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i like Ham posted:
Aadvantage frequent flyer program is absolutely the best return for miles and perks out of the major alliances. Lounge access at Exec plat level is like what, $350, with free access on any intl itinerary. It doesn't break the bank in free drinks and wifi alone. The trade off is worth it when you book one O or Q fare class international ticket and upgrade to J (especially on a flight with connections like a transcon + iternational) and still have 7 more opportunities to do so. Should be clear that free upgrades on AA are limited to domestic flights and Caribbean flights. Nothing long haul or international unless the economy space is needed, then you can receive a potential operational upgrade, which isn't really a perk but just luck. For cashing in miles, there are few values better than a OneWorld Explorer biz or first ticket. An ~8000 dollar ticket for 190000 miles? Pretty good rate. And kills booking those flights as individual awards. Not to mention you can book on nicer airlines like Cathay and soon to be Japan Airways with their revamped biz class. I also think Qantas is one of the worst experiences within OneWorld but with Malaysia joining OneWorld on Feb 1 it'll create a lot more access to Australia if you don't mind stopping in KUL first. Belldandy posted:Another frequent traveller checking in as well. I do about ~250,000 miles a year, mostly domestic, all on American Airlines. I normally book my travel on full fare first and as a result got awarded "ConciergeKey" on AA, much like the guy from "Up in the Air". I also do about 150 nights a year in Starwood properties and just hit lifetime platinum with them. Hot drat, that is a lot of BIS miles. At least most of them are in the newest aircraft in the AA fleet. When they get the new 3 class A321 that'll be next significant upgrade to the domestic fleet. I can't imagine being Exec Plat and not being able to use the free upgrades. Did status even really matter to you at that point before you got to Exec Plat/CK when youre already in first? I guess for irregular ops it helps you get around problems as a CK but aside from that most perks are given when you're flying full fare F already. With that many miles / days working do you even spend your miles? Or do you keep banking them? sellouts fucked around with this message at 09:09 on Dec 2, 2012 |
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Dec 2, 2012 08:51
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 14:34 |
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It's $350 and completely worth it if you travel that much. Or get the Amex platinum card, spend $500 for the first year in fees, get free access to Admirals Club, other airline clubs, priority pass, free status at car rentals, free SPG gold (you probably already have it), get the global entry fee reimbursed, and get up to 200 in airline fees reimbursed. Probably a better deal I guess?
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Dec 2, 2012 20:31
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At least a percentage of the 763s will get the new biz class. Not sure which ones, hopefully it's better than the 757/75L where 99 times out of 100 when you get on the 757 you're in the worst first in the fleet. I always assumed that full fare F is refundable and thus changing flights is as easy as calling more than 3 hours before and taking a seat from the next person in line to upgrade  . But I can see how the Exex plat desk would make everything easier. Next to the gang that work in the AC, they really are the best.Military gifting of SWUs / miles is always a great thing. If you'd ever rather donate cash instead of SWU/miles let me know. I always seem to run out and seem to need more. And if anyone has the unfortunate displeasure of flying out of LAX on the 6am flights on Dec 16 or 17 or the late night flights on dec 18th send me a PM. I'll guest you into the admirals club.
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Dec 3, 2012 02:32
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Arzakon posted:Korean Air is very nice, the only weird thing is the planes have no AC which does make the air sort of stagnant. That's impossible -- the air conditioning packs / bleed air is how the cabin is pressurized. They might do a terrible job of controlling the temperature but the 773 they fly ATL - ICN is a very modern aircraft with I believe 3 different zones for air temperature control. With that many Skyteam miles you should look at a RTW fare if you're looking to maximize return on miles. Not sure how much they cost though, I'm sure Flyertalk does. FrozenVent posted:For some reason the miles I get from buying gas clear faster than the miles I get from flying Air Canada? AA used to be that way because their archaic flight miles system ran every 48 or 72 hours, but anything not using flights to generate miles had direct access. This has now generally been fixed with the exception of bonus EQM/EQPs. Did you have any promotions you were a part of to increase miles or anything like that?
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Dec 4, 2012 06:31
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Hey Belldandy, with all of your travel did you ever utilize the AAirpass? If not, why not?
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Dec 4, 2012 18:34
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Why not just get elite status with the other major alliances if they're closer to where you are flying? I don't have time to fly to alternate nearby airports unfortunately. Convenience is king and fortunately AA gets me everywhere I need to go without dancing around nearby airports.
