Newbee question -- How do you do It?
 

Hi, I'm not a reporter (have seen those posts), just a total newbee to the whole concept. I have been reading, and reading, and reading -- and gotten great tips! Y'all are wonderful!
I just don't understand how you do it, mostly afford it. I am not trying to ask for personal information, just trying to understand how you swing all these fantastic trips (as I wipe the drool off my keyboard while reading about all the places you go). I very much want to do this, and am learning more everyday, as I wade my way thru all the boards -- and the great links, but it still seems to involve a rather great deal of funds. I have been plodding away at different accounts for years, slowly building up the miles dreaming of a neat vacation 'one day', but y'all make it sound easy to pop around the world.
How does one, having limited funds, but willing to spend time and effort to earn elite get there?
How can that same person maintain the status, again with limited funds, but a willing attitude (willing to be bumped, etc)?
I have read many ideas, but just not sure where to start. Any ideas will be appericated (oh, I do belong to most clubs/points earning options that I have found here). I also hope this is the right place to post this -- please forgive if it is not.

Fly on a mega mileage run during low season--NOV==>MAR. The airlines often have super low fares during that time. One or two mega mileage runs will get you enough miles to become/remain elite and the miles can be used for trips during the more expensive peak season.

If you just do not have the funds, try the kellogs approach or hope to find one of the mistakes that occur now and then.

I have always made travel a priority for myself and family. If there is a will there is a way.

Well, the first thing is that this community is not an average cross-section of society. It represents a highly biased sample of people who have a propensity to fly for business, or who own their businesses. Those that do the so-called mileage runs do so with (I would hope) discretionary disposable income.

How do you do get elite status with limited funds? There are, as you've seen, numerous schemes, ranging from semi-crazy segment runs in Thailand, to highly leveraged mainstream flights, such as those that are discussed on the CO boards regarding Amex Platinum card ticket purchases (you'd need a $300/year card for that). My advice? Probably look for the best bang per buck, in terms of miles per dollar spent. It seems that about 0.02/mile is in general about as good as it gets, which means you'd spend at least $2000 for 100,000 miles, or 1k, on UA. (Beware, your actual mileage may vary http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif ) With that you'd get status and a nice vacation.

However, I'm not the best person to give advice, because I usually don't look all that critically at mileage-run type deals, since I fly too much as it is on business. However, I do sympathise with your quest, and wish you all the best.

Thanks Tango -- that is a great boost! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif I didn't find y'all until recently and have been lamenting the 'late start', but checking the flights in that time frame gives me a starting shot!

Thanks UAL traveler -- I understand about the business flights, and do not envy them (you), other than their 'easily' http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif earned miles.

Having a couple hundred dollars worth of Voluntary Denied Boarding Compensation doesn't hurt, either.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Thanks EPS, did a search, read about 'being bumped' will now start a file of potential 'easy' earn routes from the posts, to get the feel of that. Never thought of it as a way to 'fly for free' before.

Tango has the right idea.

Travel is a priority for our family.

We probably could put more $ in the bank, but our memories are worth every penny.

I've spoken w/too many of my parent's friends that always told themselves they would travel the world when they retired or got older. Most of their friends have not gone outside 50 miles of their home, still.

When you sit down and look at what you spend day to day on living expenses, it is amazing how much you can do without. If you get rid of or cut down on cable and eat at home more often it will add up to some serious pocket change. We have one "beans and rice" dinner at home every week. The more you save on other things the more you have for travel.

"A person's true wealth is what they can do without".

When you do travel, stay away from the American branded hotels. Staying at Hiltons and such will not give you any unique memories and will only end up costing you money. Opt for local hotels/B & B's. You will come home with a more memorable trip.

You have to decide what your priorities are. I will spend the money on travel before I buy a DVD player. The milage accumulation is really a side benefit and a profitable hobby, once you decide you want to travel before arthritis sets in and you can't go anywhere.

We toss all of our spare change into a piggy bank either at home and we both have one at the office. That alone more then pays for one of the winter sale fares to Eurpoe every year.

