Frequent Flyer Thoughts

Introduction

I blame United Airlines for getting me addicted to Frequent Flyer ideas. Until my flight last year which just happened to be during a DEQM (Double Elite Qualifying Miles) time I'd never worried about it much or the status which could be accrued. It was the investigation of what DEQM is an the benefits of status that got me somewhat addicted to the idea (plus I enjoy flights).

United

The DEQM bonus meant that my 2009 flight to the USA scored me the bottom rung of the "elite" frequent flyers with United. As a "Premier" passenger I avoid baggage fees for two bags, but the big benefit is the Economy Plus seating at no extra cost. It provides 2-5 inches of extra leg room over Economy but otherwise is exactly the same.

United actually impresses me the most nicely balanced of the various schemes I've looked at, but due to the limited opportunity to earn miles with them (ie. only with flights to/within the USA which will never be a huge amount) they aren't a real long term prospect. Without the DEQM bonus it would take two return flights to the USA just to maintain status. Other benefits include getting to check in at the level above Economy and bording a level before regular economy passangers (neither of which are a big deal to me).

United have recently introduced "Unlimited Domestic Upgrades" which means if they have spare seats in the First/Business classes they upgrade people in Economy a category. The status those flyers have determines who actually receives the bonus upgrade. Otherwise upgrades can be done using points or with special bonuses which only the very top level of flyers get (not worth thinking about in my situation). This upgrade system is built in to most US carriers domestic flights, but unfortunately doesn't exist in Australia in normal situations.

Qantas

The obvious choice for Australian flights, Qantas uses a Status Credit approach rather than qualifying miles as most other frequent flying schemes do. The silver level requires 350 points to qualify. A flight from Albury to Sydney earns 10 status credits, so you really do have to be flying a fair bit to actually move up a level. Even Sydney to LA only earn 45 status credits each way if you're flying on a cheap economy tickets.

Status provides benefits such as extra frequent flyer points from flights, access to business class checkin and the ability to pick your seat online much earlier and with better availability. Gold status gives the benefit of Qantas Club access which has free refreshments etc.

VirginBlue

Relatively new to the frequent flyer game, Virgin has some benefits and a simple formula of giving you points based on each dollar spent on flights. This makes it much more straight forward rather than the Qantas status credit approach which have ticket class on one axis and miles travelled on the other to determine how many you get. International travel with Virgin does have a different system again however.

Currently there is no lifetime status with the Australian Virgin Velocity scheme, which is one of those strange ideas that I find really attractive. Virgin has been rolling out lounges which can be accessed for a payment or for those who reach their top level.

Goals

Since I got a little addicted to the whole frequent flyer system, my goal is currently to gain Gold status (requiring 700 status credits in one year) with Qantas and work towards Lifetime Silver (7000 Status Credits total from all flights ever with them). This has led to some slightly odd bookings for my 2010 flights.

For example, I am flying AirPacific from Brisbane to LA (with a few hours stopping in Nadi, Fiji) because AirPacific doesn't have a Discount Economy level with Qantas. Thus for the same price as the best direct Australia to USA flight I was able to earn many more status credits (ie. 90 each way instead of 45).

While my original plan was to visit San Fransisco, Seattle and then go to Salt Lake City to spend time with my sister and he family, the discovery of cheap LA to Florida flights diverted my plans. Thus I am now spending two days in LA (since I'd always avoided it in the past and was due to check it out), then flying to Florida (via Chicago) for a few days before flying from there to Salt Lake City. The convoluted flights will earn me enough status credits that by the time I am home in Australia again I should have reached the 700 needed for Gold. When I arrive in Miami I should have reached Silver, which then gives me 25% more points over the remaining US flights (the bonus applies to Qantas and American Airline flights, but not AirPacific).

Silver also provides OneWorld status which would then give me free luggage with American Airlines if I needed it. The USA is the best place to earn Status Credits as flights can be booked which reward you with as many as one status credit for every two dollars spent - in Australia it is hard to do better than five dollars for each status credit on flights (and closer to ten is often normal). Qantas is a bit unusual in reducing the requirement to keep status once you have it (ie. 350 to earn Silver, 300 each year after to keep it). They also have a "soft landing" where you only drop one level each year (so if I make Gold this year, I can have silver the following year even if I fail to get anywhere near 300).

Ideally you earn your status credits/miles by flying to locations you want/need to go to. Fortunately my holiday was able to pull that off with a few minor changes (ie. San Fransisco becoming LA and Seattle becoming Miami). A mileage run (MR) is a trip conducted for the sole purpose of earning miles/status. I was lucky that AmericanAirlines had a promotion happening so that upgradable bookings would cost the same amount as regular economy flight when going from LAX to FLL (ie. the ticket automatically goes from economy to the next higher seat - which is fantastic as it then earns the benefits of flying as a business/first class passenger).

Websites

If you're interested in reading more, the following are two of the best websites:

The Australian Frequent Flyer Online Community - this site is good from an Australian perspective and is helpful as it also has areas for credit cards which earn points etc.

Flyer Talk - has areas for all the airlines and can be a great place for finding out more information. It has many more postings to their forums than the Australian site above.