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Keep an eye on your inbox if you've ever flown AA. I got a targeted email from them with the following: "How do you fast track to elite status? Simply register, then start flying on American, US Airways or select airlines* to earn the required elite–qualifying miles or points between January 13 and May 31, 2014." 6k Gold/12k Platinum/30k Ex. Platinum I flew 27 segments on AA alone between Nov and Dec, but missed Gold by 3 segments. With this offer I bet I'll hit Ex. Platinum by March. They are also offering double miles for all flights on them and their partners within that timeframe.
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Jan 12, 2014 11:53
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GregNorc posted:What would you do if you had to spend your own money - get a hotel and catch a shuttle? One way rental? Taxi? If you can't get a friend to pick you up the next thing I'd do is check the prices for a rental at every company. Sometimes one way rentals are ridiculous and other times they are surprisingly cheap.
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Jan 12, 2014 16:58
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You're actually lucky that you didn't make gold, because if that promo was like the one they did earlier in 2013, it was also only for people such as yourself who had no AA status at all. Not a bad deal even if you can't requalify for EXP in 2015, because assuming they keep their soft landing policy going forward you'll have some kind of status till the end of 2017.
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Jan 12, 2014 17:00
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GregNorc posted:What would you do if you had to spend your own money - get a hotel and catch a shuttle? One way rental? Taxi? If you can't get someone to pick you up, check what the cheapest airport lot will charge. At least for me, if I'm gone less than 6 days, it's cheaper to park in the multi-level lot than to take a cab home. The outdoor lot is probably even cheaper. (In practice I usually bum a ride from someone or take the bus, but when I'm gone overnight or back in a day on business, I just drive and park there.)
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Jan 12, 2014 17:05
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kitten smoothie posted:Not a bad deal even if you can't requalify for EXP in 2015, because assuming they keep their soft landing policy going forward you'll have some kind of status till the end of 2017. There's no soft landing this year.
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Jan 12, 2014 17:16
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Small White Dragon posted:So Delta has announced that Lounge membership -- purchased or via card -- will no longer include guests (unless you want to pay an extra fee for guest privileges). The one kinda saving grace is that you get $200 in refunds for airline related stuff, including lounge fees. Also, if you hit 150k on AA you get a free AC membership. But otherwise gently caress you AMEX for making your card worthless.
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Jan 12, 2014 17:52
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FrozenVent posted:If you can't get someone to pick you up, check what the cheapest airport lot will charge. At least for me, if I'm gone less than 6 days, it's cheaper to park in the multi-level lot than to take a cab home. The outdoor lot is probably even cheaper. The problem is I'm not flying out of IND. I have a conference in Toronto that I'm riding to with a friend. After the conference I'm going to Europe for 2 weeks... even if I flew from IND to Toronto (which my advisor wouldn't be too pleased about since carpooling is like 5x cheaper), I'd have to pay to leave my car for a month. My current plan is to either spend the night in a hotel, or try to bribe a friend with a car with promises of dutch chocolate and absinthe. But only a couple of my friends own cars, and those do might be out of town over the summer doing internships, so I'm cultivating a back up plan. maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Jan 12, 2014 |
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Jan 12, 2014 18:26
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kitten smoothie posted:You're actually lucky that you didn't make gold, because if that promo was like the one they did earlier in 2013, it was also only for people such as yourself who had no AA status at all. Yes, I did get lucky for sure. I was going to head over to United as of January 1... but this email changed my mind. I'll probably be hovering around 100+ segments this year, and getting this early really accelerated things. mrchina fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Jan 12, 2014 |
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Jan 12, 2014 20:30
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GregNorc posted:The problem is I'm not flying out of IND. I have a conference in Toronto that I'm riding to with a friend. Heading to ISA?