Cut out something you spend money on all the time (I have a friend who sees three movies every weekend, hell, that's a cruise by the time you figure the tickets, popcorn, etc)and either open an account separate from your other bank accounts or use the piggy bank method, and you will be shocked to see how quickly the money grows. The key is you have to keep that money separate, and not use it for anything else. Otherwise it just won't add up.

There is another discussion here about using credit cards to buy savings bonds, doing that on a weekly or monthly basis will not only get you the miles, but cashing them in every year would be enough to get another vacation.

Our goal is to save in bits and pieces to get the money for a trip, then go. Sign up for the weekend deals, check out the specials, get everything in order now so you can just get up and go when the deals are good (valid passport, a multi day feeder for the pets, etc), and when soemthing strikes your fancy just book it and go, don't hesitate.

WOW! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif such great tips. Thanks all! I have used many of the non-travel ones (piggy banks, but will open seperate account to put them in), but needed to put them togeather with the travel ones to make the dreams come true. Last child off to college soon, and had already told her that I was 'out of here', just didn't know how I would swing it. I don't want to wait until I can't 'play' when I travel (plus wanted to hook her)-- why I am asking for ideas now -- and your ideas are great! I am still reading, reading, reading -- and profiting from your ideas and exchanges by the moment -- thanks all!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I happen to earn most of my miles on business trips (but nowhere near as many on some of these boards) but am always looking for quick cheap ways to augment those miles by using my own funds.

Try to book most of your travel on a signle aireline or alliance (i.e. I belong to AA's programme and have earned Platinum status with them). This way your miles will accumulate faster and in one account that you can hopefully use for that dream holiday. Also visit your airline's website and register for all their bonus offerings. I never travel to Asia but have registered for all AA's Asian bonuses "just in case" but I have managed to earn 10's of thousands of bonus miles on my flights to Europe.

Also, consider getting a mileage earning credit card and putting all your spending on the card. I, again, earn lots of miles this way.

Finally, check out other ways to earn miles. Tango mentioned Kellogg's certs for AA miles, and you can try AOLAAdvantage.com and look at opinion place. Take a survey and earn 150 miles. Doesn't seem like much but every mile helps.

Good luck and welcome to our crazy addiction.

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I wish I were 1,000 miles away

I venture to guess that it is no mistake that lots of us here are business travelers, whether on the corporate dime or business-owners, who by nature are optimizers of resources, whether those resources be money, time, etc.

Part and parcel to this is having a keen memory, too, of what promotions are going on with what airline, hotel, car rental company, or other mileage-garnering entity, and booking/buying accordingly.

So I don't think it's really any trick, per se. Just a good fit - well-adapted hunters (i.e., travelers) seeking their prey (i.e., miles).

[This message has been edited by ETOPS01 (edited 05-03-2001).]

I get my basic status from business travel, but I've found that all of my travel is much more fun when I plan my leisure travel to get more status.

My basic concept is to set a mileage goal and a budget each December. I set a budget of $3500 for 50,000 status miles. $3500 of airfare can usually get me 10 trips a year, including three trips to Europe. I get about 130k/year in total program miles from these leisure trips after various bonuses.

Get a friend or a relative to travel with you in order to split the ground costs. I use my miles to coerce people into going with me the first time (I ask them to pick up 70% of the hotel costs instead of 50%), they usually travel with me in the future on their own dime.

$50/day/each for hotel+ground transport is not an unreasonable budget. Use Priceline when possible for hotels, visit places where cars are not critical and figure out what's an acceptable level of inconvenience.

For staying in big expensive cities like London, or in resort areas (e.g. Phoenix in high season), I save up AMEX Membership Rewards points for 3-4 years and cash in an award with a hotel chain.

Most importantly though.... research which airline plan you're going to use and stick with it. From Chapel Hill, your best choice might be Continental (allowing you to use Midway and Northwest), although if you want to fly overseas a lot then either American or United might be better.

Where do I skimp to afford it? A little here, a little there. Clothes, electronics, and concerts/sporting events are the main places where I deliberately cut.

I certainly get some travel from business, but I would say that more than half of my travel is using my own funds. Others on this board have made some great points, so I'll try to limit myself to three.

