2001, but will be hoping to achieve Platinum with a couple mileage runs. Not too far off from Platinum, either (thanks to the 75K level rather than the norm 100K).

US Airways: I got Silver (twice, technically) this year thanks to their promotion post-strike, and am in range of Gold. Just a couple mileage runs. When I get Gold, I should have six systemwides! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Delta: I just got a promotion for Gold Medallion status with 12 segments, so I should get this by years end.

In summary:
Had going into 2000: UA 1K, BA Gold, CO Gold, AA Plat (free)

Qualified in 2000 for 2001: UA 1K, BA Gold, CO Gold, AA Plat (free), US Silver

Still need to qualify for 2001:CO Plat, US Gold, DL Gold

If all goes as to plan, status in 2001:: UA 1K, BA Gold, AA Plat (free), CO Plat, DL Gold, US Gold

Actually, I was thinking about planning out my elite statuses this weekend, going into next year. This thread was good for organizing where I need to be. thanks!

ESPNfan

I'm feeling the heat...

USAirways Chairman's Preferred: 92/100 segments, way below on miles
USAirways Gold Preferred (for my wife): 59/60 segments, close on miles too

Will probably take an e-saver somewhere with my wife so she'll be set. Then I have six more segments to go. Probably going to visit my parents in NYC PIT-LGA-PIT and then one segment run at the end of the year.

The following status is already set:

Marriott Platinum till 01/02 (earned)
American Airlines Platinum till 02/02 (challenge)
Starwood Gold till 09/01 (comped)
Hilton Gold till 01/02 (comped)
Hertz President's Circle till 01/02 (earned)

The following status will expire:

Hyatt Platinum in 02/01 (comped, never used)

Got off to a late start this year (in-town client for 2 months), but I've tried to keep top level on 2 airlines and 2 hotels.

United - 50/60 segments, 40k/50k miles for PE. With over a dozen segments cancelled on me, I would be PremEx by now, but am still 10 short. That reminds me, I need to go get some refunds from these guys!

Southwest - 80 segments toward Companion Pass. If I'm short, I'll just transfer DC points to get there.

Continental - 1 segment, but may still go for the Elite challenge (2 RTs for Silver, 5 for Gold)

Hyatt - 58 nights (Diamond)

Marriott - only 58 nights, but at one point had 75 in the previous 12 months, so that's good enough for Platinum!

AA - Doesn't look real good: 4,820 miles which is not good for anything.

DL - In the clear for the 4th year: 109,000 miles in done and/or already booked travel.

Hotels: I stay in so many different that I'm not even close with any program so I rely on Clarion and Wyndham with their instant gratification.

Hertz: Should make 5 Star.

/Pete

AS MVP, although no shot at MVP Gold.

That's about it, unfortunately. Nothing on United, because I stopped flying them. I originally thought I might get somewhere with AA, but I'm now directing AA flights to my AS account.

This year I'm doing a mileage run next week for 1K (98,400 miles on UA) so I"ll be 1K on UAL.

I'm AA plat but that's expiring as I haven't flown AA at all this year

I am US preferred gold but have only done 30K miles so I guess I'll be silver next year until the merger takes place http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I began concentrating my hotel stays with Starwood but have no elite status there as yet.

Am Avis select and I like that...will contineu with Avis.

If CO buys "DC air" I'll get onto CO also.

Presently sitting on 51 segments and 45553 miles toward AA Platinum. Looking at 6-10 more segments. These segments are SEA-SJC at 697 miles each. If it is only 6, I will wind up with 57 segments and 49735 miles. Does AA have a sense of humor?

If not, I have a $300 voucher.

I would have so say, YES, I am going to slide across the threshold.

Good luck to everyone.

A "new" Non-frequent (but maybe as crazy as FFers)'s report:

In my life earned:
NW: 2xxxxmiles (mainly from NRT-HKG connection of AA's ticket)
UA: 2xxxxmiles (2 trips only)
AA: 3xxxxmiles (my "target" airline)

Elite:
Starwood: Comped Gold
AA: "YTD Q-mile" to be GOLD qualifly after my paid Thanksgiving trip and highly possible PLAT from Challenge after planned Christmas trip.

*** Please Vote ***
Would you trade 4-day in your holiday (stay home instead in Europe) for 10000 Q-miles and 15000 Bonus mile?

Made Exec Platinum by flying 103,000 by Sept 1. Will be flying LAX-RIC and LAX to JFK this month followed by two mileage runs from LAX-LHR on Nov 10 and Dec 1. Using my VIP2 to upgrade to business class on a coach paid fare of only $480.00 round trip

Made mine back in June, just not sure if I'll make 2K this year http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif I'm only at 140K and counting. 83 Hilton nights and increasing also.


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Cheers Scott


[This message has been edited by Scott the flier (edited 10-12-2000).]

NW: 113,000 flight miles already. Have Platinum for 4th straight year.

UA: 0 flights. They comped me to Prem EX in June and then wasted it with their troubles this year. I can't book a "maybe" flight!

Marriott: Silver for next year.

Slow year until Saturday's trip to NRT, with return will get me to 19,000 UA miles. Figured one PDX-NYC trip for the remaining 6,000, then decided to shoot for PremEx again with all the bonus miles floating around. Will probably do a long weekend PDX-IAD-LHR-IAD-PDX for 12,000, another long weekend to a UA Europe city (another 12K), and one PDX-LAX-PDX for the roundup to PremExec. Am tempted to do New Zealand or Hong Kong instead.

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"If you want to win the game, write the rules."

2000:

- AA Exec Platinum
- Hilton Gold
- Hyatt Platinum

2001:

- AA Platinum, if my mileage runs work out (2x LAX-LHR, and I'm doing one of them on the 2nd Weekend in December, OneDog). I changed jobs and have not had nearly as much travel, the majority of my 2000 travel has been personal! I'm really going to miss EXP!
- Hilton Gold
- Loosing Hyatt Platinum (was comped anyway by Hyatt for being EXP, had one stay this year)

[This message has been edited by SNA_Flyer (edited 10-13-2000).]

US Airways Gold Preferred - sitting at 47,000+ miles for the year. No problem getting the last 3k by year's end.

I used to feel sorry for people like me.

Delta - PM - Hit 100 segments this week

No other airlines, I live in Atlanta

Hilton - Already hit Diamond

Marriott - Already hit Gold

Starwood - Comped to Gold

UA 1k 140,000 miles so far this year, another 40k or so to go, planned 220k next year

marriott platinum. 200+ nights this year, 300+ planned next year