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Jan 12, 2014 20:39
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Belldandy posted:The one kinda saving grace is that you get $200 in refunds for airline related stuff, including lounge fees. Also, if you hit 150k on AA you get a free AC membership. But otherwise gently caress you AMEX for making your card worthless. Supposedly they're bidding very aggressively on club space in a number of airports. It'll be interesting to see what sorts of changes they make. mrchina posted:Keep an eye on your inbox if you've ever flown AA. I got a targeted email from them with the following:
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Jan 13, 2014 05:44
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Flying during snowbird season is just amazing. There's a woman with a yoga mat strapped sideways on her carry on, and two five years old with more carry-on than me - and I'm packed for five nights. Thank god for the Nexus card, though. Probably save me 45 minutes at security. Thanks for letting me know about that trick, thread.
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Jan 13, 2014 13:49
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kaishek posted:Heading to ISA? No, different conference.
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Jan 13, 2014 20:34
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Flying United between Hong Kong and San Francisco is garbage. Old 747 where they don't even have personal TVs for a 12-14 hour flight. It was cheap, but never again! I'll pay the extra $300 for Cathay just so I have something interesting to do. Too bad Cathay goes through LAX and SFO is so much more pleasant.
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Jan 15, 2014 23:51
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Did you mean "as" instead of "and" there? Cathay flies SFO-HKG.
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Jan 16, 2014 01:13
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Best first class availability is through SFO actually!
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Jan 16, 2014 03:25
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Small White Dragon posted:Cathay flies SFO-HKG. Do they??? I'll have to look into that. I thought they only flew through the Mighty OneWorld Hub that is the Kafkaesque nightmare of LAX.
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Jan 19, 2014 20:42
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The new gates at TBIT that Cathay uses are actually pretty nice. Decent restaurants. I actually don't mind TBIT aside from the terrible lounge
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Jan 20, 2014 04:38
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Bloodnose posted:Do they??? I'll have to look into that. I thought they only flew through the Mighty OneWorld Hub that is the Kafkaesque nightmare of LAX. And sellouts -- they're in the midst of building a fancy new lounge at LAX.
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Jan 20, 2014 05:16
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Glad I finally found this thread! Ended the year with 122k MQMs on Delta. Bummed I got so close to Diamond, but rolling over 47k miles to start the year isn't the worst. Already have another 40k of flights booked for the first 5 months this year, so I'm pretty confident I'll hit Diamond just in time for Delta to de-value it even more. A lot of my travel is TransCon between LAX-JFK, and even as a Platinum medallion I was getting bumped up to BE 40-50% of the time, so it sucks to not have that any more. I did get bumped up from Cincinnati to Paris on my last Delta flight of the year though so I guess that makes up for it a little bit. I spent way too much time on FlyerTalk the past few months - forgot how insane those folks can be. I was tempted for a minute to switch over to United, but with family in Detroit it's hard to pick a primary carrier that isn't Delta.
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Jan 20, 2014 05:19
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More for the individual traveler, but Cathay has periodical special deals to LAX from HKG. As much as I want to fly into SFO, I probably will resort to LAX because it's $300-400 cheaper. But gently caress that airport. Separated gates by airline? Antiquated luggage carousels? Geeze it's too terrible. But the problem with European/American flights is the higher chance of encountering tall giants. I only flew on economy but some super tall guy sat behind my seat so I couldn't even recline back and sleep 
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Jan 20, 2014 05:31
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Do you know how AA miles work? I've decided I want to see more places, so started traveling for pleasure and so far have got around 34,000 miles saved up but have no idea what they are for or how they work. Heck, I'm not even sure if that's a lot of miles even. Do they expire? Do I have to call up to use them? Someone said I can upgrade out of coach with them on the website but I have no idea how to do it. I guess it's something I should just call about but at this point but maybe someone can inform me exactly what the miles are good for.