1. I make some serious compromises. I would really like a new Jeep Wrangler. I could afford one. But as much as I'd like a Wrangler I like traveling even more. For the foreseeable future, I'll stick with the car that I own outright.

2. I put the wisdom found on FT to good use! For example, I have a good friend living in Berlin. I want to go visit him. Anchorage to Berlin is holding steady at $850 r/t. When I found out I was going to Salt Lake City on business later this month, I started looking for cheap fares to Berlin from just about anywhere in the US. I found $338 out of MSP (Minneapolis). I made sure to book my ANC-SLC flight on Northwest so that I could stop over in MSP! Now I get to go to Berlin for $338 instead of $848! It's good that I didn't just go out of SLC because SLC-BER is $608! Stick around and learn "the tricks of the trade" and you can stretch even the most modest travel money into some good trips.

3.Saving the best for last BE READY TO GO! Good deals pop up and don't last long. Get a passport, make advance arrangements with someone to take care of your pets, house, mail, whatever . . . and try to build up a travel slush fund. That way when a web-saver or a fare war comes your way you are prepared to take advantage of it.

Hope that helps a bit,
-levi aka eastwest

Last Child off to College soon - Does the college take credit cards for tuition payments? If so, do you have a card that earns miles???

I have 0% business travel and I haven't made much money the past few years, so this board is my primary avenue for cheap travel. If you have the time to study this board you can rack up travel credit.

There have been fantastic opportunities over the past couple of years. And there have been great opportunities recently.

Northwest Airlines 10,000 miles for five partner transactions. Along with some phone company miles = free ticket.

American Airlines current offer of 20,000 miles for 20 partner activities by September along with some Kellogg's miles can be a free ticket in North America or the Caribbean. And AA usually has reduced AAddvantage miles special awards each year. Last year my wife and I went to Europe on 30,000 mile awards from the miles we accumulated through Mypoints and MCI.

Join every hotel and airline loyalty program out there. Any time you rent a car, need a hotel stay, or need a flight you calculate what the lowest possible cost you can get and then compare that to the bonuses you can accumulate if you purchase from one of the loyalty chains. For example, I paid $160 for a room at Hilton last month, when I could have got a $65 room that would have been OK. I received enough Hilton points for a free room for a future stay and I had a luxurious room which added greatly to the quality of my vacation instead of spending less money for a passable room with a mediocre to poor bed to sleep for the night. It was an expensive out-of-pocket expense, but two nights in luxury for $160 vs. two nights in a passable, not necessarily comfortable room for $130 is a good investment.

The more money you have the better you can work this travel game, but it certainly can be done with a modest disposable income.

And they keep coming -- GREAT!!
ETOPS01 -- I didnt' mean to imply that there were actual tricks involved -- but what other magicians think is a simple move can amaze the uninitited http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Y'all are providing a wonderful initiation for me (not just here, but reading all the boards).
ElmhurstNick -- '$3500 of airfare can usually get me 10 trips a year, including three trips to Europe', took my breath away! I am madly learning here, but had yet to put a $ on it, but that is a long way below what I would have thought! Heck, I would have though that would be more like one trip to Europe (never been, yet).
satori -- I have been plugging along with AA (MCI, AOLAA,etc). Great point about the hotels! I have just started learning that here, but a great point to take a deep breath and calculate the returns! Such a splurge is not really a splurge when looked at that way.
Thanks all of you! So much of it is a 'frame of mind' -- and from the outside looks impossible to ever achieve. When my parents traveled it was always a 'big deal' -- large expense, massive planning, etc. It takes a bit to 'change gears' and realize that it is accessible -- your advice sure helps to change the view (pun intended http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif)
(Edited for typing/spelling http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif)

[This message has been edited by cat333 (edited 05-04-2001).]

cat333 .. I fly well over 100,000 paid miles a year, all on leisure, to places I want to visit, and enjoy visiting. You are in Eastern USA. Two trips to Asia gets you nearly to Gold level on many plans from there. On United that racks up about 40,000 miles if planned right and Premier Executive takes only 50,000 flown, and from then on your get double mies on all future trips, and you will already have earned a lot of free First Class upgrade certs by then as well. Other airlines offer similar benefits. A R/T to Asia/Pacific runs only $700-800 pretty often.

