Miles != Miles (pt 2)
Fri, May 6, 2016A number of friends have asked me to share travel tips with them, so I’m going to start a series of travel related posts to help you understand some basic frequent flyer topics and get the most out of your travel.
To learn more about miles travelled, read part 1 of this series.
As crazy as my 5,000 mile trip to Boston and back might sound, it’s neither the longest, nor craziest. A couple years ago, I flew over 12,000 miles spanning 3 days to zig-zag from PDX (Portland) to LAX (Los Angeles) to JFK (New York) to PUJ (Punta Cana, Dominican Republic) to ATL (Atlanta) back to LAX to SLC (Salt Lake City) and finally home to PDX. It was a lot of miles travelled, but more importantly, it was a lot of elite qualifying miles.
Why status matters
Elite qualifying miles are used to determine what level of frequent flyer status you hold with an airline. But before jumping into the details, we should cover why status matters.
There used to be a time when dressing nicely and looking important, or even just ingratiating yourself to the gate agent or flight attendants could have been cause for a seat upgrade or perhaps a free in-flight cocktail. But as the airlines have optimized their businesses to drive more revenue, everything now has a cost and customer spending is the focus. Your frequent flyer status dictates everything from when you can board the plane and what seats you can sit in to how well you’ll be taken care of, both in flight and on the ground.
For example, take a look at Delta’s list of benefits. Delta’s program is typical of most US based airline programs and many international ones as well. In fact, whenever Delta’s policies have changed in the past couple years, United and American have followed suit within a few weeks or months. On Delta’s benefits table we can see roughly 6 major areas of benefits:
- The seats you are allowed to select and stipulatons around free upgrades. In short, the higher your status, the better seats you’ll have. For some frequent flyers, this means regularly flying in first class, though only ever purchasing coach seats.
- Earning award miles. We’ll cover more of this in part 3 of the series.
- Fee waivers, which are especially useful as airlines begin charging for every possible service.
- Priority in lines. This isn’t just limited to boarding the plane, but also access to the VIP line at the check-in desk and TSA security checkpoints. Delta and a few others also provide expedited baggage service, so you won’t have to wait as long to receive your checked baggage.
- Extra benefits that you can use or give to others, including upgrade certificates and lower tiers of status.
- Partner benefits to ensure you’re treated well by allied airlines and other services.
Elite qualifying miles
In short, status will save you time, save you money and make travelling more comfortable. And the way to get status is to fly.
At the top of Delta’s chart, you’ll find the requirements. You’ll need to either accrue the specified number of elite qualifying miles (Delta’s term is Medallion Qualification Miles) or segments and on top of one of those, you’ll need to spend a certain amount of money on flights.
One important thing to note is that I said “accrue” and not “fly” — there are some important distinctions between elite qualifying miles and miles travelled:
- The 500 mile minimum rule. Whenever the travelled distance is less than 500 miles, all of the major airlines will award you with 500 elite qualifying miles. Portland to Seattle? 129 miles travelled, 500 elite qualifying miles given. New York to DC? 214 miles travelled, 500 elite qualifying miles given. If you live outside one of the major “hub” cities, taking a short connecting flight can gain you a significant amount of elite qualifying miles, while adding only a small amount of additional time and often no extra cost.
- Class bonuses. If you refer back to Delta’s benefits chart, you’ll see that full fare (i.e. refundable) first class tickets will give you a 100% elite qualifying mile bonus. Discounted first class, business and premium economy tickets offer a 50% bonus. Most airlines provide some bonus percentage when you purchase higher priced fares.
- Partner travel. While airlines reward you for purchasing higher priced tickets with them, they often discourage travel with their partners and allies… especially when travelling in coach. For example, flying on Saudia Airlines in coach, you’ll only receive 50% of the elite qualifying miles when credited to Delta.
- Miscellaneous (and rare) exceptions. Elite qualifying miles are nearly always require some travel, but occasionally there are ways to earn them without travel. For example, the Delta Reserve credit card from American Express will give you 10,000 elite qualifying miles after your first purchase and 15,000 elite qualifying miles for spending $30,000 or more on the card each year.
It’s worth noting that the requirements are on a per-calendar-year basis (not counting any roll-over miles if the program offers that). So you have from January 1 until December 31 to accrue elite qualifying miles. Once you hit a certain status threshold, you’ll receive that status for the remainder of the year plus the following calendar year. For example, I earned Alaska Airline’s MVP Gold status in November, 2015. That provided me with benefits for the remainder of 2015 through December 31, 2016. But in order to continue having that status in 2017, I’ll need to accrue the required elite qualifying miles in the 2016 calendar year.
Mileage runs
And that’s what prompted my 12 hour journey to (and 30 minute stay in) Boston. I accrued about 5,000 elite qualifying miles so that I could meet the status requirements and continue having status in 2017. Baring the miscellaneous (and rare) exceptions mentioned above, travel is the primary way to earn elite qualifying miles. The trick of course is finding ways to maximize the elite qualifying miles earned for the least amount of money spent.
The best way to do this, is to have other people pay for your flights… i.e. travel for business. But that may not net you enough elite qualifying miles to earn status, or you might find yourself just shy of the next level of status. You might try to optimize by taking in-direct flights to use the 500 mile minimum rule, or you may purchase a premium economy class fare for a bonus, but if you’re still coming up short, the best way to meet the qualification is a mileage run.