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Dec 5, 2012 00:29
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It's not an issue of not wanting miles. Most people here want miles/status and understand how the game works. It's the issue of going out of your way to increase travel time and multiply the chances for delays, misconnects, weather etc while traveling for business. That's where my issue is. If my employer saw me taking extra segments during work trips and spending hours extra in the air, waiting in airports or more money on gas/car rentals because I'm driving out of my way to fly into a further away airport my wings would be clipped pretty quickly. But yeah, if you can get away with it, more power to you I guess. I know plenty of travel nerds but i just don't know many people who travel regularly for work either not have enough segments or have that freedom. Maybe I'm just too honest with my work time and my hobby time.
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Dec 5, 2012 10:22
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I'll never understand the logic of more segments, travel time and distance = happier employee. I usually think what makes a happier employee is bottom line compensation for dealing with the lovely parts of their job but hey, different strokes. I guess some people value their T&E budget more than I do. I'd rather be at home in my bed being paid more. That's just me though. TouchyMcFeely posted:I know in my case the cost of my time to take an extra flight or route less efficiently is significantly less than the cost to lose status. I consider 25k miles or 25 segments the floor of "frequent business travel". Maybe I'm taking the length of my flights for granted and there are road warriors out there who still struggle to make minimums but that threshold is pretty small by most standards. I also dunno any 25k flyer that gets access regularly to a lounge by flying that distance yearly but I don't know every program. And the more often a person flies, the more important they have status but the more they fly the easier it is for them to get almost all of the perks you are talking about without having to resort to additional routing that negate any time savings at best and at worse put them at a much higher risk for delayed or cancelled travel. Uncle Jam posted:This is just personal opinion but I have a semi common route that is 13 hours. I did a layover once because it was $1000 cheaper, it was 17 hours. It barely added any miles to my route and I definitely could feel the different. Irregular ops can ruin your day. Sometimes it's weather, maintenance, schedule changes... A million things. Fly often enough and you'll see it. I just can't see increasing that risk by adding segments regularly but maybe my travel times are too specific and windows are too narrow to deal with shuffling things around due to travel problems of largely my own creation.
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Dec 6, 2012 10:18
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One mileage run to put you over I understand a lot more than habitually adding segments or flying into further away airports to make up a 20 segment shortfall between one level and the next. I guess my question is how do these lines of reasoning stand up the first few times you misconnect and miss a client meeting or have to get additional hotel rooms when it's on the books that there were more direct options that you chose to avoid? Maybe it's rare but the one person my company wants more happy than I is the person I am flying to see.
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Dec 6, 2012 18:09
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routenull0 posted:There was a special on CNBC: Inside American Airlines(Netflix) and they did a short segment on their reward program and the guying VP'ing it made mention that the majority of their top status people do not get their via flying, but on purchases through their credit card programs. You do not earn EQM or EQP via credit cards on AA anymore. That program you watched is pretty outdated. Miles required to get status are BIS miles. Butt in seat. Sometimes there are double EQM or EQP programs but yes. Someone who does business in Europe needs to write this off: http://cojetage.fr/. 200 euros for a 1hr private jet from Paris to a handful of places? Awesome. Obviously pretty impractical for business given that there are limited destinations each day but still awesome.
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Dec 7, 2012 03:01
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Belldandy posted:Yep, you are right, You used to be able to get Lifetime Gold/Plat from the miles generated by the Citi AA CC but not actual yearly status via the Million Miler program back before they changed it this year. Can the admirals club sometimes block a seat if they know the flight is not sold out? I feel like they've mentioned it before to me recently but maybe it was them commenting on the status at the time and no one got placed there at the last minute. Seemed odd though as it was a bulk head and they usually find someone to put there.
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Dec 8, 2012 00:42
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Uncle Jam posted:The most bizarre thing that happened to me is that I signed up for Hertz #1 Gold Club at the beginning of the year. My first trip with it and I get off at the Gold Club place and my poo poo isn't there. Despite the fact they had sent me a #1 Gold Club card in the mail and I presented it to them, apparently it only signs you up for rapid return and you have to click an additional link on your web profile to enable #1 Gold Club. The first time I got #1 club gold I had to use the office to sign paperwork and activate it. After that the only time I've been in a car rental office was at Avis to inquire how to rent the X5 they had parked next to my car. The frequent car rental perks are amazing timesavers. I prefer them over hotel perks.
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Dec 8, 2012 19:47
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Hertz and Avis have better selections to me along with being able to pick a different car if you don't like what you've been assigned.
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Dec 9, 2012 18:46
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Renting cars in SF is only worthwhile when I have to be out later than the BART being closed (often). Or if I'm floating between Oakland/SF and Cupertino. I had to rent a car once at JFK because I was doing some work in upstate NY -- driving back to JFK to return it is a miserable, expensive experience. Not my dime, but drat. I have been there a bunch but never driven. I don't know how people that live in the area do it.
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Dec 10, 2012 05:30
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Gail Wynand posted:I do it myself. Unless you are some C-level exec with huge demands on your time self booking is the way to go. You are the one who has the most incentive to maximize your comfort and not gently caress up your travel arrangements. Travel agents or secretaries..not so much. Can't agree here -- a good assistant will get the game and know your preferences. Travel booking is pretty basic with a few constraints and a pretty poor use of billable time when your rate is even slightly high. And if you don't think your assistant has a big incentive to maximize your comfort you're not giving them enough to do! 
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Dec 10, 2012 22:20
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Tom Bihn bags are great as well. I don't like the backpack style bags personally, so if that's your thing then go for it. Messenger bag for laptop + electronics, simple wheeled rollerboard for clothes. I'm set. I also dress casual for work 100% of the time, so things like slacks/dress shoes/etc don't really matter to me. Most frequent travelers it does so I'm sure there are better solutions than this.
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Dec 13, 2012 18:36
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I don't know why toiletries or shoes would go in a messenger bag vs your carry on, but if you gotta roll that way maybe it's not for you. My travel configuration/dress is casual. And if you put your toiletries into your messenger bag so you can easily get them out through security, I would highly recommend getting Pre-check qualified so this is a non issue most of the time. (I fly mostly trans-cons so I'm always at an airport with precheck, but they are expanding to secondary and tertiary markets...) For strap comfort, the stock straps stink 99.9% of the time. Try something like this: http://www.tombihn.com/PROD/TB0505.html
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Dec 13, 2012 21:21
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THat's for Nexus / Canadian crap. Global Entry has enrollment centers nationwide: Atlanta area, ATL, BOS, Bowling Green area (lol), CLT, ORD, DFW, DEN, DTW, FLL, IAH, HNL, JFK, LAX, LAS, MIA, MSP, EWR, MCO, SFB (another Orlando airport...weird), PHL, PHX, SFO, SJU, SEA, IAD Also if you have certain AMEX cards (Platinum and up I think), enrollment is reimbursed and at least in New York they'll have a separate interview area from time to time for only Amex cardholders, avoiding a trip to the airport. My application went from entered, to approved, to interview, to accepted and ID issued in 5 days. It was remarkably efficient and I had notification on being accepted before I left the airport parking structure from the airport. Plus you get another government issued ID that you can use to confuse TSA agents nationwide! For more info: http://www.globalentry.gov/enrollmentcenters2.html and for airports with Precheck http://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/assets/pdf/locationchart.pdf sellouts fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Dec 14, 2012 |
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Dec 14, 2012 01:59
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Midjack posted:I wouldn't waste the hundred bucks, myself. Precheck will survive right up until the first time one of the "trusted travelers" either brings on something they shouldn't or misbehaves while on board. Do you mean like the flight attendant that brought a loaded gun through security? Because in reaction to this the US govt and the AOPA is continuing and expanding their known crewmember program which makes any security screening random and rare for known US crewmembers. As in people will be regularly getting through with no security beyond a cursory ID check if they work as crew on an airline. Right now there is no indication of precheck ending and both it and similar programs are only expanding. Also global entry rules when your flight is 10 min late and suddenly you're behind 3 flights worth of people in immigration. PT6A posted:Which part? Those are, uh, the only things I've ever had to do going through security. Is the US that different from Canada and Europe in that regard? Precheck allows you to leave shoes belts jackets hats etc on, keys in pocket, put cell phone through metal detector, and leave laptops and liquids in the bag that goes through the X-ray. It also bumps you to the front of the priority security line depending on the setup at each airport. I've gone from curb to admirals club in about 90 seconds at LAX. It's like pre 9/11 security. sellouts fucked around with this message at 08:54 on Dec 14, 2012 |
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Dec 14, 2012 08:48
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Emergency landing, multi hour delay, making the next morning's trip be a trip in vain. Woo! Oh, and all causes because I was greedy and took the standby flight an hour earlier to try to give myself an extra hour on an already tight timeline between itineraries. I cannot imagine explaining the situation to a normal reservations customer service agent. I was tired and it about halfway through until they basically said "whatever you want we will do it".
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Dec 17, 2012 17:58
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Despite the pilots wishes it looks very unlikely. Thank god. Why would OneWorld be so bad for you?
