Journey to Top Elite Status on American and United Airlines UPDATE August 2012

I  had a blast on my Singapore First Class trip!  Book 2 revenue tickets this month on United.  First was an overnight turn in San Juan, Puerto Rico with the routing DFW-IAH-SJU-IAD-DFW (all upgraded to first class in advance). The following week I booked DFW-TUS (award on American Airlines using British Airways Avios) and TUS-LAX-EWR-LAX-TUS (on United) and then TUS-PHX-DFW (on US Airways).  You can follow the TUS-EWR trip here.  The trip map routing visual is here.

I credited the San Juan trip and the TUS-EWR trips to my Turkish account since I am requalifying for Star Gold on Turkish for lounge access for 2 additional years beyond 2014.  The TUS-PHX-DFW on US Airways I credit to United since the fare class on US Airways will give 100% of flown miles (plus double premier bonus) versus 50% on Turkish (with no bonus).

	United Airlines	American Airlines
January	Premier Qualifying Miles – 7,726 Premier Qualifying Segments – 4  Redeemable Miles – 15,452	Elite Qualifying Miles – 54,942 Elite Qualifying Segments – 11 Redeemable Miles – 46,158
February	Premier Qualifying Miles – 12,924 Premier Qualifying Segments – 8  Redeemable Miles – 27,146	Elite Qualifying Miles – 20,692 Elite Qualifying Segments – 8 Redeemable Miles – 58,952
March	Premier Qualifying Miles – 21,961 Premier Qualifying Segments – 12  Redeemable Miles – 43,922	Elite Qualifying Miles – 11,712 Elite Qualifying Segments –  4 Redeemable Miles – 17,568
April	Premier Qualifying Miles – 16,382 Premier Qualifying Segments –  10 Redeemable Miles – 35,622	None
May	Premier Qualifying Miles – 7,726 Premier Qualifying Segments – 4  Redeemable Miles – 15,452	Elite Qualifying Miles – 13,028 Elite Qualifying Segments – 8 Redeemable Miles – 23,158
June	Premier Qualifying Miles – 4,000 Premier Qualifying Segments – 8  Redeemable Miles – 8,000 + 25,000 promo	None
July	None	None
August	Premier Qualifying Miles – 977 Premier Qualifying Segments – 2  Redeemable Miles – 1,954	None
Totals to Date	Premier Qualifying Miles – 72,994 Premier Qualifying Segments – 48 Redeemable Miles – 142,742	Elite Qualifying Miles – 100,374 Elite Qualifying Segments – 31 Redeemable Miles – 145,836
Remainder Needed	Premier Qualifying Miles – 27,006    Premier Qualifying Segments – 72	Re-Qualification Achieved Via Elite Qualifying Miles

United's quirky search engine

While searching for award travel to Hong Kong in the future, I used the Continental.com United.com search engine to see what flights were available.  I came across this:

It wants me to fly Dallas-Love Field to Houston-IAH and then to Dallas at DFW international, then to Chicago and then non-stop to Hong Kong... the DAL-IAH-DFW is showing as a continuing flight with one stop in Houston.

Why did it not just show me the DFW-ORD and ORD-HKG flights only... beats me.

When everything goes wrong...

I am in the middle of a mileage run using up a travel certificate on united.

I got a fare for Tucson to LA to Newark and then back for $10 in airport taxes.

I had to book repositioning flights separately as well. I used 7,500 BA avios ($2.50 security fee) for the non stop AA flight to Tucson and then for the return, I booked on US Airways with a connection in Phoenix as they were the cheapest.

Here's what went wrong today:
1) AA does not allow free upgrades into First class on mileage ticket (unless the agent doesn't pay attention). Even though there were 2 empty seats in first, I was stuck in coach. Technically I was asking for them to bend the rules, but I was not lucky this time since DFW is home base and the agents know the rules.

I have had free upgrades on united 3 times using mileage tickets in the past as it is a credit card benefit. Funny enough, they were booked under different stock (CO, UA and US) so it is possible to get an upgrade on a mileage ticket on United (and on Delta for that matter). It seems that the United system treats it like a revenue ticket.

2) SHARES went down for 2 hours today. So no self check in today and there were long lines plus mean agents that were frustrated.

3) Regional Premier Upgrade did not clear today. First time on an red eye transcontinental flight (using an upgrade instrument too!) in coach on both ways. I have been wait listed for 2 months and no luck. I did clear on my AA flights earlier this year and also on my United P.S. flights using Regional Upgrades.

4) The SkyWest flight attendant on my Tucson to LA was one of those "primarily for your safety" flight attendant that took a seat in the back after her beverage service for 20 passengers was over and read her magazine.

5) Flight delays on both of my LAX-EWR and EWR-LAX flights.  I did sleep a few hours on my LAX-EWR window seat and had a sandwich before going to sleep.

6) I went to the wrong United Club at EWR and there were no showers there.  I had to go to the one by the bugger club closer to the international flight gates for showers (fortunately with no waiting needed upon arriving the shower area).

The highlight of my day was being able to finally meet Liz, my favorite former Executive Platinum agent, in person at the Tucson airport today and being able to chat with her. She is one of the nicest people one can talk to or meet and I wish her the best for her career at AA.