golfingboy

I would say the average is $10-15K per year. It also heavily depends on where you are based... 1Ks out of IAH spends more than 1Ks out of the coasts. EWR may be the exception. Do not forget GUM based 1Ks who probably bleeds money out of their noses to fly on UA.

1Ks based outside of the USA will naturally have higher spend as well.

As for differentiaing between those who flies on higer fares and those who flies on lower fares, this is why the upgrade hierarchy is based on fare paid. I know those who flies Y/B/M fares almost never miss an upgrade, even on last minute tickets. I have a friend in IAH who buys his tickets for work only 1-3 days in advance and never misses getting an upgrade. He is a GS though.

aacharya

The LGA-IAH/ORD-PDX flights, netting close to 6K EQM, were $127. That's ~ 2 cpm. None of my flights this year (revenue that is) were international, as I used the miles earned for my honeymoon and other trips in C.

Next year is a very very different set of numbers already.

FlyWorld

Are you 1K? If so, does this mean you simply didn't use your GPUs or you burned them on domestic?

And, in the context of 1K, 6K worth of 2 CPM is nothing. We've still got to account for another 94K worth of travel.

MrMarket

Point taken and noted.

I appreciate everyone's responses to my question though. I think this is clearly not linear but it does seem to me that unless you're trying to MR your way to status for the sake of it, you tend to spend $10K+ if you're doing it for business travel.

I'm sure I've hit $30K or more in years with lots of international travel (this year I did no international on UA). I only counted my domestic UA, excluded a handful of US flights that I'll probably credit to UA eventually.

I'm going to spend some time reading those other threads. Didn't mean to stir a previously stirred pot. I do have a better feel for things. I'd guess that UA is making some kind of spread on you if you're at $10-15K in fare revenue, though perhaps not as much as I previously had thought.

I don't begrudge the mileage-runners as they shouldn't begrudge the airline if it finds a way to obstruct them. Meanwhile, I do appreciate the data-points. Curiosity and all.

-Mr. Market

lax2jfk2lax

got 1K for $5273...was able to always firm up a schedule and stick to it. It was a fun experiment to set a goal and achieve it. The patron saint of Mileage Plus was looking out for me.

QBK

See earlier post:

craz

But thats the problem in a nutshell. PMUA was GREAT for these people as PMUA gave compensation out like crazy its Hand IMO was way too open.While PMCO was the exact opposite it was basically extremely tight-fisted. And thats why alot of them are towards Jeff & Co

Their Game is ending and costing them alot more $$ then it did in the past, they no longer find they can get into Biz on Intl or F on domestic flights and basically have to actually sit in the cabin their tkt was purchased for, heaven forbid

I dont blame COdbaUA for this and fully understand why they are doing what they are. I have many times posted that from Plat up should be Rev based besides Miles based

But they even give out GS like candy to people who havent flown the min, since they will give a company x number of GSs to give to whomever they want,a part of getting the contract

The Game isnt what it once was and it will never be the same as it once was, and many folks simply refuse to accept that and thats where the comes into play.

FlyWorld

Quote:
Originally Posted by aacharya
I spent $3,000 to $3,500 to become 1K. Nine of the LGA-ORD/IAH-PDX flights helped (2.7 cpm), and the rest were 4-5cpm flights, some rebookings in Y, etc.

6,000 miles at 2.7 cpm is $162
94,000 miles at 4.5 cpm is $4320

This is above the stated $3,000 to $3,500 to become 1K.

To put this into perspective, getting 94,000 miles at 4.5 cpm is the equivalent to doing 19 transcon flights at a price of $225 each.

Possible. Maybe. Probable. Not so sure.