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Jan 20, 2014 06:08
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Yes, I like to think I am pretty familiar with AA miles. To answer your questions: 34k isn't much, as you're in a thread where people are clearing 200k+ (redeemable) miles per year before credit card spend. But it's a start! Personally I'm of the opinion that miles don't get fun until you've got 100k or more miles per person traveling. Some will disagree and swear about the 25k saver awards but that's not my game. Mileage expiration (this is easily googled): Your AAdvantage miles do not expire as long as you have qualifying account activity at least once every 18 months. Qualifying account activity is defined as any AAdvantage mileage accrual or AAdvantage award redemption. Your online AAdvantage Account Summary displays the number of Miles with Expiration Deferred and the earliest date that they could expire. This date is extended for another 18 months every time that you have qualifying account activity. Using miles to upgrade: you can use miles for aa flights and selected partners with certain fare classes. You should call to check availability because they are heavily, heavily limited. You can subscribe to services such as kvs tool if you want to check it. Be aware that upgrading using miles often has a copay that is a deterrent to many. Miles are good for free flights, upgrades, plenty. sellouts fucked around with this message at 07:19 on Jan 20, 2014 |
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Jan 20, 2014 07:10
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I just want to give a shout out to Aer Lingus with their seamless integration with United. The confirmation email had the Aer Lingus confirm code, the United confirm code and the Jetblue confirm code all together (lots of code sharing on this trip) and within seconds the itinerary showed on my MP log in so that I could assign my seat. Hopefully the actual trip will be as easy as the booking process. Sadly though, I don't think I get 100% mileage from them via MP.
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Jan 20, 2014 15:25
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ScooterMcTiny posted:I spent way too much time on FlyerTalk the past few months - forgot how insane those folks can be. Flyertalk is the worst because it is generally a bunch of smug rich people bragging to each other and their moderation policy of only being allowed to say nice things turns it into a self reinforcing circle jerk most of the time. It is a great place to find out info but I always feel like most of the posters there need to get punched in the face more often. I stop in to read it every once in a while but I very rarely post there because of how ridiculous the threads are. Thoguh fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Jan 20, 2014 |
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Jan 20, 2014 15:58
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I'm on FT only because many members are super spergy so they have awesome, intricate spreadsheets and good tips and discount codes once you wade through the BS. I once, out of curiosity, went to a meetup and the members are just as insufferable in real life. snugglebunny posted:Do you know how AA miles work? I've decided I want to see more places, so started traveling for pleasure and so far have got around 34,000 miles saved up but have no idea what they are for or how they work. Heck, I'm not even sure if that's a lot of miles even. Do they expire? Do I have to call up to use them? Someone said I can upgrade out of coach with them on the website but I have no idea how to do it. I guess it's something I should just call about but at this point but maybe someone can inform me exactly what the miles are good for. 34k is certainly enough to redeem for one or two domestic flights. If you book far enough in advance, you can find 12.5k flights. If you are thinking international, try to book off-peak. It will save you a lot of miles at the cost of maybe being a weird time to be in that country. Here's the rewards chart: http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/free-ticket-award-chart.jsp Also, AA almost always has some bonus offers running. For example, they're currently offering double miles to Asia (NRT or ICN) until Feb 1. There's a credit card, too, that you can sign up for and they dump a bunch of miles in your account. I think some people were getting up to 100k (75k sign up + 25k spending bonus) last year? Crazy.
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Jan 20, 2014 17:12
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FT is good to read the forum topics to see if there's any news you may have missed (but don't actually read the thread!) and their AA Explorer award is the best. And the rental car coupons do seen to work for others but never for me. When I got in on the 100k deal it's was several years ago when the economy was completely in the toilet. I would be shocked if that level of deal came back anytime soon. I still kick myself for not taking out the business card and making my wife do the same. For credit cards you can get the AA card, not a great bonus, but get it, cancel, then get SPG Amex. You get a 5k bonus for every 25k you transfer to AA. Unless you book thousands of dollars regularly that will yield the 2x bonus miles on $ spent on AA the SPG will likely come out ahead.
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Jan 20, 2014 18:29
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caberham posted:More for the individual traveler, but Cathay has periodical special deals to LAX from HKG. As much as I want to fly into SFO, I probably will resort to LAX because it's $300-400 cheaper. But gently caress that airport. Separated gates by airline? Antiquated luggage carousels? Geeze it's too terrible. Speaking as one of those American tall giants (6'5" with most of my flights in economy), I'm playing the world's smallest violin for you.  Even in domestic first, I've had the reclined seat in front of me hit my knees.
