I guess what I'm asking for here is a mini-Mileage Makeover (see http://www.webflyer.com/mimo/frmimo.htm).

This past year, I started travelling a fair bit (about 75,000 flight miles) for a new job. I fly out of IND but that is going to change in the next month or so to ORD/MDW.

I obtained UA Prem Ex status for the first time this year. I also obtained US Silver Preferred status. I generally flew UA west of the Mississippi and US east. I also have a few thousand miles on American.

I work for a national sales organization and my biz travel this upcoming year will take me to many of the major population centers once or twice each for a total of about 30-40M miles. My girlfriend lives in San Francisco, so I will travel there at least once a month for a total of about 40M miles plus. Finally, my vacation and leisure travel will net me about 10-15M miles.

I also have Hilton HHonors Diamond status.

In Chicago, UA obviously dominates the market. Right now, I plan to continue flying UA where possible to obtain the highest possible status. 1K should not be out of range if I concentrate the bulk of my mileage there; I'm not against a mileage run or two to top off my miles. In fact, I already have about 26.5M miles booked on UA for 1Q2001.

Questions:

a) Should I get American (Chicago hub) or some other carrier to comp me status so I can build mileage on them in the event that I can't justify travel on UA? Or should I wait until my travel patterns or home city change to ask for a comp? Basically, I assume that I can get comped but I don't want to get that treatment then fly half a dozen segments, essentially wasting my comp. I gather that an airline that comps a traveller looks for some kind of minimum committment?

b) Should I consider changing my preferred FF program altogether? Is American's program (or the program of some other carrier with a strong schedule out of Chicago) worth the switch?

c) Should I try to get and keep mid-tier status on two airlines?

d) I'm not exactly tickled with the HHonors program. Worthy competitors? How about a comp to that program's highest tier?

e) I still haven't bitten the bullet and joined an airline club such as the RCC (my company won't pay for it). How would you handle this given my circumstance.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

I struggled with this as well last year and after much personal coaching by PremEx decided to go for UAL 1K and maintain an AS account as a catch-all for any AS, NWA, CO, AA, TWA, or KLM flights. As it turned out I was able to make top status on both UAL and AS for 2000, because the first class bonus miles I received from NWA counted as status miles on AS. If you don't fly a whole lot, however, I think top status on one airline is better than mid-level status on two.

I would definitely save my one time comp for a time when I really needed it, i.e., moving, changing jobs, etc.

I am also Hilton diamond and did request comp status to Starwood diamond. I will try them both and should requalify on both, but if not, I'll pick the one that gives me the best upgrades and service and run with it.

With regard to RCC membership, you could always pay with miles. I also have a friend whose company was adamantly opposed to paying for membership until she happened to check her e-mail while a guest in the club and was able to solve a problem so quickly that it saved her company thousands of dollars. She then gently reminded her boss of this incident until he finally gave in.

Mikey:

Can't answer your questions regarding AA but as to hotel program, Starwood is the best IMHO. I'm not sure how often Starwood comps Platinum (top tier) but there are properties in all the major cities (with the exception of LAS) and they tend to treat Platinums very well.

As for airline clubs, I decided to pay out of my own pocket for the RCC once I hit Prem Exec status and it's been soooo well worth it, especially during the summer from hell this past year. I would recommend it...

------------------
Regards,
- Anna

I would concentrate all my miles on UA.

You can go all kinds of places via UA including from ORD obviously. I am elite on US and UA but plan on focusing on UA. It is just so much better to be a 1K on UA rather than middle tier on UA and US.

Mikey,

I was faced with a similar situation a couple of years ago and learned a few things. As a United 1K, the following comps were available:

1) American would not offer an automatic comp in AAdvantage at any level, but offered to enroll me in one of their challenges (See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum.../001108.html). ( The equivalent of UA 1K (AA Platinum Executive) is never comped. You may do only one challenge, and only once per lifetime.

2) Continental Airlines will comp, once, the equivalent UA status for one year. The exception is that they never comp their highest tier, Platinum.

3) US, NW, and DL told me to get lost. Pity, as I was willing to invest quite a bit in flying whichever of them would give me a chance. I did fly enough on CO to maintain Gold and on AA to maintain Platinum.


I do like American's AAdvantage program. It allows me to do some things that MileagePlus does not, like upgrade internationally on any fare and reach million-miler status on all miles that enter my account, including bonuses and partner/affinity miles. Plus you get the feeling that their Top Tier members, as they call them, really are VIPs.

