Showing posts with label Frequent Traveller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frequent Traveller. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Next year they will wonder what happened



It happened, I have hit the top of the ladder, the frequent flyer ladder that is.

I have officially earned 100,540 qualifying miles and that is not counting my flight to Singapore which hasn't been credited yet. About 30,000 of these miles aren't actually flight miles, but instead are bonus miles for flying in business (thank you DHL).

The kicker of this all is next year whatever job I go into, I will definitely not be traveling half as much and I will go from being Chairman's Club (good until March 2009) to, um, well, they don't have a name for that club, maybe I will make Silver again, but I doubt it. In any case, if I'm not traveling, does it really matter if I belong to an elite travel club? Membership does have it's privileges, but it does come at a cost...

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Gold is Good, Right?



So, as the title of my blog implies, I travel, a lot... In a previous blog I wrote about the size of my passport compared to the normal, standard issue one. Well now I have another battle scar of travel...

The only saving grace of traveling a lot is the frequent flyer/visitor clubs. And for those that travel a lot, getting to "premium" levels of membership has privileges, express check in, priority baggage handling, lounge access and even express security in some airports. My question is, if one attains a "premium" level, is that a good thing or a sign of something else?

Early in June when I flew to Mexico and back I hit my 50,000 mile mark on a Star Alliance airline. For those not familiar with these milestones, this is only counting from the beginning of the calendar year, yup in just over 5 months, I flew 50,000 miles. Since my frequent flyer club is Dividend Miles with US Airways, this makes me a Gold member. They even reminded me that I travel too much by sending me a html e-mail with the gold banner glaring at me.

Now, the really sad thing is this is just the end of June. I currently have over 58,000 miles (Mexico was worth 16,000 alone and they have only credited half the trip so far). Since summer is coming, I only have one trip officially booked which will get me another 2,000 miles. However, my home trip will be on a Star Alliance airline which will rack up 14,000 miles. I also have to make at least one additional trip to the US which will add another 14,000. In total, another 30,000 miles to get a grand total of 88,000 miles. I figure it will be about mid-August when US Airways sends me yet another reminder that I am away from home too much when I get the Platinum topped e-mail after 75,000 miles... If I make one additional trip to the US I will go over 100,000... I wonder what color will be at the top of the "Chairman's Club" e-mail...