Once you get there, you will NEVER look back. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

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~ Glen ~

MHO: If you don't travel much and have limited funds, forget working on Elite status. Concentrate on all the alternate ways to earn miles. Many were already mentioned here.

Determine your goal for trip & location. Try to get miles on the airline that goes there & hotel available there.

Concentrate your purchases on merchants that offer miles. Use the florest that gives you 100 bonus miles instead of the local FTD guy. Clip coupons with programs, like Kellogs.

Sign up and use a mileage affinity credit card. Use it for all your normal purchases. Buy a some www.currencytogo.com travelers checks or no-fee savings bonds every once in a while.

Check out websites mentioned here such as http://www.mileageworkshop.com/ for miles-earning opportunities.

cat333, good luck in your goals!

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He who dies with the most miles ... is dead.

[This message has been edited by ontheroad (edited 05-04-2001).]

(and, when posting, try to avoid dupes like this one)

[This message has been edited by ontheroad (edited 05-04-2001).]

ozstamps -- thanks, I will keep that in mind -- I have switch gears in thinking to consider $700-800, not a lot but am learning to see where I am spending the money, and if I want to travel to make that a priority, so such funds can come from here and there.

onthroad - the elite would be great to have, and I will keep it in mind when planning, but you are right -- for me right now -- earning the miles is my kick start.

I have been to every site I found mentioned on these boards, read, read, and read! It is amazing the 'tips' out there! It is also rather overwhelming for one just starting out (understanding the airport codes alone!) -- that is why y'alls advice here has been so wonderful for me!!! I am very grateful to each of you for taking the time to give me such a boost -- in confidence that I can do it! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif I think I very well might have given up trying if not for your words. Forward I go -- to save, earn, plan -- and hopefully soon to play!!

Cat .. remember $700 r/t will usually rack you up 20,000 status miles to here or BKK or HKG etc from east coast USA. There is usually no guaranteed way to get that many miles flying USA domestically with major carriers. i.e. the most 'bang for your buck' is usually via such "runs". AND you get an It'l vacation from it, and not sit at 20 USA airports for same dough/miles!

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~ Glen ~

cat333:

Although I am late in joining this discussion, I will tell you, as others have done, to define your frequent flyer program goals, decide which carrier offers the greatest opportunity for you to reach those goals, and stick with that airline. And have patience! Also, be vigilant in your quest for any mileage-building opportunity out there - credit cards, cereal, dining out, investments, real estate, long-distance calling plans...you name it.

While I agree that, for now, "elite" status should not be your priority (you need to grow into the concept of earning miles first and being creative about how to do it), it definitely helps you if your goal is to earn as many miles as possible in order to take the family on vacation or perhaps treat yourself to something really special...like First Class on Cathay Pacific (CX) or Singapore Airlines (SQ). Being "Gold", "Platinum", etc. - whichever level you achieve in a given program - really helps you rack up the miles with the mileage bonuses awarded for each paid, qualifying flight. And don't forget to register for every mileage bonus promotion offered by your chosen airline. Even if you don't foresee flying those routes, register anyway. You never know when a great "web special" fare might crop up and, suddenly, that destination becomes important to you as a potential "mileage run."

Admittedly, once hooked by "elite" status, it is hard to give up. I have been AAdvantage Platinum for a few years now and got a jump start this year by doing two "mileage runs" to London plus a vacation with my sister and two friends in Paris. All that travel occurred before the end of February and I never paid more than $339 for any ticket ("web specials"). So, I am already a bit more than half-way to PLT status again for 2002 even though I do not have the DVD player and portable MiniDisc recorder/player I had decided to buy. The mileage building opportunities were, for me, a much more attractive option to help me achieve my overall mileage and status goals for this year.

However, I was laid off a month ago and am in a job search so, naturally, all travel has ceased while I focus on securing employment. Hopefully, I will be back in the skies again soon - perhaps for business (although I hope not every week as it once was) but, more than likely, for pleasure. Who knows? Maybe we will run across one another one day. Remember to post planned travels on the "FlyerTalk Itineraries" forum.

Best of luck to you!

Bill