dsquared37

I'm just under $5K to hit 1K this year. The only domestic flights were feeders to international segments.

No MRs. Which I'm actually sad about because I generally enjoy going somewhere, even if it's just for lunch.

Another note: I'll hit 1MM sometime next year (includes the EQM uptick) and all but 15K miles were on my own dime.

lhrsfo

I'll hit 110,000 miles this year for a spend of c$10,000, with about 20,000 on other *A carriers. This is mostly international travel and mostly sub-W fares as no upgrades seem confirmable at booking and I won't play the lottery. This results in only 3 of 6 GPUs being used. My spend includes 10 lots of the exorbitant UK departure tax so otherwise would be lower. I've never had an IDB voucher or anything like that so it is pure spend, but obviously on cheap fares.

Why do I do it? Because I have to fly that much and it makes sense to consolidate with *A. Would I do a mileage run to reach 1K for the GPUs? Probably not, but I might be tempted to alter routings etc. from mid-summer on (when plans are reasonably certain) so as to pick up more EQMs to put me over the top. Will I miss 1K when my travel slows down? I'd miss the occasional upgrade to Business, but otherwise probably not. There's no special treatment nowadays, I don't drink on planes and I've only had one upgrade on my five transcons this year. Do I think UA's gone to hell? No - the old program was delightfully generous and was never going to last. If they would occasionally run a schedule without cancellations and on-time, then I'd be a reasonably happy customer and I'd be a very happy customer if there were some recognition of status on board.

FlyWorld

Yes, I have seen $1200 fares to SIN, so I see how that adds up. For me, one of the worst experiences of my life on an airline was flying in Y to SIN. Seems like a key enabler of this strategy is comfort and willingness to endure long Y trips for RDMs and EQMs.

FlyWorld

Lilabner, the time has come for some people to start reading and responding to what has been posted, rather than inventing things that were not posted and responding to that invention. The latter is becoming tiresome, especially when coming from the same person, building up a strawman just to have the pleasure of tearing it down.

No need for lectures on judgement. There is no judgement here.

There are questions and there is discussion. That's it. It's an exploration. It's a chat. I am genuinely curious, hence, I am asking questions.

If there is any tinge of judgement coming from me, it's solely on an environmental level. Questioning the environmental impact of so much non-essential flying. But, that's a question I ask as much of myself as anyone else, not a question I ask only of others while "sitting in my bedroom" as you so respectfully put it.

bajong

I will cross the 100k mile mark for the year after my current trip. I live in Hawaii and end up spending between $10-15K each year. I fly 2-3 international trips to Asia each year, and domestic for the rest. I can't imagine how anyone could achieve 1K spending only 3K per year. Travel T/F Hawaii is relatively expensive.

FlyWorld

Hope you grabbed some of those G fares that came out a few months ago at around $300 RT? I'm traveling on one of those soon, and frankly, it's the cheapest CPM that I've ever flown. For a while, I was tempted to use those for MRs to bump up EQMs. ;-)

aacharya

I did. PHL-EWR-HNL for sub $350 in April 2013.

FlyWorld

Nice! Now, that's one MR that I understand. ;-)

golfingboy

In my case... I am an avid fan with a lot of passion for the aviation industry and I love flying... I have always wanted to be a pilot and I play MS Flight Simulator quite often. Unfortunately, due to my deafness, pursuing a career as a pilot will never happen, not even a career as FA. I am not really interested in being a mechanic and working in a warehouse fixing planes. I want to be up in the air, not on the ground.

I could sit for hours and hours just watching planes take-off and land. It is just simply a passion of mine.

I would love a job that requires significant traveling, even if it is a rather sucky job, the fact that I get to do what I love to do as part of my job is what matters the most. If anybody has any idea or something they think would fit me well, then I am all ears!

Bottom line, I fly a bunch on relatively cheap fares out of love for being 35K feet above the ground. I acknowledge that I do not spend as much as many of you, and not as low as many of you as well , so I know where I belong in the pecking order when it comes to upgrades/IROPs and I set my expectations accordingly.

craz

Im 6'2" and as long as I have decent leg room, it doesnt bother me. I dont fly to SIN just for miles although I will be doing that in Jan since Ill be there for all of 5 hrs but thats after hanging in HKG for 5 days.Im not about to land in SIN @ 1am and fly back @ 7am if I wasnt staying somewhere else as I am

But dont forget I used 2 RPUs to UP my NY-LA-NY part of the tkt and Im overnighting @ LAX on my way out either I will p/u a cheap hotel stay or use a Marriott cat4 from the MB, so by braking up the flights its not really as bad as you think but yes its still Y and Ive been lucky where my flights have been far from full and thusly usually yielding me a whole row to myself to lie down in. If planned right its very doable and not so bad.