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Dec 28, 2012 17:40
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But that's how it works -- US Air is cheapest in PHL . Any merger into Oneworld or with AA wouldn't change that. AA wouldn't start running flights into there, US Air is established. It'd hurt competition if anything, but it sounds like AA isn't really putting any competition due to their much higher prices. Looks like the crux of your issue is that you'd lose a lot of miles in your preferred program -- but why is it your preferred program? OneWorld/American generally has a very well regarded program in terms of mile value and seat availability. Monetary cost of the ticket is irrelevant when determining mile redemption cost on AA. From what I've read getting into OneWorld and access to AA and their partners might increase your miles value. I can't find the link currently but from what I've read it is very unlikely that any frequent flyer would lose their miles in a merger -- your frequent travel is too valuable to lose you as a customer over that cost.
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Dec 29, 2012 05:04
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Belldandy posted:I've already done 12,000 miles, amazingly. Should be hitting 30k or so by the end of the month due to several East to West coast trips. Woo. drat you are a warrior. You could take a year off and make status before it expires in the following end of Feb. I gotta give AA credit. After a ridiculously bad trip that left me arriving over 4 hrs later at 3am 3 hrs before my next trip with no ability to reschedule due to another trip the day after that, AA immediately issued a full refund for the trip in 3 hrs and gave me full EQM + RDM + bonuses for that refunded trip. Plus another 5k bonus miles for the trouble. "Trip in vain" really worked. I am going on a real vacation this year and blowing through my 400k miles accumulated over the last few years. Try to get out of the airline status game at above anything but the most basic level.
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Jan 11, 2013 10:33
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Yes, doing that with AA. Biggest problem is availability. If you can book 331 days from the end of your trip and can be creative with routing it is pretty awesome.
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Jan 11, 2013 23:02
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Does anyone have a good experience with a travel agent that also books personal/leisure travel? Never wanted to go through one for personal stuff but with hotel rooms and other things that I don't really care about status with it might be nice to have someone set all of that stuff up.
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Feb 3, 2013 05:14
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Nice! First or biz on the 380? Availability sucks right now. I was sweating bullets for my honeymoon at 310-331 days out and booked a flexible ticket but I've spent probably 10 hours on the phone this past week booking it. With the weather in the northeast it's obviously been an "all hands on deck" mentality as I've gotten some terribly trained agents.
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Feb 9, 2013 22:11
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Belldandy posted:oneWorld is total poo poo compared to StarAlliance. US Air FFs just got hosed. I gotta disagree here wholeheartedly. Oneworld has LAN which does a great job in South America and Cathay Pacific which I would put up against Singapore or anyone else. With Malaysia on board they cover a ton of Asia pretty nicely. Qantas availability sucks but south pacific is nicely covered as well. A great spread for your elite status to matter. In terms of using miles on these carriers, Qantas aside, I'd put availability for redemptions better than a lot of the StarAlliance carriers. I was able to book a 2x business class RTW award for 190k miles each and had the option for first class. Had I earned miles with UA and Star Alliance, Singapore would have not had that availability because they werent KrisMiles and barring the computer glitch last year they don't open the suites up for partner mileage redemptions. And the around the world ticket would have cost me 325k miles each in Business and been limited to 10 segments whereas OneWorld it is 16. And while I'm sure they'll do it to AA sure, US Air just silently upped their cost for all US Air redemptions. Which also sucks. kansas posted:Welp. Gotta burn through a giant pile of AA miles ASAP. There's no evidence that they're going to severely devalue or erase the miles. Too much competition with UA domestically to piss off that many frequent flyers. Belldandy posted:My guess is the hub structure will look as follows in a year: I hate to agree with FT here but I can't see American removing their hubs in the biggest 2 markets (LAX & JFK) for regional flights in PHL and PHX. LAX and JFK passengers don't have time to connect in smaller markets and there's too premium traffic between them. LAX is a great connection to CX or QF's network as well. AA's also announced a serious upgrade to the LAX and JFK route specifically and there's no reason to think they're going to abandon this. sellouts fucked around with this message at 09:39 on Feb 15, 2013 |
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Feb 15, 2013 07:56
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Small White Dragon posted:Here's the thing about Qantas. They are notoriously stingy on US - Oceania redemptions, but they are very generous on some of their other routes. Yes and no. For my most recent trip it was a lot easier to go SIN-SYD. SYD-AKL was booked up except for the 6:15am flight at 320 days out and I got out of the south pacific by doing AKL-HKG on Cathay. Qantas generosity isn't matching AA, CX or even BA. You can be on a business OneWorld AA explorer award ticket, there can be business seats open at boarding, and at no point will revenue management open up those empty seats. The flight will leave with empty seats in business vs opening them for last minute mileage redemptions or for people on OneWorld tickets that include that class of service. This isn't the case for AA or CX, who are truly generous and open up basically every seat by the time the doors of the aircraft close. Belldandy posted:Yeah, oneWorld has good Asia carriers