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

March 3 was the date for which Continental and United Airlines merged into a single airline and also a single reservation system.  It lead to several headaches and issues with my United MileagePlus account... only time will tell.  I am hoping that my upgrades continue on United next month for my 2 trips to Hawaii.  I also will be redeeming my miles on a week-long trip to China next month using my AA miles using AA to get to the international gateways and then Cathay Pacific for the long-haul portions and Dragonair for the legs to/from China.

After traveling this last month that had me travel every week. It includes 2 DFW-SFO turns on American.  I did miss a quick SFO-JFK turn due to weather issues a few weeks ago, but I got to keep the value of the ticket towards a new reservation on American.  I also had a DFW-HNL trip plus 2 SFO-JFK (p.s service) turns on United... here's my progress to American Airlines Executive Platinum Status and United Premier 1K status for 2013 benefits so far through March 31st.

	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
Totals to Date	Premier Qualifying Miles – 42,611 Premier Qualifying Segments – 24 Redeemable Miles – 86,520	Elite Qualifying Miles – 86,346 Elite Qualifying Segments – 23 Redeemable Miles – 122,678
April	DFW-ITO DFW-HNL	None
Remainder Needed	Premier Qualifying Miles – 57,389 Premier Qualifying Segments – 96	Elite Qualifying Miles – 13,654 Elite Qualifying Segments – 77

April Quick trip to China- the return and changing the outbound

I found tickets for my return via the midnight New York-JFK flight from Hong Kong (with a stop in Vancouver-YVR).  Because I am connecting from a city in China using Dragonair, Cathay's regional Airline, the arrival into Hong Kong limited my return trip options on Cathay back to the US.  I can take either the LAX or SFO midnight or daytime flights or the midnight JFK flight with a 90 minute stop in YVR.  I booked the JFK flight for now to secure my seats and have a ticket home.  I hope to change to the LAX or SFO day flights back to the US as that would mean less travel time and an extra night in China for me to enjoy. Here are my return flights: 


I also accidentally stumbled upon the fact that Cathay Pacific (CX) revenue management releases their award inventory about once a week with a few changes during the week.  I now know when they start to release seats each week.  I found a Business seat on one of the LAX  flights and called the Executive Platinum desk to change to that flight.  I had a great conversation with Candice (based in Tucson) and got the changes made.  I also got $2 refunded back to me since I was not transiting Canada and the LAX flight will most likely feature the new Cirrus Business seats.  I hope I can get a First Class award seat before the trip.  Here's my new outbound flights: