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United's new qualification program is interesting: https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2019/10/11/united-mileage-plus-announces-new-2020-qualification-requirements-good-and-bad-news/ quote:In 2020, members will no longer have to fly a certain number of miles to achieve status, just segments and the segments have been slashed. Premier Qualifying Dollars increase to the highest levels in the country. “PQFs” or Premier Qualifying Flights replace segments and eliminates miles flown. Here are the tier requirements: "PQFs" mean a single flight. No more segments, multipliers, etc. You fly from SFO to SIN, that's one flight, so is SFO to LAX. I think the real system is deliberately buried behind the lede - you can basically skip the flight requirement (as long as you take at least 4 flights) if you "overspend" your tier: Silvers with $5,000 in spend, $10,000 for Gold, $15,000 for Platinum, and $24,000 for 1K. This is the real program for most travelers; unless you are flying slightly more than once a week on UA (at least partners are included now for spend) you'll never make 1k with 18k spend, but if you hit 24k you can take 50 less flights that year and still qualify  Also if you do fly 54 times a year hard to imagine you not hitting well over 24k anyway unless you are buying basic economy for all of them (I imagine poor Killhour might have qualified for this once).
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Oct 11, 2019 13:40
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will be very interesting to see how the other two follow suit i would kill to get my hands on some FF data
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Oct 11, 2019 13:55
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:will be very interesting to see how the other two follow suit I'm betting they adapt some form of this in the next year. I'd love to see FF data too. One thing seems clear - UA apparently has a poo poo-ton of 1k members who exceed 100k miles but barely eek out the 12k spend that they want to get rid of. Flat out doubling the spend would cause an uproar and also leave out the people who don't fly as many miles but spend way more, so they kind of snuck it in this way. The new requirements boil down to two basic kinds of travelers - the poor bastards who have to fly every single week domestically for work, and the business folks who go overseas a few times a year and are allowed to travel up front.
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Oct 11, 2019 14:11
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Ixian posted:(I imagine poor Killhour might have qualified for this once). Given that I typically flew long haul coach, I'd be lucky to hit gold. 2018 ended with 80k MQMs and less than 11k MQDs. This year, I'm struggling to hit my MQDs as it is because I only fly BUF-PHX now (still coach) and those flights are surprisingly cheap. Once all the status programs stop being "thank you for being miserable in our seats instead of our competitors" and start being "congrats on being rich - here's more free poo poo you don't need" I'm hosed. Edit: loving lol I just looked it up and a round trip to Phoenix and back is less than $500 MQDs. I'm not even going to hit gold this year unless I come back here 4 more times. RIP. KillHour fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Oct 11, 2019 |
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Oct 11, 2019 14:26
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Once AA does this, guess who will be “accidentally” booking all planned trips close in for “reasons” to make sure they’re the most expensive.
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Oct 11, 2019 14:52
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Man, this would have been a good thing for me when my wife and I were apart. Of course.
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Oct 11, 2019 14:56
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So 1k is 3 paid J trips LAX / LHR a year. loving wild.
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Oct 11, 2019 15:29
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this is kind of what DL was doing with the discretionary 360 - they were giving it to people who would do a few paid J trips a year but otherwise would maybe eke out Silver or possibly Gold. Cacafuego posted:Once AA does this, guess who will be “accidentally” booking all planned trips close in for “reasons” to make sure they’re the most expensive. dollar focus in progams has made me so much less cost sensitive with OPM
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Oct 11, 2019 15:34
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Ixian posted:I'd love to see FF data too. One thing seems clear - UA apparently has a poo poo-ton of 1k members who exceed 100k miles but barely eek out the 12k spend that they want to get rid of. Flat out doubling the spend would cause an uproar and also leave out the people who don't fly as many miles but spend way more, so they kind of snuck it in this way. I never understand how this works. I have been almost 100% domestic, with two Y+ overseas trips this year (woof). I'm gonna hit DM on segments, and my MQD is going to wind up, again assuming all domestic to the end of the year, at $40k. How are these people doing it? Granted, I'm at a DL fortress hub but still, getting down to 50% of current cost per MQM seems crazy.
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Oct 11, 2019 15:37
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sellouts posted:So 1k is 3 paid J trips LAX / LHR a year. loving wild. BA Gold is probably about the same. I think you’d need five JFK>LHR or IAD>LHR.
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Oct 11, 2019 16:44
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sellouts posted:So 1k is 3 paid J trips LAX / LHR a year. loving wild. Technically 4, since 4 is the minimum. Still wild, I agree. KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I never understand how this works. I have been almost 100% domestic, with two Y+ overseas trips this year (woof). I'm gonna hit DM on segments, and my MQD is going to wind up, again assuming all domestic to the end of the year, at $40k. How are these people doing it? Workers who fly once or twice a month domestic and 4-5 times a year long haul in cheap seats (even cheap seats that they later upgraded, since before this change upgrade costs did *not* factor in to PQM - now it does). The other one was folks who flew partner airlines, since you could get PQM from those but zero PQD. Not hard that way to rack up 100k miles but hardly crack what UA considered PQDs. They are adding PQD credit for partner flights now too, although it's some jacked up formula that doesn't appear to count for a lot. Ixian fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Oct 11, 2019 |
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Oct 11, 2019 16:46
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I never understand how this works. I have been almost 100% domestic, with two Y+ overseas trips this year (woof). I'm gonna hit DM on segments, and my MQD is going to wind up, again assuming all domestic to the end of the year, at $40k. How are these people doing it? I know a bunch of frequent domestic economy travelers (people who easily hit the mile qualification), and that seems quite high to me. Take UA, I looked at SFO-EWR a few weeks out, there are roundtrips during the weekday can be had for <$500 including taxes. Do this 20 times a year, and you're over 100k PQM, but under $10k PQD.
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Oct 11, 2019 17:57
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I never understand how this works. I have been almost 100% domestic, with two Y+ overseas trips this year (woof). I'm gonna hit DM on segments, and my MQD is going to wind up, again assuming all domestic to the end of the year, at $40k. How are these people doing it? I thought you were flying out of SFO these days? It always seemed way more United friendly than Delta. Anyway, I always wondered how you got to $40k spend. I thought it was pure first class overseas. If I've done my math right you accrue 3.125 miles/$ (125,000/$40,000). I know you said you didn't meet the miles, but I had to start somewhere. I'm at 13.17 miles/$ (50,000/$3,797). The majority of my miles are on two trips to Europe and one to Australia. The Europe trips earn about 20 miles/$. Australia was ~17 miles/$. My flights to Chicago are like 8 miles/$. Everything is coach. I'm the guy they wanted to get rid of when they added the MQD requirement. I only make gold because of card spend.
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Oct 11, 2019 19:45
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SFO was temporary, I'm out of DTW again now. I book probably 1-2 weeks out and pretty scattershot to smaller cities. I'm not on highly competitive routes between Greater NY, the Bay, LA etc. i hit on miles but it's all hosed up/nonsense because my rollover snowball is now at the point where i could hit DM for like, four years in a row without getting on an airplane (provided i hit the CC req or whatnot)
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Oct 11, 2019 20:19
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Thinkin bout going back to delta. American giving me half segment credits for connecting flights just.... Doesn't make sense. If I take two flights to get somewhere, how is that not two segments??? Should be able to get status a lot quicker with delta. Unfortunately that may mean some earlier mornings.
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Oct 11, 2019 22:46
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Are you buying basic economy fares?
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Oct 11, 2019 23:02
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LGA is without a doubt the worst airport I've even been to. Everybody who works here is dumb and/or useless. The layout is dumber than hell. So I'm in terminal B but gate D9B. Had lyft drop me at terminal B. Try to go through a security point and they tell me I'm at the wrong place. I go to an airport info person and they say 'oh you have to go that way..... Or that way' pointing in literally opposite directions. I pull up the Google map posted earlier with the lounges and ask 'where am I' and they can't even help me. So I find the centurion club (before security, the worst). It was up an escalator and down a 100 yard murder alley that is full of dozens of service entrances that require key cards. No signage so I'm like 99% sure I'm lost. The person there won't let me in because I'm more than 3 hours before departure time (by 10 minutes) and says I have to wait out in said Murder Alley. gently caress that. Find my appropriate security sections (turns out terminal B has gate sections A-D within it??? Can new Yorkers not count past 10 or something?) Go through security and get in the American lounge ezpz. Enjoy some whiskey, get work done. All good. Head out to gate a couple minutes before boarding. Remember how I was gate D9B? Turns out there are four 'gates' at D9. The flight gets delayed 10' back to back. So I ask the person up top if the flight is even here or if I can go back to the lounge. She replies 'I don't know. I'd have to ask.' Which, one again, is like her one job? Anyway they finally let people go and I'm standing behind somebody who is messing with her bag and she's like SIR GET DOWNSTAIRS NOW. I go downstairs and it's just.... Another waiting room! For a bus. They load us onto the bus by zones (why??) cause when the bus stops were just all at the plane and its first come first served. Tldr: don't fly out of LGA. Dumb gate/terminal naming conventions. Split security areas. Club before security. Split gates. Useless/rude workers. Bad processes. E: unsure on what fares I'm doing. Guess it's worth a check.
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Oct 11, 2019 23:28
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drgitlin posted:BA Gold is probably about the same. I think you’d need five JFK>LHR or IAD>LHR. That’s significantly more in both spend, time, and percentage. But yes.
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Oct 12, 2019 00:13
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Thanks AA and D0 for helping me make my 29 out of 30 upgrade today. Supposedly some 30 plus people missed their connections for the once a day flight.
