Using miles for spouse instead of self
 

So maybe this is obvious but I just want to confirm my understanding. If I am the miles collector in the family and am traveling with my spouse, one of us on a miles ticket and the other for $, is it always better to give the free ticket to the spouse? If I fly on my own ticket I get the EQM and status bonus whereas if it were the other way around I may get an upgrade but the miles would go to my wife.

Am I missing something or is this pretty trivial?

Essentially correct, and in this business it pays to ask the "trivial" question because airline logic can be convoluted and non-trivial....:D

I do this all the time Mrs. Madone59 and I fly SAN-ROC-SAN at least three times a year. For the two of us that equals 6RTs. If I am going to use miles for 3 in one year, than she flies 3 trips on award tickets, and I fly three on cash. After I book the reservation, I call in and request she be seated with me. The rest is just enjoying the trip. :D

also the mileage ticket inherits the status of the account holder.

You also want to get as many miles as possible to your lifetime account so in the event you reach a million miles, your spouse will gain the same elite level as you.

At this point, Mrs. Eyeballs is a spousal 1K and there is really no incentive to put any miles on her account.

Indeed, one exception might be if the miles will not help you get up another tier in status whereas they might help your spouse do so. Obviously plenty of fact-specific issues there.

This is the best part.

No point chasing status for the Mrs with this benefit.

-SG

Indeed yes. I'm a 1K, Mrs LHRSFO is a Gold. I'm about to get MM next year so, for Mrs LHRSFO's travels with work, she's switching to OneWorld and if we're travelling together, it will be on UA miles. Of course, the switch to OW is easier as her work now pays for Premium Economy, which UA does not offer, but OW does.

Same here. Mr. Lori_Q has more lifetime BIS miles on awards from my account than he does on paid tickets. It's too bad those don't count toward his own Million Miler status. However, he doesn't care much for air travel, so MM status is meaningless to him.

On a recent paid trip on which we shared a PNR, I noticed that he appeared on the upgrade list ahead of me. I assume this is because his name starts with a "D", and all the other upgrade-priority criteria were identical to mine (status, fare bucket, time on upgrade list). Has anyone else seen this happen?

Pursuit of PQMs causes strange things
 

In my case, I would never, ever, travel on an award ticket. Every possible PQM I can get, I snag. All RDMs are used for my family's tickets, as others have mentioned here.

What has not been mentioned is the bizarre situation where the "Professional" flyer earning the BIS miles is in Y, but because no saver tickets were available in Y but saver C or F were, the person on the award ticket, whether that be my wife or kid(s), is up front.

To tell you the truth, this amuses more than bothers me. A plane flight might be 2-12 hours long, and once flown, it's utility is used up. Points gained from having other family members up front, when it could have been you, are often far more long-lasting and valuable. :D

No, its the last bastion of the patriarchy....:D:D:D

(I think your alphabetical explanation is correct...)


.. and for Mike...

Point lost by being upgraded to FC leaving your spouse with two 18 month olds JFK LHR in cattle take considerably longer to gain back, IMHE....

I use miles almost exclusively for my wife's travel. Several caveats, though:

1. For our international travel, I only book when I can confirm my GPU to C and when either saver C is available on the same flights, or that they're likely to be available at some point (and then waitlist my wife's award for those flights). This does require a lot more flexibility on our parts.
2. For domestic travel, we run the risk of being separated by CPU for me (assuming she's booked in saver Y). Given COdbaUA's "upgrade" process, that risk is lower now than under PMUA, though. :p
3. Equipment changes and irrops mean calling to get seat assignments fixed and the potential for less-than-stellar choices in seats (ExpertFlyer seat alerts on the seats you already have can help detect these ASAP to give you a better chance of fixing them).

It's not his first name - I imaginehis ticket number is lower, having been "ticketed" first. When all else is tied, that is the tiebreaker.

Oh honey ... my back hurts from sitting in that Y seat for the TPAC while you were up front sipping champagne ... ouch ouch ... can I get a massage? ;)

Ha ha ... I fully agree with you ... I don't think my spouse has flown on a paid ticket for a long long while!