Hello Alaska. Goodbye Alaska

Over the current 36 hours (Noon Sunday to Evening Monday) I will have travelled 9694 miles on American Airlines.  Indeed, as I type this, I'm currently drinking a gin and tonic and eating some warm nuts on my way to Chicago.  I travel a fair amount for work and play, but this purpose of this travel is simply to travel.  I'm on a mileage run.  I've explained this before in previous years, but wanted to discuss it as I had many friends this weekend totally confused.

I'm currently Platinum on US Airways, and in late April, American Airlines sent me an offer to make Platinum there if I flew 12,000 miles by August 31.  I didn't think it was a problem as I had work travel, but I didn't get to fly only American and found myself short, by like, a lot.  Making the challenge means having status on American until the end of 2014, so I really wanted to do it.  So I found a flight to Alaska for around $350 and booked it.  And then I realized I was going to be about 600 miles short.  So I needed to tack on this flight tonight to Chicago.

Now, if I'm being honest with you, Platinum on American and US is pretty good but it's not the best.  It's the second highest level of status and status is really like the analogy about sled dogs.  Unless you're the lead dog, the view never changes.  So I would very much like to get that level of status, because they come with systemwide upgrades or SWUs, usually pronounced SWOO.  This lets you take your $500 ticket to Europe in Coach and upgrade to Business.  It's the holy grail.  The granddaddy of the domestic upgrade.

Also to keep it real, you should be mileage running at the start of the year, because you get the status for the following year, so why not get the most out of it.  And to further preach, the best way to do this is just a few TPAC (Across the Pacific) runs because those can be 18,000 miles roundtrip each, meaning you don't have to keep flying 30 domestic legs.

This is weird.  It's not normal.  I get that.  But my friends spend money on clothes or golf clubs or pre-natal care.  I choose to spend my money on this.  I said before that most people thinks that their vacation starts when they get off the plane.  Bullshit.  I say it starts when you get to the airport.  But you have to play the game right.  Instead of saving money by flying Spirit (I think I vomited in my mouth a bit) why not fly an actual airline and have champagnes and a lie-flat bed.  It's not that hard.  I'm not bright, and I can do it.

My tortellini is here.  God Bless American Airlines serving dinner on a 2 hour flight.  I hope Doug Parker doesn't screw with that if the merger goes through.  This carrot cake is delicious.

Travel Help

So many of you know I enjoy travel.  Allyson and I have been to Budapest and Lima in the past year and a half, and we're going to Munich in February in Business Class, because you really can't beat 110,000 miles for lie flat across the pond.  Also see: Beer and Schnitzel.

My folks needed some assistance rebooking some flights they had cancelled several times, so I took care of that and even got them decent seats.  Its a United codeshare, so I needed to explain that.  See here for an interesting post that a guy named Brett wrote about the subject. Speaking of Brett, he operates a service called Cranky Concierge, which provides flight monitoring for people so they can rest easy knowing that their connections are being watched and the concierges will even call the airlines and rebook if you're cancelled.  I started working for him a month or so ago and now I'm watching flights for others.  If you're interested in stocking stuffers, you can buy credits to be used for monitoring or booking assistance.

But as I was helping my folks book their tickets, I was thinking about how I enjoyed it.  So in addition to the other 14 jobs I have, I thought I would start doing some booking and planning assistance.  And as I'm unemployed, I'd take donations.  Nothing crazy. Like a 6-pack if I helped you.  Some of these award booking services charge $150 or more for this, which can be worth it because it can take awhile to look through all the various places for the different airlines.  Clearly if you're booking your honeymoon trip or have questions, I wouldn't charge anything.  It can just be my gift.  (Note how I start this, after all my friends are married.  I'm no dummy.)

So if people have questions or need help choosing a credit card or a miles program, feel free to ask a question in the comments or call/email me.  I would say that you should sign up for AwardWallet, but in the past year AA, United and Delta have stopped allowing information to be shared, because they're idiots and don't understand technology.  Sign up anyway if you haven't.

If you need inspiration for miles collecting, check out this report by Ben on Emirates F on their Airbus 380.  The plane has two showers with heated floors.

The Mileage Run

So I'm currently on my second mileage run and people think I'm crazy and so I wanted to take a little space to explain what the hell I'm doing and why.  First, here's what my flight path looks like for the past 48 hours.

This deep vein thrombosis party is netting me 11,534 US Airways miles.  Currently, US has a promo where if you use their credit card, they will double the PQM.  So that will be 23,058 miles.  Let me back up a bit and explain some basics.

So a mile is not a mile.  There are actually two different kinds of miles for airline purposes.  My friend Scott has a good rundown on this on his blog, but in short. An RDM, or redeemable mile. is a mile you get from flying, or from renting a car, or from using your airline credit card.  Almost all miles are RDMs.  They can be redeemed for travel or other stuff including TVs or other crap.  They are most valuable for flights in premium cabins. These miles stay in your account and often you need activity in a year to keep them.  Bear in mind that activity can be something like ordering a magazine with miles or checking in on FourSquare for 50 miles somewhere.  The easiest way is to use the airline's shopping portal.  US's is located here.  Buy anything, preferably cheap and then keep your miles safe for another year.

The other kind of mile is a Preferred Qualifying Mile (PQM) or Elite Qualifying Mile (EQM).  The clock for collecting these miles begin on Jan 1st and end on December 31st.  These miles must be flown.  Otherwise known as Butt In Seat (BIS) miles and these get you elite status.  What is elite status?  Well, let's look at what I got today from my elite status:

• I got to use Pre-Check at DCA, which lets you keep your shoes and belt on, your liquids and your computer in your bag, and you only have to go through an old school metal detector.  It was like flying in 1985.  Free with my Gold Status on US.  
• I got to choose 10F as my seat.  Not only is it an exit row, but it doesn't have a seat in front of it.  So I've got tons of legroom.  
• I'm upgraded to first on my next flight, which means extra room, free booze, and more. 
• I get to board the plane in the first group, which means plenty of space for my bag, which isn't a big deal today because I only have a backpack.  

Here's a chart from American to show what their benefits are.  The levels usually start at 25,000 flown miles in a year, and most top out at 100,000 EQM/PQMs for the top.  There are levels above that, but the numbers are small.  

Elite Status matters a lot, to me.  The ability to preselect the exit row alone is amazing.  On United, they have Economy Plus, which has rows of extra legroom, and people love that.  So I will make Platinum on US this year between my flights already and one more upcoming.  That puts me further up the list on upgrades and other benefits.  I'm contemplating buying up to Chairman's Preferred, which is the top level.  Seems nuts, but they give you vouchers that allow you to upgrade your coach seat to business when flying international, and so they are worth thousands of dollars.  

Again, I'll never pay for International Business or First, but I will choose to fly them as much as I can.  Matter of fact, the lady and I are going to Munich in February in seats that look like this.

And all it took was 50,000 miles per ticket.  Think about that next time you redeem a flight to LA for 35,000 miles in coach with a seat that doesn't become a bed.  If anyone has any questions about starting out in the miles game, either hit the comments or email me.