but I think Star Alliance has better carriers - ANA and Singapore are incredible and IMHO better than Cathay and JAL but I may just be nitpicking. oneWorld Europe is just bad. I am totally unimpressed with BA whereas was totally impressed with guys like Swiss and Lufthansa. The only area I think they shine, to your point, is with LAN in LAM. I have no experience with Malaysia. Yeah I'll respectfully disagree about Cathay not holding their own against Singapore and especially ANA. JAL's service in premium cabins is great too and their hard product on long haul international is tops. Great food/drinks too. What makes the difference to me is how easily mileage is redeemed for first class but even business. Singapore is tough unless you've got KrisMiles. CX is easy, JAL isn't bad either. And for RTW trips OneWorld offers them at almost 60% of what StarAlliance does with more segments allowed. Even less mileage cost if you fly less, which is great. Europe is a bit of a shitshow for OW. Lufthansa is one of the best airlines out there and Swiss does good work too. BA is very hit and miss service wise but I don't mind Iberia's premium hard product and when you start throwing in Air Berlin there's decent route coverage. OneWorld can redeem on Qatar airlines soon if not now, which combined with RJ, offers decent middle east coverage too. I really think it's more comparable than you'd think. Lufthansa is a great airline though and their revamped first class looks amazing. And Singapore is Singapore. Great, always. Tradeoffs sure but it could be worse. They could be becoming members of SkyTeam
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Feb 15, 2013 23:12
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Lyon posted:I am starting to use up my miles on US Air before they adjust all of their award charts. Haven't they already done this? http://www.flyertalk.com/the-gate/blog/14461-us-airways-quietly-raises-some-award-redemption-levels-lowers-two.html
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Feb 20, 2013 17:49
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Lyon posted:True but if you look at the award chart changes it doesn't really affect the economy travel for inside the US or to Europe. I'm not on the level of some of you racking up insane amounts of miles. I flew a little over 50k and earned another 90k or so by signing up for the CC and some other bonuses. That's almost enough for a RTW ticket in biz and definitely in coach on OneWorld.
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Feb 21, 2013 01:50
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Pissingintowind posted:I used to be a frequent traveler (strategy consulting), but I've been out for a little while now. American will occasionally status match you but will more likely offer you a gold/platinum challenge, so if you have travel on AA coming up you can get 1W status that way. I don't connect to the Middle East much. What are your 1W options from SFO?
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Mar 8, 2013 08:33
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Shadowhand00 posted:This makes me laugh so much. Shame it's on Southwest  For the meeting expense if its internal and not previously agreed that you will expense these costs, why would you expense them? The meeting is in your geographic region and you choose to live where you live. I live 15 minutes from my office but that is 95% of my weekly driving and I don't expense it. It's my common sense responsibility to get to the office when I need to.
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Mar 22, 2013 20:33
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Cocoa Crispies posted:I'm waitlisted for a business class upgrade for the transatlantic part of my trip to Scotland in a couple months You will probably clear close to departure but if you want to remind me closer to the date I should still have an active KVS subscription and can check specific loads if you'd like.
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Mar 23, 2013 08:21
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Yep I get good use for them unless I'm flying between hubs or booking last minute fares.
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Mar 25, 2013 07:20
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Belldandy posted:Are you based out of MIA? I am thinking about moving there cause, well, it's warm and I'd pay a lot lot lot lot less taxes and MIA is a good AA hub. Any "gotchas" I should know about hubbing out of MIA with AA? Get precheck, preferably through global entry and not AA elite, as MIA security lines can be terrible. I'm sure you already have this though!
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Mar 26, 2013 03:57
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Depending on where you are headed in Asia that 100 dollar per diem might let you eat like a king.
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Apr 14, 2013 05:45
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No more soft landing for status on AA. I've used it before and definitely won't make status this year. Oh well, better use it while I got it.
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May 23, 2013 03:25
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Southwest is always as expensive with me, has more stops, the perks dont extend internationally, and the miles are useless for me. Also no tsa precheck. But im of the theory of saving miles and booking $20k multi week and stop awards that I would not purchase in the first place. Getting award trips on little flights here and there just don't do it for me. Also system wide upgrades rule.
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May 24, 2013 16:23
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I just booked 2 of the 180k tier awards, if you need help with it let me know. Or the thread on Flyertalk is pretty good.
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Jun 1, 2013 06:00
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If its short enough for me to pay for, I will pay for it and fly economy every time. If its too long I will only fly biz/first and use points and miles. So in my case I don't ever view there really being an alternative. It makes the difference between going and not.
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Jun 8, 2013 06:04
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