What I do is find places that offer me things I like to do or see and head there, and not every year either.Last time to HKG was 5 yrs ago and I will take in those things I didnt the last time.So yea it means going during off peak times but that also means its not as crowded as it usually gets.

I fully understand this isnt for everyone and most folks would rather MR here in the US even with an immediate turn around instead and then use the RDMs for a C award tkt. But my RDMs are needed for 3 trips I need to take every year where as I said Y is bet .10-.15 cpm

My pt is each person needs to sit and crunch the #s and see what if anything works for them personally and what works for you might not for me and vice versa = theres no 1 way that makes sense and another that doesnt make sense for everybody.

A friend flys close to 30 times bet NY & FL every year, takes 1 vacation a year and outside of those flights no way will he set foot onto a plane just for the sake of flying, he doesnt even want to fly back & forth to FL as he does. The Game isnt for everybody , hed rather spend his time with his family and doing things he enjoys doing and flying just happens not to be on his list of fun things

craz

And throw a $200 eCert onto that fare and you're flying for $100

My Jan NY-ONT fare was $52 after using a $100 eCert and earns 6100+ EQMs My Jan NY-LA-HKG-SIN-NRT-LA-NY trip was $1204 - a $400 VDB = $804 for 22k eqms

Thats why spending < $3k and flying 1K is very possible, but last yr wasnt as lucative as yrs past have been for VDBs. Fly off season Intl, and wait for the good sales EC-WC and apply an eCert and bingo 1K is very easy if you have the time and patience, both of which I have tons of

Duke777

Only made it to 81K miles last year for ~$18.5K in spend (about 90% of $ was business while about 1/3 of miles were personal trips).

This year, I'll probably end up somewhere around 85K miles for $13K-$14K in spend (about 80% business while about 25% of miles were personal trips).

For business travel, it's not difficult for me to end up spending $1k on a ticket that only earns 1000-3000 miles.

adagio

103K this year on just shy of 23K spend. Lots of international with paid BizFirst one way and W on the other legs with hopes of using a GPU, so 1/2 paid business first ups the spend --- 0.22 cpm. All RPUs and GPUs cleared this year, even some LHR-IAH and a PVG-IAH clearing.

craz

I never posted I flew on fares < $3k, I did say I paid < $3k out of pocket for 1K and 2 yrs < $2k. All that matters to me is how much was spent out of my pocket and all of my flying is on my own Dime.

What would you say if a person had an award tkt got the VDB and earned EQMs on the new flight/s since the Rep set it up as a rev tkt instead of an award tkt, do they have to go find out what a walk-up fare would cost and add that in? On a fare only basis yes but not on what did it cost me basis

and those $400 VDBs at times cost me a couple of hrs each of my time flying on a different flight that left later, while other times I ended up arriving at my final destination hrs before I was suppose to as I was put onto a non-stop. But since it didnt cost me any $$ to get them then as far as Im concerned my cost is $804 and not $1204. But I would have done it for $1204 as well, if I need to pay for a hotel overnight I would add that to my overall costs even thou it wasnt apart of the actual fare, so doing a MR and having say 10 hrs overnight and grabbing a $100 hotel just pushed my total up by $100, btw the same if due to WX & I had to spend the night and paid for a hotel room my overall total would go up

In The 216

These types of posts are always predictible. I guess I don't understand why some people care (almost to an extreme) about how or why others earn their premier status. The only thing that becomes competitive amongst premier members is upgrades and the hierarchy of upgrades based on fare paid takes care of that issue. It's akin to someone who works 60 hours per week to make a very comfortable living being upset at someone who works 30 hours per week but made some very good investments living the same comfortable life. I don't understand the resentment.

As far as the MR vs non-MR people. I am taking my first ever MR at the end of the month (CLE-IAD-SFO-SEA-SFO-EWR-CLE) with the intention of earning Silver. The $248 I spent on the MR, for me, is more than worth it considering the money I will save on checked bag fees and E+ fees over the next ~14 months. Many of my flights out of CLE are less than 500 miles so the 500 mile minimum is a nice bonus. I also don't understand why it's so difficult for some to understand why others see the value in a MR.