Is there anything I can do to help maximize my chances of attaining status with (an) airline(s), or atleast anything I can do to make flights in coach more tolerable? I already try to get something in the exit rows, but its getting harder with the self-checkin machines for some reason.

A little background on the question:

I fly on the average 1-2 times per month. I realize its not a lot, but its enough that I am looking for any way to make my flights more tolerable. I fly just enough for me to mind it but not enough to get status. This is especially true since I have to fly out of a relatively small airport and I end up splitting miles between 2-3, maybe 4 airlines. (FWIW, mostly NWA and UA, and some Delta, AA and Continental)

TIA

AJ

It's pretty simple. Most US airlines' elite qualification is this for their lowest level member: 30 segments or 25K seat miles in a calendar year. Once you qualify, you get the benefits.

You're not a loyal flyer by flying 3-4 airlines. You stick with one, be loyal (i.e. meet the qualifications), and then you're set.

I'd say try to consolidate your travel to one airline. If you are mainly sticking to coach you can either try for 2P status on UA and get E+ for free or pay $295 for the entire year long access to E+. E+ is UAs version of more leg room in coach. You can find more info in the United forum. Status is always good to attain no matter what airline.

As, noted, your fine, IMHO. Just concentrate on two, if not one, carrier, and try to fly a wee bit more as well. Good luck.

Mark

If you consolidate your air travel into one airline, with a simple MR you can probably get a low tier status. Since you said 2 rt/month you'll have about 24 segments of the 30 needed. You can always break up a trip into a 4 segmet RT or just do a quick MR to get you over the top.

Actually, you could do just about as well with three airlines as one for building status, based on the airlines you listed. Since NW is already one of your preferred airlines, concentrate all your non-NW flying, if possible, between CO and Delta, and make sure those flights are credited to your NW account. This may also force you into some less-than-direct routings with the flights you normally fly on UA now, which will increase your miles and segments, perhaps without increasing your cost.

Just stay with one. If you travel for business, have your travel agent nominate you on that airline for basic elite status. You fly 1-2 times per month. YOu're not an almost FF, you are one. You can spend the money on UA to get E+, but then you're stuck with UA and your chances of ever getting upgraded to the front are really minimal. Plus, you're then stuck flying US Air if United isn't a good rate. I'd go with Continental. You get good service, a stable airline, upgraded with status from time to time and you can use NWA, Alaskan and Delta.

DL has an amex that gives you 10K or 15K miles towards medallion qualification. But the fee is 135 v 85. Don't know if other airlines have this.

A couple of points:

1. 30 segments is 15r/t. Just over one per month. Even fewer trips required if you're connecting.

2. Beware of CO's Onepass program and their flights. If you use collect CO EQM, you must purchase your deep discount fare on continental.com or else you earn only 50% EQM and ZERO segment. If you fly on NW/DL, then most discount fares have the same rule. If you collect NW/DL EQM/MQM, then many CO fares will give you only 50% EQM and ZERO segment. Be really really careful when you deal with Continental when it comes to elite qualification. They are the least generous among all the major airlines now that DL has retreated from its 50%/0-point creation.

Thanks for the responses. I probably should have provided a couple more details. First, most of my travel is for work, so I usually have to go with the cheapest ticket. I have some flexibility on that, but not a lot. The other thing is that the airport I fly out of (DSM) isn't very good for consolidating down to a single airline, or I would have tried to do that already. The other thing about the airport that I fly out of is that 90% of the flights I take have a connection. Finally, NWA and United are the "big airlines" that fly out of there. To be honest the Continental flights out of there are usually codeshares with NWA, but sometimes the Continental ticket is cheaper.

I can probably get 3/4 of my travel on one airline, at best. NWA is the way to go, since I didn't realize I could count Continental and Delta towards NWA.

>Is there anything I can do to help maximize my chances of attaining status with (an) airline(s)

As others have said:

1) Try as hard as you can to stick to one airline, or airlines within the same alliance. For example, I stick to Air Canada and United. On trips to the USA, American might be better, but I *always* fly United.

2) Try to get more segments. For example, if you were to fly Seattle to New York, instead of flying non-stop try to fly Seattle - Denver - Chicago - NYC. On a return trip that's six segments intead of just two.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

You fly far more than I do, and I (and my four-year-old) made silver on NW for this year. If you flew even half those flights on NW you'd make it by segments same as we did, with each r/t flight leading to four segments. It's one of the advantages of middle-of-nowhere needing-two-flights-to-get-anywhere living, and it's about time there was an advantage to that!