And, my question is not answered. All of this implies nothing flown in W fare which implies no use of GPUs for > 10 hour flights. And, if that's true, then what's the point? Wouldn't it be better to stay home and have a long nap and a nice meal?

craz

I never would think of simply flying 19 transcons and turning right around.Personally I spend the weekend with friends or hiking. I fly a # of Intl no I dont purchase W unless its only a few hundred more then the cheapest fare and can be Confirmed then & there into C. Im not playing COs Game of buy a W and find out if its your lucky day or if you just spent a heck of alot more $$ to sit in the exact same Y seat you could have for alot less $$$.

I will be in E+ for a my Jan trip LAX-NRT-HKG-SIN-NRT-LAX my JFK-LAX-JFK on the ps will be in C. Net Net 22k EQMs,cost out of pocket $804 spending 5 nights in HKG hanging out. Returning HKG-SIN-NRT cost me $50 more then going HKG-NRT and yields a boat load of EQMs Back in April I did KIX for 3 nights walking around Kyoto

I use my RDMs for 3 trips a yr where the cheapest fare is over .10 cpeqm (most times closer to .15) and a Y award is 80k So I can chose to fly to XXX and pay $1600 and earn 11k in EQMs or do a NY-SIN trip 1 1/2 times and earn 33k or fly EC-WC 4+ time and earn 25k a No-Brainer to me

Im heading to MIA next week for 3 days, its not a rev tkt nor on UA. Im using my BA miles on AA and it cost 15k!EWR-MIA-EWR I could have paid $380 and earned 2k eqm. But that same 380 could get me EC-WC and 6100+ eqms. So its basically how to get the most out of the $$$ you spend

QBK

Bolding mine. nine times 6,000 miles is 54,000 miles, leaving only 46,000 miles at 4.5cpm for $3500 total. But... why are we discussing this, anyway?

Fair question. I can't answer for aacharya, but it wouldn't be the first time somebody's done it -- I think lucky9876coins flew roughly 100K of domestic mileage runs a few years ago. And it's not economically illogical. W fares are expensive, and if you can get 1K for $3500, you're earning almost enough RDM for a couple of trips in international F that would cost $15K each -- plus between CPU priority and strategic domestic use of GPUs, you might never have to sit in coach.

Speaking for myself, almost all of my international travel is work-related, and my employer's lowest-economy-fare + 2-week-advance-purchase policy means I'm unlikely to be able to use GPUs next year -- but I'm shooting for 1K anyway. Just because, y'know?

limey1K

YTD: 102K BIS, 124 PQS, $17K all domestic

TimF1975

I'm barely going to make platinum with 90 segments this year for about $15k. I usually fly between ORD and IAD. If I flew out of MKE, I would have hit 1k months ago due to increased connections. Somehow, I guess, that would make me a more loyal customer. Makes lots of sense to me...

UAgeek71

So I am on the opposite end of the scale. Those 1k's who pay waaay too much and never get the GS invite, because of company policies.



146575 eqm, and spend is 33,456 = 22.8cpm


I do have probably have another 19,500 eqm's to fly before the year end, and the cost is apx 7500~8000, so I may be on the cusp of GS spending, but only 1 C/D fare international this yr 1 - Z, and a bunch of domestic M/U/E and lower fares.

Lesson is, don't try and get to 1k the way that I have!

dorisrpas

Sitting at 99.5 segments with about $19K spend between UA (65%) and US (35%). All domestic. All last minute travel, with 90% of fare classes H and above.

FlyerChrisK

You can always burn the GPUs for domestic travel. The RDM and the fee waivers for being a 1K might justify the "investment" by themselves.

FT is a strongly biased sample. Most people (even on FT) do not do mileage runs.

I am a 4-figure 1K on my own spend. I don't take mileage runs, but I tend to fly on competitive routes.

Nearly any revenue scheme will be gameable in some way (or annoy employers). Set a revenue threshold in absolute terms? Pure MRs with a bit more disposable income will triple their flying, hit the revenue target, and walk off with even more miles to burn. Set a CPM threshold? Employers will frown on employees picking fares to hit that CPM target.