FREQUENT FLYER STATUS AND MY FLYING HISTORY
I live around Chicago. United dominates. American has a hub. And they have all these gates but where do all the planes travel? All American Eagle (their commuter company) flights to/from ORD are on regional jets which means no more prop jobs to GRR! United has a dozen non stops to SFO alone each day not counting four to OAK and I don't know how many to SJC maybe six. American has half that. For every widebody UA has to SFO, AA has a 738. United flys to BHM nonstop two or three times daily. American? Connect in DFW. No thanks. So, it’s United for me.
I have not been, nor do I plan to go, to Midway. I have been to Milwaukee a few times and Madison a few times. Fares from MKE are almost always lower than ORD if you don't play the fare games. On days with bad weather from MKE I've driven directly to ORD, explained to them I wasn't going to waste my time in MKE knowing the flight would be cancelled, and never been given any crap about it.
I’ve earned close to 500,000 miles on UA since the summer of 1998. Almost 150,000 on American Airlines. There are sites that give you airline miles for surfing the web so check out www.webflyer.com. Most airlines require 20,000 to 30,000 miles for a roundtrip award within the 48 states.
Roundtrip wise: TWA (TW) thrice (now officially American Airlines), Southwest (WN) six or seven times, Northworst (NW) once or twice, UnSafe Air (US) about a dozen times during the time in Richmond. Never flown on Continental (CO). I imagine most domestic carriers average out in terms of quality but if you’re going through ORD, go with the big dog, United.
Airports I've been through in the last 3 years: STL, MSP, MCI, DEN, LAS, OAK, LAX, ONT, SNA, SFO, DFW, JAX, MCO, TYS, RIC, LAW, DCA, BWI, DUL, PHL, PIT, TUL, LGA, ORD, MSN, MKE, IAH, CLE, CHA, CLD, BHM, SAT, LBB, ATL, SYR, ICT, SLC, FSD, BNA, ABQ, XNA, GRR, YYZ , LIN, MXP, FLL and MIA.
Despite all of this I've only been to a measly 34 states and three countries. And I don't mean a quick connection on a flight, flying over or just driving across a state line and back. It means spending at least a dinner or night there.
SO WHAT DOES THIS STATUS DO FOR YOU?
I talked about frequent flyer status earlier and at ORD you hear the message "we would now like to offer preboarding to our 1k premier executive and premiere members. Please have your tickets out and available." What does this mean? What does it do for people like me?
On most flyers when you travel 30 segments or 25k miles in a calendar year you get a few things:
Preferred seating...ie seating preassigned and towards the front of coach. Great for family trips too!
Early boarding. Stash your stuff and build your nest before the rest of the bin hogs take up the space.
A separate line for checkin to get away from the people who fly once a year and pretty much are an annoyance to the whole travelling thing. This allows you to generally leave a little later for the airport if you are checking bags. Otherwise pay the skycap service.
Certificates for upgrades on domestic flights. These are typically more frustrating than useful at the lowest level of status however.
A 25% mileage bonus on all flights.
Your own number to call for reservations, questions.
Reduced biz lounge dues. The United one is not worth it unless you fly out of Orange County (SNA).
Possible chance of avoiding the now 100$ change fee.
If you fly 60 segments or 50k miles in a calendar year you get a few more things:
All of the benefits of the peons status flyers.
All seats on the plane are generally open for you to take your pick from, including exit rows.
Your requests for upgrades get processed two days earlier than the peon status peoples’ do which is why you get the upgrades and they do not.
Reciprocal privileges on alliance partners (international lounge access, early boarding, preferred checkin).
Another new number to call for reservations, questions.
A 100% mileage bonus on all flights.
Complimentary, if available, upgrades on United Sh*ttle.
Preassigned seating on United Sh*ttle.
Of course you should avoid flying Sh*ttle. It really isn’t worth the segment and mileage credit unless it’s the one thing keeping you from 1K! Fly Southwest and get there on time instead!
Almost always exempt from the now 100$ change fee (NOT on AA though! The travel agent said their new software won’t let a ticket agent issue a boarding pass without collecting the fee unless a supervisor overrides! We probably have some ie to thank for this!)
Further reduced biz lounge dues. Still not worth the price on United unless you live in Orange County.
If you fly 100 segments or 100k miles you get a few more things:
Automatically placed at the top of the waitlist even if you checked in for standby 20 minutes before departure.
Same thing goes for upgrades. Approved 100hrs in advance.
Most airlines let you book a seat on a sold out flight [at Y fare only].
All blackout dates for award travel are waived.
System wide upgrade certs that can be used on most any published routing. Some of them are for domestic only. Some airlines allow their entire network to be upgradable.
Yet another exclusive number to call staffed by agents with longevity.
Free admittance to the airline’s domestic business lounge (not on United though!)
By being polite and respectful, almost anything you want can be yours, including free drinks in coach, upgrades without tendering certificates, etc. Most of this depends on your attitude and the attitude of the rep you’re dealing with though.