These flyertalk guys are crazy. Yes, it's awesome, but I can never imagine having the time to do this...Like the guys who fly from DFW -> NYC -> LA -> back to NYC -> SF -> back to LA -> back to NYC -> back to DFW all in a little o=ver a day and for about $360. Yeah, it's cool, but you are traveling without leaving the airport. Not my idea of fun.
Haha start of the year I flew, with 7 other people, SFO-LAX-BOS-DFW-HKG-DFW-SFO in the span of a weekend for $1000 ^_^ walked away with 60,000 mi, top-tier status at American thanks to a now-defunct promo, and 10 systemwide upgrades (each). If you enjoy the hobby, there's really nothing better.
Then, later in the year, I redeemed 75,000mi per person for a round trip in Etihad Apartments to the Maldives ^_^ Both the earn and the burn side can be a great time.
Going back to Hong Kong later in the year, paid $2200 for a round trip business class ticket on AA from DFW-HKG, upgraded to first and thanks to 3 stacked promos, earn 70,000mi and that round trip alone gets me 1/3 of the way to EXP status for next year.
From an environmental perspective, these kinds of economic incentives seem highly damaging. Not that I've got anything against you for exploiting them.
The planes are flying regardless of the people seeking frequent flyer miles. Aside from the marginal fuel increase due to the increased load, there's not much impact.
the vast majority of harmful vehicle emissions come from freight airplanes and ships with commuters coming in as a distant second, so even still the impact of consumer air travel is a rounding error (if that)
There's also the signal to the market that this flight is in demand. If you're only on the flight for points, (not the utility of the actual flight) then you're making a purchase without it actually being in demand. How this plays out - the airline seeing demand and adding another plane, or having more passengers so they can drop their rate to cover marginal costs and encourage even more passengers... I don't know. No judgement, just saying there's more to it than the jet fuel.
Plus on the redemption side, award tickets are almost exclusively "unsold inventory" -- a strict market signal that if a lot of people are redeeming and not paying, that flight should be either switched to a smaller aircraft of scrapped entirely. From that perspective, flying almost exclusively on frequent flier miles might be the most environmentally friendly way to fly ;)
How did you earn the 100k miles required for EXP in one round-trip to HKG? That can't possible earn more than 20k miles at the most… did you already have 80k miles for the year?
Ah it was the old US Airways Trial Preferred promo (where you paid $200, then had 90 days to earn 30,000 miles after which you were given US Airways Chairman's Preferred status (their top tier). The US Dividend Miles was subsumed into American AAdvantage they parlayed that into AA EXP. Long dead now, sadly.
If you are a frequent flyer, I can see the point. "Waste" a weekend and bump yourself up to the next level and get free upgrades on all your future flights for the year.
I did a business fare from ORD-MKE, to take the train back to Chicago.. just for the silver status at the end of the year. At the bare minimum status does count for things.
If you travel in coach frequently, getting upgrades on long-haul flights (especially redeyes) is really a significant quality-of-life improvement. Among other factors, upgrades are doled out by airlines based on the relative status tiers that passengers are classified in. And those classifications are relatively coarse (for United, there's a tier every 25k miles flown [1]), so if you're just a few miles short of the next tier, you find yourself doing the calculus on whether it's worth it to do a quick flight somewhere before the cutoff to get to the next tier.
There are other benefits, too. Ones that matter to me: priority boarding is great on busy routes, because it means there will definitely be room for your carry-on luggage. And on United, higher tiers get automatic access to a few more inches of legroom in economy, which is great if you're tall. And you get lounge access on international flights, which mostly means that I can take a shower upon arrival when I fly overnight to Europe.
[1] Airlines are now adding a dollar component to it, as discussed elsewhere in this thread, which roughly works out to "the cost of 25k miles' worth of regular-ish fare tickets"
All the other replies mention the obvious perks, but when I flew a lot on United, the biggest one was being treated nicely by the airline. Punch in your frequent-flier number, hit the option for a representative, and they treat you much better if you have even the lowest premium status.
I talked to someone about it, and basically the airlines all assume you booked purely on price, so have no incentive to treat you nicely, since if the next time you search, if they are $50 more than the competition you will book with the competition regardless of how you are treated. If you have FF status, then the equation is different.
Priority check-in, fast-track security, lounge access, priority boarding, priority for upgrades, increased luggage allowance and priority access to customer service. And in general, things just start flowing a little smoother when a FF status card enters the equation.
I don't think people value this enough, I have really appreciated this in the past. For example, on a MEL to LAX flight, our 787 had mechanical issues and the flight was cancelled. As the 270 passengers lined up in front of the two customer service agents, I had a mere 15 minute wait in the priority line and was able to get booked on another airline.
Not to mention, if you show up to the airport early, they'll re-book you on an earlier flight at no charge (assuming available seats).
I appreciate it. It's great to call the gold desk as soon as you hear that we're going to be delayed again but there is other planes. It also helps that I know how to look up flights and ask for specific ones before hand.
I was diamond on Delta, and now have lost it. The little perks really adds up, and make travel significantly more comfortable.
One example off the top of my head: when I had status, if I had an issue, I could call a phone number and a representative would answer after a single ring. Shortly after I lost my status, a snowstorm complicated some of my travel... I was on hold for a few hours in the general queue.
Free bags, priority boarding, lounge access on layovers, free upgrades... Each one of these things isn't a big deal, but when you're on a plane three or four times a month, it really helps you cope.
Preferred seating and boarding, free checked baggage, potential upgrades, a multiplier on miles earned. (Although the minimum status level doesn't buy you a lot on most airlines these days.)
For me it was the priority access at security. As far as upgrades I only got those about a total of 3 times while being gold on UA. (Once on silver) I did enjoy being able to get econ+ for free. I've tried to complete the Global Access app twice now. I just can't bring myself to self incriminate/volunteer all of my information just for Precheck/expedited customs.
As far as the lounge access, that wasn't given to me because I just reached as high as gold. Although it was provided when I did an international trip.
I also did it to get the gold desk when an issue arose or that there was likely to have an issue arise. (I.e. you get an email notification of a delay in flight more than 5 hours before.. better switch flights)
In a year when I was flying to the US a lot, the mile-multiplier my status gave me got me extra business upgrades equivalent to an additional $10k or so of ticket costs (alternatively I could've taken lots of free flights). They also got me free premium economy upgrades on every flight, priority boarding etc.
The mile-multipliers were nice.. however from what I found the quickest way to get miles was to use your personal card to get reimbursed for work things.
Since I was UK based and primarily flying United that wasn't an easy option for me unfortunately (I did have a British Airways AmEx. though). But regularly flying London<->San Francisco got me up the tiers very rapidly anyway.
It seems like a game more than anything else: See who can get the most value out of the system for the least investment. I'm sure that there are some valuable "hacks" that they've discovered, but I'd rather spend my time on things that are more fulfilling to me.
Some of the airlines have really clamped down on those itineraries now.
They either have an automated system which will cancel the booking (typically within 24 hrs). Or they have altered their loyalty system to give diminished returns for "pointless" stop-overs.
I do mileage runs one a year on a few different airlines and have a lot of fun plus get all my reading done! To each his own, I guess.
I'm a United Global Service (which is based on spend, not miles, ~$80K/year gets you that) from business travel that's paid for by my clients, but for other airlines (AA) if I'm on the border of making "status" I will do a mileage run if I can.
