Airline Frequent Flyer’s - Last Minute Miles
Posted on December 27, 2005
Filed Under Travel |
Simply amazing are the lengths we’ll go to keep elite status in our various airline frequent flyer programs. I had noticed the year was ending and I was a mere 900 miles or so from re-qualifying in my awards program for 2006 elite status. Though there was nowhere I absolutely needed to go, I rationalized flying to the west coast to visit family over the weekend, and secured my status for another year…
As it turns out, I’m hardly in the minority. According to an article in USA Today, a million trips taken this year will be for keeping status or earning free travel. And not just short trips like mine, but round-the-world trips with a two hour layover, followed immediately by the return home. Don’t anyone think for a second that the airlines haven’t done an absolutely superb job of enticing us to keep flying - even when we don’t need to. Read more below:
Some fliers fly extra to keep elite status
By Dan Reed, USA TODAY Tue Dec 27, 2005Thousands of U.S. road warriors this month are making “mileage runs” — year-end air trips for the sole purpose of retaining their elite status in frequent-flier programs.
But some big airlines are quietly allowing good customers to buy the last miles they need to secure their preferred status through 2006.Among the deals:
• No. 1 American has notified some of its AAdvantage frequent-flier program members that they can buy the extra miles to boost them to Platinum or Executive Platinum membership. The fee is $499 or $599, depending on miles already flown this year.
• Elite members of United’s Mileage Plus program who are coming up a little short can retain status for 2006 by paying a fee to get double mileage points for every trip taken in November and December.
Stakes are high for high-mileage business travelers. Depending on the airline, elite status can mean free upgrades to first class, bonus miles on every trip, airport club access and pampered treatment.
American started the first loyalty program in 1981 to award free travel to frequent customers. Later, airlines established various levels of preferred service for high-mileage travelers. Elite status typically begins at about 25,000 miles a year of actual flight.
Special year-end mileage deals have been around for a few years, says Randy Petersen, editor and publisher of InsideFlyer magazine. “They seem to be getting better,” Petersen says.
Nonetheless, many road warriors remain intent on maintaining status the old-fashioned way — by actually flying. Petersen estimates about 1 million trips this year will involve boosting mileage for elite status or just to earn free travel.
Zach Iseminger plans to fly today to Lima, Peru. The computer consultant from Southlake, Texas, has no clients, friends or family there. He won’t even leave the airport before flying back to Dallas/Fort Worth.
The 15-hour odyssey will be worth it, he says. “Getting unlimited upgrades to first class, getting on the plane faster, getting the meals I want — that all means a lot when you fly as much as I do.”
Read the rest of the article at USA Today.
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