Urban Onramps

To John Teter and other such-like F.O.R.s (friends of rudy):

So I just got approved for Premier Executive on United Airlines. That’s the second highest level of frequent flyer hoo-haw you can get. Double mileage bonus, priority on upgrade and standbys, etc. The way I did it was through the elite status match system. I already had American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum status. I called up United’s Mileage Plus 800 number and asked them to match my elite status. They told me to fax a letter, a photocopy of my Platinum card, and a copy of my latest statement to their office, and they would let me know in five days. I don’t have a latest statment, since I get it online, so I printed that off and sent it. And they matched. The deal is that they want to steal (excuse me, “win over”) frequent travelers to their airline, so they do this sort of thing. One great thing is that my status on United is good through February 2008, since I requested the deal after July 1 (after the midway point of the year). So now I’m going to try the same thing for Delta Airlines. For a few years I’ve stuck with American Airlines, especially because fares haven’t differed much between major airlines, plus there are benefits to focusing your business on one airline. What I like more than upgrades is priority standby – if there are six people ahead of me trying to get on an early flight home from Chicago (say), and then I show up, I immediately get put to the top of the list because of status. I get on the plane (almost always) and get home earlier to my family. But in terms of sticking with airlines, I’ve noticed something different lately. The rise in fuel prices has made for some weird variances in fares. Coming out here to New York, I could only find $600 round trips (I booked late; but in the past, booking late was not a problem). Every other airline had a similar price – except United. United’s fare was $315 round trip. So I went with them. And when I traveled to Michigan recently, I also saw that United had an oddly lower fare (maybe that’s what bankruptcy protection does for you, gives you some space to hammer your competitors with low prices). So now I’m thinking that I may fly other airlines a bit more, since I expect this sort of situation to continue. Hence my interest in United’s status match, and Delta’s. NOW, here’s the kicker. I don’t fly 50,000 miles a year, which is what you need to do to be a Platinum/Premier Executive. I’ve flown over 25,000 a year for the past few years (which is Gold in American, Premier on United). But at FlyerTalk’s web site I learned about the Platinum Challenge. This challenge is unpublished in American’s literature, but basically if you fly a lot in a 90 day period and earn 10,000 points, then you have “proved” your “Platinum-ness” and they give you status. Trip out. When I learned about the challenge last year, I looked at my travel itinerary and saw that I would fly 10,000 miles plus in a 90 day period, but I had to make sure my fare codes were accurate (now I’m in super airline geek territory, talking about fare codes) cuz points are very different from miles. Anyway, long story short, that’s how I got to Platinum, and now Premier Executive, etc. A word to the wise.