greathustle

Will just barely requalify on PQMs this year (put a lot on both DL and AA so it will be a squeaker). 100% domestic, mostly booked inside 7 days, sometimes inside 3. About $22k. Lot of Q, H, and M fares, and the occasional A or B

OT, but my anecdotal experience this year doing mostly various transcons is that AA was modestly more expensive than UA and DL significantly less so

LilAbner

Anything that a person wants to do, doesn't harm anyone else, and makes them happy is much more valuable than sitting on a bar stool, hitting a 16 in BJ, or saying one or two Rosaries every day, in my book!

.................. and I agree 100%!, It's no-one's business what anyone else wants to do for enjoyment, but that is one issue that many on here can't quite figure out, and never will, because they think that they are "Holier than Thou" and get their kicks preaching to others while hiding in their little bedrooms, all hours of the day and night, without of getting off their A$$es and enjoying "What THEY Want To Do In Life" instead of being lemmings!

FlyWorld

Change fees on award tickets for < 1K are in the $25-75 range. Suffering through an extra 25K in travel just to save a $50 change fee is not worth it. We all have our own cost/benefit curves but for me, I'd gladly pay $400 in fees just to avoid 1 extra transcon flight.

I think saver award inventory for "elites" applies to all elites, at 25K and above, right? So, I don't know that there is an incremental benefit to 1K compared with Premier level in terms of increased saver availability?

The UA site says that "Better availability for United Saver Awards in economy
" applies to all elites and that "Better availability for United Saver Awards in premium cabins" applies to 75K level Platinum and 1K. So, the benefit you articulate on this point seems equal at 75K level vs 1K level.

LilAbner

My change fees on award tickets are "ZERO"!

FlyWorld

I think you missed the point I was making.

I'm questioning the cost/benefit of achieving 1K primarily to avoid fees like this.

If one spends $1,500 and 20 hours in the air plus another 15 hours of travel planning and another 20 hours of non-flight travel time just to save $50 in change fees on an award ticket, I don't think they've come out ahead.

craz

well being that I avg 6 changes per tkt and at times simply redepositing the whole tkt. It has paid for me to keep my 1K, and with family on the WC where Id visit anyway 9 times a yr and 33k for my 3 Intl trips I need to take Id end up close to 90k so doing the extra 10k is a no-brainer. btw those 3 Intl trips would cost me bet $4500-5000 and yield only 33k, so my way I pay alot less earn over 200k RDMs and end up ahead. It probably wont work this way for everyone

As I already said I can spend $1200 to fly to SIN and earn 22k EQMs or spend $1600 and earn 11k or fly via some Russian carrier with a 13 hr layover stuck in the airport for $1200 to my Intl destination

the second the #s stop adding up in my favor is the sec I move on,I did that with BA and DL and wont any sleep if I have to add COdbaUA to the list

dr__bob

Just another data point: I'll be at 85K by the end of the year for $8K. 5 TATL and 5 domestic (ONT-ORD and ONT-IAD).

craz

I agree especially if all they do is land and fly right back.On the other hand if they spend a weekend or week at the destination and want to get away a couple of times a month nothing wrong with that. Having 1K will help out when things hit the fan. No question a 1K under PMUA was getting alot more out of it then a 1K under COdbaUA

But even if all they save is $50 if they wouldnt have anything else to do and it gives them something to occupy their time with, it can be worthwhile to that person

LilAbner

One does NOT necessarily strive to achieve 1K for ANY ONE particular reason, like saving change fees, free upgrades, or 3X70 lbs of luggage, my friend! (and I mean that with all sincerity, as it is not my purpose to argue my position, nor is it my determination to drive home my point). All I'm simply saying is that some people do strange things in other people eyes and have good reasons for doing so, in their own minds. Many on here are 1K's due to business travel and others, like me, are on flying on their own dime. Striving to achieve, say 3MM BIS and life-time 1K status when one is only a few years away may seem crazy to some and then it might just be something that makes sense to others.

I think that you are missing my point, and that is --- I say, "Judge not, lest you be judged", and it's really time that some folks on here (not pointing any fingers) learn that everyone has the right to do and spend their time and money anyway that they want, and devoting endless hours on FT and constantly ridiculing others seems to be some people's idea of enjoyment, but for me, I like to fly on airplanes and the cheaper the ticket, the better I like it!!!

hiltonlondon2009

That's a horrible way to look at it. It's more than inaccurate, it's actually a fallacy from an economics perspective.

IL-18

Sounds about right. I am flying almost exclusively for business, domestic economy, mostly coast-to-coast, last year $18K, this year $15K.

Red_Rob

For several years I made PMCO plat on ~5K per year. GS the last 3 flying >300K on >$45K the last 2.

cricketer

This year I expect to end up at just over 100,000 miles flown with a spend somewhere around $18K. My spend (largely my employer's spend) in past years has ranged from a low of $10.5K to a high of nearly $40K. Typically I'm around the $15K mark.

My totally uninformed guess would be that I'm maybe in the top one-third of 1K's in terms of spend. As has often been said on these boards, I am quite sure what we see here is a heavy skew towards people reaching 1K for $3-4K. Doubt that's common in the real world.

smfnrt

My spending over the last few years has been going up steadily, perhaps due to increase fare, no DEQM promotions, and me buying more P/Z fares...

First year it was about $7500 to get to 102,000 EQM
This year it will be about $12300 to get 115,000 EQM

Part of the reason I get to 1K is so I can gift the GPU for my dad when he flies back to TPE, the other is the 100% bonus on RDMs.

IainC

My spend for 2012 was $20,003 for 126K. All international out of SYD to SFO or LAX and onwards, all minimum W-class fares so I could use GPU. My GPU success rate was 100% this year so I consider this spend well worth it to fly C.