ironmanjt

W.O.W.

My hat is off to you. I found myself at 52,000 on Nov 29, with the same additction. In the span of under two weeks, I just finished:

IAD-LAX-HNL-LAX-IAD
12 hrs at home
DCA-ORD-MCI-DEN-LAX-IAD
14 hrs at home
IAD-FRA-ARN
2 days vacation
ARN-MUC-IAD-LAX-DEN-DCA
3 days work
IAD-LAX-IAD (in a couple days)

I'm absolutely exhausted, despite the entire thing being in business/first. My hat is off to you.

The quick stats:
*All upgrades cleared except one (LAX-IAD) - quite shocked a Z fare didn't clear to F on a 777 - I was actually #6 of 6 on the list with 1 seat left!
*Bowls of warm nuts: 6 (probably 1 more on LAX-IAD)
*Hockey Puck breakfasts: 4 (probably 1 more on IAD-LAX)
*Bottles of Chateau du Plonk: I don't have enough fingers to count

MrHPN

Good Luck to you Colonius

ORD-LIH

Wow, you are making me feel down-right inferior for not having the commitment to find a way to pick up the extra 6,800 EQMs I needed to hit 150K this year. A little strapped for cash heading into the holidays is how I rationalized letting those two SWUs go.

At least I'm not as bad as ORD-LIH girlfriend who is going to miss 1K by 4,000 EQMs and wouldn't even consider a MR even though she has the entire week before Christmas off. Not to mention that she is the LHR component of my LAX/LHR base and 100% of her travel is in booked C!

I know what you're thinking... and all I can say is... yes, she is very very pretty. That's all I've got.

Good luck and enjoy the 182 bottles of bad white wine on chill at any given moment in the NZ lounge.

Cheers,

ORD-LIH

rkaradi

cash is king, i understand your prediciment. My question is 1k worth it if oyu already have all C booked travel? I see that your GF doesn't want to go for it, but what's the motivation? Does she ever get opped up to F as a 1k in paid C if not, I don't see the point.

BH62

And just where in E+ are we talking about? I'll see you & raise you Row 19 EF, bulkhead row just under the movie screen. Won that one on a SFO-SYD flight. Ms BH, who is (generously) 5 ft-3 in, thought it was just fine & after an inspection tour said that it was "better" than E+ Row 20 et seq. I, somewhat(!!) taller, gritted teeth & dealt with it. Fortunately, got upgrade to C upper deck on return. Win some, lose some.

FriendlySkies

I would consider all of it pretty bad. When you consider that you get crappy food, one main screen for videos, huge lines for the bathrooms, seats that don't get anywhere near flat, and the babies that scream in row 19, it's pretty bad. I find any row near the screens to be bad, given the amount of light they project into the cabin.

Lady Mim

Since the internet in the AIR NZL lounge is not the best, here comes the update that I got an hour ago. Upon check-in in MEL the gate agent did not believe that Colonius showed up, not having a boarding pass. I'll let him tell the details in his own way. He had already boarded the MEL-SYD flight, when he found out that said gate agent had killed his exit-row reservations for both the MEL-SYD and the SYD-LAX part. *groan* The purser put him into business class instead. When we talked he was still waiting to find out what they would do about the SYD-LAX flight. He should be boarding as I type this.

I keep you posted!

FriendlySkies

What a jerk to kill the seating for the long flights Here's to an enjoyable ride back!

lax2010

Hopefully his lucks continue and get him a C chair for the SYD-LAX route, another one of those most difficult routes to upgrade with SWU yet the OP doesn't even have one.

DHalltheway

Reading this post makes me ask the question.

what makes the 1K status so worthwhile that someone would fly that much to get the status?

Please note the following: I don't fly united and I am not based in the US.

sjeon89

I also wondered the same thing. Some would argue that having a "elite status" would make them feel somewhat "superior" than others. Others, would say that getting upgrades and getting special perks. My father is a UA1k (I believe he reached more than half million on UA alone), while I'm a UA1P. He said he used to get upgrades for free in earlier days but nowadays it seems it is quite hard on routes that we use frequently...such as SFO-IAD, SFO-ORD. I do have a place in Denver as well so I do SFO-DEN quite often and I did get upgrades but that was because of my father's "help"... I'm not saying that I fly in First class 100% of the time, but whenever we fly in the routes that I have mentioned, we just book F class so that we don't have to deal with getting upgrades...



Oh, and as for OP, massive congratulations... Very impressive!

Lady Mim

It is not so easy to explain, but I will give you an example of what 1K does for you sometimes. A couple of years ago the whole family went to Germany for a lengthy visit. On our way back one of the bottles in our luggage broke and we missed our connection SFO to YYJ because we had to repack everything right there at the airport. Instead of booking us on the late flight to YVR and leave us stranded there, they actually paid for a hotel and dinner/breakfast in SFO for all of us and put us on the direct flight to YYJ the next day.

If you followed the Colonius' story so far: the upgrade to SYD did only happen because he was 1K, otherwise he might get only a voucher for $100 for the non working seat. Not to mention the unlimited domestic upgrades he got for his trip.

We are not based in the US either. We have been in Canada only for the last three years and have been flying UA for five years or so. Before that we were true and loyal to AA for 15 years, until their frequent flyer program began to seriously suck.. and then we lost the BA connection from our then home base Cologne.

It has nothing to do with superiority - as someone else mentioned. It actually saves money in the long run - especially if you do not have the funds to fly business or first all the time.

Nope, so such luck. They managed to give him another exit row seat.... the one next to the lavatory... he was thrilled - NOT. His flight should come in within the next 15 minutes and I have no idea if he has enough time to write his update. But later today - most likely form HNL - you will hear things in his own words again. I just expect him to be extremely tired

FriendlySkies

Sorry to hear that! Hopefully his luck from LAX-SYD holds, and he gets an upgrade on the TATL segments!

lax2010

Sorry to hear that!

mjo768

Wow...and everyone I know is laughing at me for my 2 NYC-SIN runs and NYC-GRU and NYC-NRT short trips.

Wow.