So my love of traveling stemmed from the fact that I did not get to travel much growing up do to financial and family issues. Now that I graduated and working now, I am making up for last time. Between the day to day work as a pharmacist... I try to squeeze in little trips here and there.
I was introduced to these so call 'elite status' on my award ticket from Austin to LA back in 2005. A friend wanted me to visit so I took up on his offer on a free coach ticket. The thing is that he was using Continental miles so I had to connect through a hub via Houston on both ways which was not a big problem. It was nice to use the elite access for security and boarding despite not being the elite member. I was hooked from that moment and vowed to take as many trips that I could from that point onward. I immediately signed up for American Airlines (since I was based in DFW) and Continental Airlines (have not earned 1 mile nor flown with them since)
After starting pharmacy school, I learned that we got stipends to attend these professional organization conferences. I have been to Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas (2 times), San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, and Columbus with these trips partially funded by the school. It was great traveling during times when we had class/exams and being able to reschedule them.
While I was in college, Southwest Airlines had a lucrative deal for students. I earned 2 Rapid Rewards Credits for every flight I took. It only took 4 round trips from Dallas Love Field to Austin to earn a free ticket redeemable for any free flight on Southwest. On top of that, I put all my purchases on my Southwest Chase Credit Card so every time I spent $1, I earned 1 point and 1200 points equaled 1 Rapid Reward Credit. On purchases on Southwest.com, I earned 2 points per $ spent. They occasionally had bonus offers from the credit card company as well such as $100 Southwest gift card purchase during December 2007 earned a bonus Rapid Reward credit. Since gift cards never expire, it was a no-brainer for me to earn the maximum of 5 Rapid Rewards during that promotion. One year in December, for every $100 in Southwest gift cards I bought, I earned 1 Rapid Rewards Credit (on top of the 1,000 points I earned). It did not take long for me to figure out that Southwest was very lucrative for me to use during my college years. 16 Rapid Rewards credits X $1,200 = $19,000 needed to spend for a free ticket (less if purchasing tickets or gift cards on Southwest). It would take $25,000 to get an award ticket on American so I immediately canceled that credit card when my Southwest Credit Card came alone since I already had used my 25,000 bonus mile sign up on my Philly trip for a free ticket. I would always volunteer to buy things for the professional organizations while in school. The best deal I had was buying law books for a fundraiser that I got reimbursed for 100% from the club with a check. I earned 8 Rapid Rewards that way and since I turned 24, the double credit was gone plus with the fact that the program was discontinued this fall.
My friend wanted to visit Paris this year and I wanted to travel a bit before going to the real world of working. I saved up about 70,000 miles after 4 years and redeemed it for 2 round trip tickets for my brother and I to go to Hawaii in January 2010. I got my mom on the miles train as well as she signed up for American Airlines before her trip to China last year and switching her credit card usage from Discover and Bank of America to Citi AAdvantage exclusively. She even signed up for a checking account at Guaranty bank (before the BBVA compass take over) and earns 1 mile for every $10 average balance in her account. The great this is that miles are not taxable income/earnings (for now) and putting money in a CD or MMA will cause the interest to be generated as taxable income. She has over 100K miles in her account currently so she is in it for the long run. She has enough for a round trip economy ticket to China and 20K away from a business tickets. This is after the 35K that she used for a round trip ticket to Hawaii as well.
I burned all my miles up for the Hawaii trip back in March and I'll have over 200K before the end of the year is over. That equals 8 domestic round trips in economy, 5 US to UK in economy in off season or more than enough for First class to Asia. If I get 60K more, I can do a First Class trip around the world with 18 stops. It has become more than an obsession for me. I enrolled in a Gold status challenge with American before my Europe trip in May. I qualified after that trip plus a mileage run to Boston for 1 day. That enabled me to earn a bonus 25% miles when flying. Due to a change in my ticket, I earned enough points for Platinum status on American. I paid another fee and now earn 100% bonus when flying American from then to Feb 28, 2010. After using the status to check in at the first class counter, 2 free checked bags, select seating on planes, and priority security screening/boarding... I knew that I was in it for the long run. I could not go back to the regular no-body on an airline.
On top of that, I earned a set of four 500 mile upgrade awards for domestic travel every time I flew 10,000 miles on American. Those can be used to upgraded to the next class of service free of charge (provided that there was room). So I used 3 of them to upgrade myself from economy to first from my DFW-DCA leg back in August. Once that was depleted, I can buy more of them as needed to upgrade my self and anyone traveling with me. I used it for my trip back from DCA for myself and a friend as a gift. I was thinking that I could get used to that... so I upgraded myself for my trip to Boston to see my sister. Most recently used it for LAX to HNL for a mileage run.
When American Announced that they were counting elite qualifying miles to be doubled from Sep to Dec 15, I knew that maintaining Platinum status for next year was doable... but getting Executive Platinum would be a challenge. I looked up fares and came up with the fact that if I went to London again and did 2 round trips to Hawaii... on top of 2 mileage runs from DFW-MCO... I could hit it.
Why Executive Platinum? Because of the awesome benefits on it... dedicated 24 hour phone line, more lounge access, UNLIMITED domestic upgrades (as long as they have room)... I would be ahead of everyone else that was not Executive Platinum for US, Mexico, Central America, Canada, and the Caribbean. I also get 8 upgrades for any 1 way trip in the world where American flies to the next class of service (Asia: Shang Hai, Beijing, Delhi and Tokyo / South America: Guayaquil (Ecuador), Quito, Buenos Aires, Barranquilla (Colombia), Bogota, Cali (Colombia), Medellin (Colombia), Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Recife (Brazil), Salvador de Bahia (Brazil), Belo Horizonte (Brazil), La Paz, Santa Cruz (Bolivia), Guatemala City, Montevideo, Lima, Caracas, and Maracaibo (Venezuela) / Europe: London, Dublin, Manhattan (England), Paris, Madrid, Zurich, Rome, Milan, Barcelona, Frankford, and Brussels. They can be used for anyone (even if they are traveling alone)
I know that Australia and South America... unfortunately American does not fly there yet. That is where the One World partner airlines come in. Qantas serve Australia exclusively and British Airways service Africa. To round off the rest of the team... Japan & Cathay Pacific cover Asia/Pacific, Iberia / Finnair / British Airways / Malev all cover parts of Europe, Royal Jordanian covers Middle East, Mexicana covers Central America, Lan covers South America and S7 will open up Russia in 2010.
My goal right now is to gain Executive Platinum for 2010 and to continue to requalify each year. My other goal is to earn 1 million miles (for now) for Gold status for life and then 2 million miles for Platinum status for life. On top of everything, to go out and explore the world and flying in first/business while I can.
So I will be dropping my Southwest credit card next year after my 2 anniversary credits post as I am not really using it anymore unless they waive the annual fee (which Citi has done for the last 2 years). I will be merging the Southwest card with my previous Wamu (free Fico score look up)-turned-Chase-Rewards. I have my eyes on the Chase British Airways Credit card where for a $75 annual fee... you can get 50K miles after first purchase and another 50K for spending $2000 within first 3 months of opening account... which translates to 4 domestic US trips on American or 2 economy tickets to Europe on British. Would not hurt to fly on British for fun 1 or 2 times to Europe. Will merge the credit lines into the Chase British Airways if I cannot get the Southwest card fee waived.
No comments:
Post a Comment