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Oct 12, 2019 08:04
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The Big Jesus posted:LGA is without a doubt the worst airport I've even been to. Everybody who works here is dumb and/or useless. The layout is dumber than hell. I don’t know what you’re doing wrong with segments, but I get 1 segment per flight on AA. Didn’t know you could get half segments. Also, you’re correct, never, ever fly out of LGA. The gate with multiple gates/buses is a thing elsewhere too, yes it’s a pain in the rear end. DCA has this and it’s always a mess. There are also a few things to remember if you’re taking regional flights as these are typically in gates/sections like this. MIA is sort of like that, with a mass gathering area for 10 gates and LAX has a regional terminal that has like 10 gates that is only reachable by bus. They all suck. E: this is for AA - I don’t know much about deltas hubs. Cacafuego fucked around with this message at 14:16 on Oct 12, 2019 |
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Oct 12, 2019 14:14
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Cacafuego posted:I don’t know what you’re doing wrong with segments, but I get 1 segment per flight on AA. Didn’t know you could get half segments. Basic economy only gives a half segment. I think some partners will also give half segments. But I don't know why anyone would be flying basic economy for business.
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Oct 12, 2019 14:31
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As an AA flyer I will take LGA over EWR any day. At least there’s a lounge e: I’m not saying LaGuardia is good at all but there’s hourly shuttles home to ORD and Newark is at least one circle of hell lower
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Oct 13, 2019 04:28
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air canada cafe lounge @ toronto pearson trip report: it's good. the pastries were better than i expected
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Oct 13, 2019 16:06
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Wonder if I will get flagship first dining when departing in paid J as a CK. Let’s see.
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Oct 13, 2019 18:05
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Met a guy at a conference today who has 12k EQD but only 50k EQM. Flying economy. He buys last minute only (doesn’t like commitment), often within hours of the flight. Lots of $200 BOS-NYC fares. I didn’t know this existed
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Oct 13, 2019 20:44
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I usually buy 1-2 weeks before I'm supposed to be somewhere. Occasionally things are planned out further or I'll have hard dates/commitments but alot of my stuff I only buy maybe 2 weeks out. ~*AGILE*~  DO YOU EVEN AGILE BRO e: I am Rules of Simplicity unironically existing on this chart or Scrum of Scrums Waroduce fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Oct 13, 2019 |
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Oct 13, 2019 22:49
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Waroduce posted:~*AGILE*~ I can't tell if this is a joke or not. Which is how I know it isn't.
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Oct 13, 2019 22:51
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Waroduce posted:I usually buy 1-2 weeks before I'm supposed to be somewhere. Occasionally things are planned out further or I'll have hard dates/commitments but alot of my stuff I only buy maybe 2 weeks out. some deloitte consultant inflated the gently caress out of a contract in order to make this lmao
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Oct 13, 2019 23:20
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Lol that chart has made it to nearly every thread I read.
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Oct 13, 2019 23:41
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Krug and a 2013 Cos d'Estournel. And an Impossible Burger. Flagship First dining owns. Nice work, AA. Cathay first and Dom on board is preferable but this lounge owns.
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Oct 14, 2019 01:17
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1/4 GUCs burned painlessly for NRT-SEA — excited to see what the non-peasants life is like in D1.
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Oct 14, 2019 02:26
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movax posted:1/4 GUCs burned painlessly for NRT-SEA — excited to see what the non-peasants life is like in D1. Depends on the plane. If you're on an old-rear end 767 its OK at best. Older 777s are decent, so are A330s. Haven't been on the redone 777 suite config, or the A350 yet.
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Oct 14, 2019 12:53
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just to reconfirm, travel booked through AMEX is not qualifying on the Airline or hotel is it? Like i dont get to double dip points and AMEX points
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Oct 14, 2019 13:39
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Waroduce posted:just to reconfirm, travel booked through AMEX is not qualifying on the Airline or hotel is it? Like i dont get to double dip points and AMEX points Airline, yes.
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Oct 14, 2019 14:23
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Small White Dragon posted:Hotel, no. Thank you. I believe I will be upgrading to CSR and copping the AMEX for the flexibility. I'm frisky about sinking 450$ into the AA Exec for lounge access and priority boarding.
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Oct 14, 2019 14:31
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DJCobol posted:Depends on the plane. If you're on an old-rear end 767 its OK at best. Older 777s are decent, so are A330s. Haven't been on the redone 777 suite config, or the A350 yet. A350 
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Oct 14, 2019 15:49
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I’m flying coach to South Africa on Qatar airways on an a350-1000 and a 900. I’ve never taken a flight this long. How miserable will I be?
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Oct 14, 2019 15:56
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Residency Evil posted:I’m flying coach to South Africa on Qatar airways on an a350-1000 and a 900. I’ve never taken a flight this long. How miserable will I be?  As long as you don't have a 14 hour layover during the day, it's still not as bad as it could be. 
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Oct 14, 2019 16:02
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sellouts posted:Krug and a 2013 Cos d'Estournel. And an Impossible Burger. The FL at OHR keeps quite drinkable champagne on hand. Unlike the BA and Lufthansa lounges at Dulles which now only serve Prosecco. Even admirals club lounges now have actual French champers: for shame, Dulles.
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Oct 14, 2019 16:31
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drgitlin posted:The FL at OHR keeps quite drinkable champagne on hand. Unlike the BA and Lufthansa lounges at Dulles which now only serve Prosecco. Even admirals club lounges now have actual French champers: for shame, Dulles. lol if you expect anything good from that loving place.
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Oct 14, 2019 16:38
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