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Articles tagged “frequent flyer”

On the road with a Gadling mileage runner

by Grant Martin on Dec 21, 2009

Whether you ethically believe in the mileage runs or not, they play a serious, vital role in many frequent flyer’s lives. The concept, in case you’re unfamiliar, has to do with flying around willy-nilly at year’s end solely to reach a certain number of earned-miles. In turn, rewards are given to loyal passengers who fly these high volumes, often so great that it’s actually worth the cost of flying those extra few miles.

I found myself in the above situation as November came to a close this year, 7,000 miles short of reaching 100k on American Airlines, a status that they refer to as Executive Platinum (EXP). Flashy. With said status comes a variety of perks: extra bonus miles when traveling, free upgrades and waitlist priority to name a few. To most, however, the biggest perk is called an EVIP, or System Wide Upgrade, a voucher that effectively lets passengers book a ticket in coach to anywhere in the world and then upgrade to business for free.

Very simply put, one can thus purchase a $700 ticket to Tokyo and use an EVIP to ride in business class next to someone who paid $3400 for a proper revenue ticket. It’s a great perk for those who have time or fly enough to earn EXP. And frankly, if the goal is nearby it’s worth spending the few hundred dollars to reap these rewards over the next year.

Going back to November, I projected the number of miles that I would be short and realized that I needed to scoop up a few more before year’s end. So I began to construct a mileage run, a trip taken purely to soak them up. Destination? Duration? Unimportant. The right amount of miles in the right amount of time? Key. Here’s how it came together: Tools and Strategy

The obvious goal of a mileage run it to earn as many miles as possible for the lowest amount of cost and time spent. There are a few tools to search for fares by distance against cost, but the best is Farecompare. Using their Flyertalk tool, you can sort by Price Per Mile (PPM) and distance. It’s true FC will give you a ton of false positives, but patiently working through the schedules and availability will pay off in the long run.

In my case, I needed to fly at least 7,000 miles in under a weekend, so I limited my search to Europe and South America, eventually sifting out a $450 fare from Chicago O’Hare to Frankfurt, Germany that I could take departing on Saturday and returning on Sunday — on the same airplane, no less. Using the webflyer mileage calculator, I verified that this would earn me 8660 miles, so I booked the fare.

On the Road

After a night out with friends on Friday and a full day of work on Saturday, I left for O’Hare from work at 5:00PM for my 7:30 flight. In my messenger bag?

T-shirt and undergarments
Laptop and charger
Book: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
iPhone with a wide spectrum of TED videos

By 6:15 I’m in terminal 3 of ORD, ambling slowly towards the K gates and marveling at the grandiose holiday decorations. As an AA platinum member on an international itinerary I get free access to the Admiral’s Club, so I step in for a handful of pretzels and to pick up a complimentary Vitamin Water, then I’m at the gate five minutes before boarding.

Seat 21A on this Boeing 767 is part of the first exit row just right of the boarding door, and I’m joined by a nearly silent, middle aged man in the seat next to me. We push back right on time and I watch UP as I eat my dinner, then listen to This American Life until I fall asleep.

Frankfurt

Despite light flurries in Frankfurt we land on time in the German metropolis, dazed from a few short hours of sleep. With three hours before my return flight, there’s no time to go into the city (or leave the airport, for that matter,) but there’s plenty of time to explore the airport.

With no checked bags I vault through customs, the distracted passport control agent absentmindedly stamping my passport as I held it out to page J. He never even looked at the photo. And as I break out into the bright arrivals hall, the buzz of Frankfurt International Airport consumes me.

Time to check into the Admiral’s Club. Going up a few floors I randomly pick a direction and start walking, looking up at the massive departures board as I pass underneath. Oslo. Copenhagen. Mumbai. Chicago isn’t even on the list yet, but when I look down I happen to see the AA check in counter so I amble up.

“Is it too early to check in?”
“Nope,” the security agent smiles, “Where are you coming from?”
“Chicago.” She raises her eyebrows. “Needed the miles.”
“Oh, ok.”

Both veterans of the security question volley, we do the normal dance: Yes, I packed my bag this morning in Chicago. Yes, it’s been with me this whole time. No, I have no weapons. And then she points me to the ticket counter where I pick up my boarding pass and get directions to the Admiral’s Club.

In five more minutes I’m sitting in a leather chair above the departures hall, poking at a massive German pretzel and waiting for the shower queue to clear up. Between the lounge facilities and the in-terminal grocery store I spend the next hour cleaning and waking up, the products of which are a clean change of clothes, hot shower and two purchased containers of fried onions (great for hot dogs!)

Briefly before boarding, the lounging passengers in the Admiral’s Club are paged, and the slow return to the aircraft commences for our 2:30PM departure.

Return

Seat 21A is just as I left it, refusing to lock into its upright position and slightly uncomfortable. A new pillow and blanket have however been left for me which I unwrap, unfold and immediately proceed to fall asleep under.

8 hours goes pretty fast when you bring a fully charged laptop, research papers and videos along the way — and even faster when you sleep for most of it. Before I know it I’m passing back through the jetbridge and into the halls of O’Hare immigration, 30 minutes prior to my scheduled arrival of 5PM on Sunday.