You do not want to fly American between ORD and SFO on a regular basis. They tend to use crappy MD-80's and 737's, many of them without any audio/video at all. That's right; not even music.

Continental has recently made some changes to its OnePass program that, in my opinion, make membership less desirable unless you are in their highest tier, Platinum.

I agree with others here that you are better off reaching the highest level in one FF program vs. middle on two or three. But highest on one and middle on another is better still. It requires 150,000 actual miles a year, but the rewards are excellent. You can shop fares and still get treated with respect when you fly.

I used to think there was no bigger waste of money than the Red Carpet Club and its equivalents. My thinking has changed so far in the last couple of years that I now plan to join 3 airline clubs next year. The cost is less than one airline ticket and the benefits are great. I now cannot count the number of times RCC has saved my butt while in transit. Their check-in staff is attentive, well-trained, and -- perhaps most important -- calm. Incidentally, the higher your level with UA, the less RCC membership costs. You might consider waiting until you reach 1K if you balk at the cost for 1P's, though the difference is not great.

I'm afraid I don't know too much about hotel programs, as I rarely stay in chain properties. I belong to Hilton, Hyatt, Radisson and Marriott, nominally. (I also belong to Super 8 Motel's VIP club; you get the idea.) Of the majors, I am quite happy with Hilton.

But the BEST hotel club I belong to is definitely Inter-Continental's Six Continents Club. Yes, it's high-end, but the occasional values are amazing. Your $35 annual renewal fee includes a coupon for a free night. The weekend savers (http://www.interconti.com/weekends.html) are sometimes stunners. And nicest of all, they treat this infrequent guest like visiting royalty every time I check in (the Churchill in London knows me by sight). As such, I feel very loyal to this luxury chain.

Best of luck with your new travel profile next year. Looks like you'll have some nice options and will end 2001 with a big smile.

[This message has been edited by Horizons (edited 12-26-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Horizons (edited 12-26-2000).]

i have nothing new to add except to ask if you plan your trips to SFO in advance or if you take advantage of UA e-savers or AA Netsaavers. If so, I think you will find that AA offers more reasonably priced deals, which would allow you to take more spontaneous trips to see your girlfriend in SFO. Over the course of a year, that could be worth $600-$1000 in savings. On the other hand, UA is the only airline I know that gives out $-off and %-off certs as freely as they do and UA has better connections out of ORD.

I would really spend time plotting out your travel schedule for the year. If you think you can make 100K status miles on UA (even with a quick mileage run), then I would do it. If not, Prem Ex on UA and Gold on AA is not a bad combo either, but I would still lean towards consolidating all your mileage on UA initially (since any miles flown on AA would be "wasted" from the perspective of qualification for the complimentary upgrade certs given out per 10K status miles). In the worst-case scenario, in the event of another Summer from Hell (however unlikely--crossing my fingers) at United, you could always get a comp quickly from AA. The good news about having no status on AA is that MRTC means that you will actually get to stretch your legs on domestic flights, whereas if you didn't have status on UA, you would not be eligible for the added pitch afforded in the Premium Plus zone of coach.

A couple of months ago I called American asking to be comp'ed to their equivalent of United Premier. The agent said "Sure" and gave me the fax number. I simply faxed a copy of my current mileage summary from UAL.com along with a cover letter request and the comp came through within a few days. Might be worth a try...

The MD80s and 737s from ORD to SFO would be enough to scare me away from AA.

I'm positive American will comp you status (though not to Exec Plt) because your offer to take your business to them is a lot more credible out of ORD than it is from SFO.

AA will comp status. The level you get through is a toss up....depends on the agent. I have seen Gold comps (lowest level) go to those coming from mid and even top levels of ther programs. I have also seen Platinum comps (mid level) given to those of mid and top levels of other programs.

If you get Gold, then do a Platinum challenge. See http://home.webflyer.com/fewmiles/AA/ for more AAdvantage details.

As for the hotel comp. Starwood comped me to Platinum. The requirements are you must already have top level at another program...I had Marriott Platinum. I also believe that you have to already have some sort of status with Starwood, but not 100% sure on that requirement. Regardless, I had to fax them a photocopy of my Marriott card as well as the most recent statement. Got my new status a couple days later.

-Jeff

I went through the same thing last year. I decided to use UA - hit 1K - as my dominate airline of choice because they fly to so many destinations. I went ahead and got my status comped on as many airlines as I could, because every so often I get booked somewhere else. AA, TWA, DL, US & CO will comp you a status.

I'm a Diamond HHonors member, however Starwood is the best program out there. You can also send a copy of you Hilton card to Hyatt and they will match your status.