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Jan 20, 2014 20:07
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So the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the ideal credit card?
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Jan 26, 2014 16:05
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I prefer SPG Amex because I can transfer so many places but up to you.
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Jan 26, 2014 19:48
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semicolonsrock posted:So the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the ideal credit card? I'm pretty fond of it purely from an earning/using perspective. With other miles cards you generally get 1 point per dollar, linked to one airline. CSP gives 2/$ for dining and all travel (not just flights on the preferred airline). So once you get beyond the signup bonus, for daily use you will see a difference in earning miles with this card. That said, if you don't have status with an airline, you may actually place some value on waived check bag fees or other airline card benefits. I personally don't.
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Jan 26, 2014 20:26
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6 weeks from hell out on the road starts tomorrow: Tulsa, Baltimore, Houston, Tucson, New Orleans, BFE Western Alabama. Should be pretty great as I'm 5/6 weeks on Southwest. Companion pass here I come
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Jan 27, 2014 04:09
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GregNorc posted:So I just booked a 23 day mega-vacation this. Partly paid for by conference travel (which covers travel to Toronto and 5 days hotel/meals), the rest w/ points. https://www.nationalcar.com/index.do?action=/hotDealsTemplate&msg=ZL_BigTen_Indiana_ProgramSummary
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Jan 30, 2014 16:40
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Has anyone tried to do one of the platinum challenges on AA? I may try to do it this summer prior to having regular travel. http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Challenge_%28AA%29 Does anything similar exist for eg united?
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Jan 30, 2014 19:03
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So I took a new job at my company going from the training team to the sales team and my travel was supposed to slow way down for a while. Unfortunately the training manager is quitting but on the plus side I'm getting shipped all over the world to help fill the gap while they rebuild the training team. I've already done San Francisco and Little Rock and am scheduled through mid March going to Boston, Denver, Chicago, Long Island, NY, and Cork, Ireland. Looks like I'll get to keep my status for at least one more year.
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Jan 31, 2014 00:45
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Any of you poor sods get stuck in that mess in Atlanta? I ran into a guy in SLC who had been trying to get back to ATL for 2 days without luck. Can't imagine how bad it must have been in and around the airport.
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Jan 31, 2014 01:15
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TouchyMcFeely posted:Any of you poor sods get stuck in that mess in Atlanta? ATL mess delayed my flight out of Tulsa. Can't get back to Denver now because of the 10-15 inches we'll be getting overnight. Flight out tomorrow morning was canceled and I'm rebooked for the afternoon. God willing I'll make it home then. DIA will be humming again with a few hours of cleanup bit it looks like Atlanta has hosed flights across the Nation.
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Jan 31, 2014 03:55
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semicolonsrock posted:Has anyone tried to do one of the platinum challenges on AA? Sure what's your question about it? Platinum is great but depending on your routes upgrades may range from likely to impossible. With credit cards now giving a free bag and early boarding in most cases the biggest benefit is 2x RDM if you care about that sort of thing.
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Jan 31, 2014 17:19
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sellouts posted:Sure what's your question about it? I had great success out of ORD with the only exception being SFO/SJC. Can't speak for DFW/LAX/MIA/etc.
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Jan 31, 2014 17:27
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I fly transcons almost exclusively out of lax so it's a different story for me. I just don't want to paint the picture that it's upgrade city once you hit plat, although with no double RDM last year in a month it might get a lot better. Or I fly to major conferences or events where there's a ton of paid F Basically if you're paying the fee make sure it's worth it.
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Jan 31, 2014 17:39
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sellouts posted:Sure what's your question about it? Geez, the platinum AA card is free the first year and only $95 after that. At $25 a checked bag, and it applying to your traveling companions, that pays off super fast. I'm kind of bummed actually because I have an AA flight on Monday and wish I had signed up. But you need to have it 7 days prior. (Had wrong price.) smackfu fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Jan 31, 2014 |
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Jan 31, 2014 18:21
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