The Department of Homeland Security officer greets me with a nod as I approach his glass cubicle, and doesn’t even flinch when I tell him that I was on a mileage run. With a quick flick of his wrist he stamps my passport, then I pass straight through baggage claim and back into the open terminal, 22 hours and 8600 miles after I arrived.

Wrap up

So why don’t airlines just sell elite miles to passengers rather than making them fly in circles? They could sell the seat to a person who wants to travel and the mileage runner can stay at home and relax.

Partially because elite status needs to be earned. Any random exec shouldn’t be able to purchase the perks that many, loyal travelers spend weeks on the road cultivating. It’s a rite of passage, so to speak.

It also builds brand loyalty. When you scratch the airline’s back and spend thousands of dollars with them, the small tokens that they return to your mileage account make traveling that much easier. Everyone wins, in a way — it just takes a small amount of effort to get things started.

Ready to book your own run? Start with Gadling’s own guide to mileage running.

Airline elite status – does it still have any value left?

by Scott Carmichael on Oct 19, 2009

When I started my frequent flying back in 1998, obtaining elite status on an airline was not really high on my list of achievements. Then, when I started to pay attention to the people around me, I realized I was wrong. Back then, elite status on an airline was the one thing that helped make flying even more enjoyable.

Forget good food or a snack at the airport – getting preferential treatment when things go wrong, or the occasional free upgrade makes a real difference. After about a year of heavy flying, I had reached top tier status on three airlines, and was on my way to a fourth.

Nowadays things are different. Elite status is not just a luxury that can make your trip a little more bearable, it’s what you need if you don’t like paying for checked bags, or if you don’t like spending an hour in the security line.
In recent years, the value of frequent flier status has plummeted –

Certain elite perks are now being sold at check-in or as a paid membership
Elite level bonus promotions are making it much easier to become a top tier member
Additional levels are being introduced, lowering the value of the current top tier
Credit card promotions are making it possible to be top tier without ever flying
Status matching is more popular than ever

Certain elite perks are now being sold at check-in or as a paid membership

In the past, perks like preferred seating, priority boarding and special security lines were reserved for passengers with airline status or those that were booked in a premium cabin. Nowadays, airlines are moving towards the à la carte system, selling many of those perks to non-elite members.

A good example of this is something I took advantage of on a recent flight – I was stuck in coach, and had a very bad boarding group assignment. When I checked in at the airline kiosk, I was offered an upgrade to first class for just $50. This means I was able to take advantage of priority boarding, get a decent meal and fly in comfort for just $50 more.

To me, this is a win-win; I get a better seat, and the airline makes $50 it normally would not have earned. To the people up front that paid full price for their seat, it would appear unfair, and it means there is one seat less for elite passengers hoping for an upgrade. On some airlines, the upgrade systems prefer to sell the seat to anyone willing to pay for it before giving it away for free to elites.

Elite level bonus promotions are making it much easier to become a top tier member

When you chat with frequent fliers, you’ll often get a feeling for their sense of entitlement – many of them will also mention how they reached their elite status. Terms like “I made it the hard way” are thrown around to make it clear they reached the top tier by actually flying a lot.

Take for example the newest promotion by US Airways – their reduced qualification levels mean you can be “elite” after just a couple of flights. More elite members = more people fighting for perks. We could be sitting next to each other on a flight and have the same status, but only one of us had to actually fly all year to earn that status.

Additional levels are being introduced, lowering the value of the current top tier

On United Airlines, the top tier in their mileage plus program was always “1K”. 1K passengers flew 100,000 miles or 100 segments. Once they reached this, the airline would hand over a bunch of nice perks. Then, back in 2003, the airline started a non-published level called “United Global Services”. The program is not part of their Mileage Plus program, and is offered on an invitation only basis.

The reason behind this was simple – too many people were making the 1K level without actually spending as much as the airline wanted. Clever travelers could become 1K with just a few thousand dollars in tickets – which is lower than the price of a single business class international ticket.

With the 1K level came an envelope containing several upgrade vouchers (these are now electronic), and smart travelers could convert those into thousands of dollars in premium cabin trips, far exceeding the value of the tickets they purchase to make 1K. On frequent flier chat boards, it became a sport to make 1K for as little as possible.

The new “UGS” level aimed to reward those passengers that actually spent a lot of their money with United Airlines.

The UGS level didn’t have any of the documented perks of 1K, but it is obvious that UGS members get preferential treatment. What this meant to 1K members is that they were suddenly no longer at the top of the pecking order. If someone was eligible for an upgrade, they airline would pick the UGS member first.

Credit card promotions are making it possible to get closer to top tier without ever flying

Very few cards actually offer “EQM’s” (elite qualifying miles), but there are a couple of them that give a decent EQM bonus upon reaching certain spending levels.

Granted, you won’t become top tier with the average household spending pattern on a credit card, but heavy business spending can often contribute as much as 25% or more towards elite level qualification.

Status matching is more popular than ever

A status match is what you can do if you are currently flying airline A, but wouldn’t mind switching to airline B, without losing your elite status. The game of status matching means you really only need to earn status the hard way once – and after that, smart people can continue holding on to elite status on multiple airlines for several years.

What this means to elite passengers, is that in every line of elites, there could be several people who are “just as elite”, but have never actually flown the airline.

This is all fine and dandy if there is a decent balance (ie. the same number of people defecting to from Airline A airline B as those moving from B to A). In the real world, this doesn’t always work – and when the quality on one airline begins to decline, an unfair number of new elite members might flock to a new airline. Obviously, the more elite passengers an airline has, the more people will need to share the perks. On a busy Friday afternoon at the airport, this could mean longer queues at the elite security lines than at the “commoners line”.

Free status

On some airlines, top tier members will be allowed to nominate friends and family for certain levels in the frequent flier program. These levels are usually “entry level”, but in some cases it means the difference between a bad seat and a good seat, or $300 in luggage fees or free luggage. If you know someone with elite status, ask them if they have any nominations available.

The bottom line

The bottom line is simple (as far as I am concerned) – elite status is not as valuable as it used to be. Don’t get me wrong though – being a top tier member on a decent airline is still very valuable, but I’m convinced that the lower tiers are the ones that suffer the most – they are the ones that have to share the few remaining perks with a lot of newcomers.

This really only applies to US domestic airlines, as international carriers have managed to keep the most important parts of their programs protected from too much devaluation. Though, even those carriers have removed quite a few of their perks.

Top off that United frequent flyer account with Award Accelerator

by Grant Martin on Aug 7, 2008

United Airlines just fired up a tool on their website called Award Accelerator, a tool that essentially lets you pay to double or triple earned miles on any of your flights. Basically, you pay a sliding fee on check-in that effectively equates to three cents per mile, then at the end of your flight the airline dumps the bonus into your account.

So say you’re flying 500 miles from Detroit to New York City. Pay fifteen bucks and you can earn 1000 miles for the trip, or pay thirty and you can earn 1500.

So when is this useful?

Well, if you divide the cost of a regular domestic award ticket, 25,000 miles, by 0.03 cents/mile, you get a total of 750$ spent for those miles. In other words, if you bought all of your miles for an award ticket this way you would be paying 750$ for that ticket — too much for any old domestic ticket. So it doesn’t make sense to double or triple your miles on every flight.

The instance in which this tool might be handy, however, is when you need just a few extra miles to reach that award tier from which you can book. You’re at 24,000 miles, you’ll earn 500 on your next trip and want to push that to 25,000, for example. In this case, it makes sense.

Just try not to make a habit out of it.

Gadling’s guide to mileage running — Elite status and frequent flyer tiers page 2

by Grant Martin on Dec 17, 2007

You can also earn elite status by flying a certain number of segments. In another example, if you have frequent business between Minneapolis, MN and Saint Louis, MO, each flight on United Airlines earns you two segments: MSP-ORD and ORD-STL. After taking that flight a few weeks in a row, you’ll start to accumulate some serious segments. Usually these tiers are at multiples of 25 segments, but you’ll have to check with your favorite carrier for specifics.

As a result, if you look at your miles or segments balance near the end of the year and you’ve earned almost enough miles or so along the way, it may be worth it for you to schlep around and earn another 5k to bump you up to the next tier. Usually, your status lasts through at least the next calendar year; the platinum status that I’ve earned on NWA lasts until February of 2009.

Why not just take the money I spent on a mileage run to book the ticket that I would use miles to book later? Well, for a couple of reasons. To begin with, one of the few areas in which miles are advantageous to use is in the short term. Ticket prices usually drastically rise in the last two weeks prior to booking. Award tickets, however, usually don’t. So one can book a last second ticket out for the weekend on Thursday and still pay the 25k award fee.

Another reason is because the benefits go beyond simply miles. Elite status, first class upgrades, bump vouchers and airline debauch await anyone willing to go on a mileage run. Part of the whole beauty of mileage running is the logistical bonanza that comes with any booking. It’s part of the fun.

Continue reading to Should I book a mileage run?>>

Gadling’s guide to getting better seats

by Grant Martin on Nov 19, 2007

Face it. Riding in airplanes sucks. Even if you’ve got the best seat in the fleet you’re still trapped in a stuffy aluminum tube at 30,000 feet among a herd of diseased, seat-crowding, distraught, unruly passengers and you’re still going to be uncomfortable. And if you’re really unlucky, you’ll be in the back of the plane next to the bathroom with one guy sleeping on your shoulder and one another talking your ear off.

Fear not, Gadlingers, there are ways to prevent pure misery in the skies, and I’m not talking about a bottle of Tylenol PM and 750mL of wine with dinner. A little homework and research beforehand and you’ll well-reduce your chances of airborne distress. At the very least you can have a little control over your seat on the plane and won’t get the death sentence “see gate agent” message when you reach the airport and try to check in.

We’ve broken down the process into a few basic steps. Since you’re online reading this article right now we’ll assume you know how to use the internet, so we’ll show you a great web tool that you can use to help in your research. We’ll also assume that you’re flying on a legacy carrier and not from jankyair.ru; most seat booking tips go straight out the window when you start dealing with budget airlines.

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