I might already be sitting at 300,000 elite qualifying miles for the year with United, but that’s no reason to stop. Thanks to the summer of bumps (which was much better than the summer of hell or the summer of legit crew shortages towards the end of the month), I have quite a few vouchers to use up, so I’ll be flying free for most of the rest of the year. I have a mileage run to the west coast booked for tomorrow, and also a couple more trips for later in the month. I haven’t decided whether I’m shooting for 400K or 500K EQM’s yet, so I’ll just see how things pan out.
There are some great fares out of Tampa right now, including a $158 plus tax Tampa to San Diego fare, along with a $234 plus tax Tampa to San Francisco fare, but the beauty about that one is that it has a zero day advanced purchase requirement, so you can really book the day before the flight. That’s what I did in this case.
Even after flying all the fancy international airlines in first class, I’m looking forward to some good ol’ domestic flying. My travels tomorrow will take me to Washington, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, and then back to Tampa. Oh, and I forgot to mention the coolest part. For all three trips, my Tampa to Washington segment is on a 757 with first class, as opposed to Ted. He’s finally going away. Ghetto picnic box omelet, here I come!
@ Tom -- I'm getting there. Hopefully I'll be MM in the next two years.
Hey Lucky with all the flying you do are you close to one million lifetime?
@ BTA -- If it helps, I would say the value (theoretically) of two SWU's is around $700. An RCC membership is worth around $400 as a 1K. That doesn't necessarily make the decision a whole lot easier, since the value of SWU's is theoretical while an RCC membership would be paid with cash.
@ DiscoPapa -- Who knows. I certainly don't expect GS, but I've never claimed to understand the inner workings of United.
...@ BTA -- If it helps, I would say the value (theoretically) of two SWU's is around $700. An RCC membership is worth around $400 as a 1K. That doesn't necessarily make the decision a whole lot easier, since the value of SWU's is theoretical while an RCC membership would be paid with cash.
@ DiscoPapa -- Who knows. I certainly don't expect GS, but I've never claimed to understand the inner workings of United.
@ David -- Damnit, I want my rollover EQM's! :D
@ Tom -- I wish I knew. I have a feeling the picnic box breakfasts are actually from the day before and were just cooled overnight at the station. Bleh. Enjoy GVA and congrats on 2K!
What is with these ghetto picnic box breakfasts anyways? They seem to serve them on the iah-sfo in F too....and on that flight there are a fair number of paid F/C customers heading to catch their flight to Asia at SFO. The iah-sfo used to be one of my favorite flights to apply for an upgrade...not so much now though.
I'll be looking at 200K EQM by the end of the year :)
I'll be doing an iah-gva MR later this month like Mark (who posted above)
Enjoy your UA 5K status for 2010!
Any chance you can earn GS by flying enough EQMs (400k, 500k, etc.)? Or is there a purely revenue-based requirement that you will probably never meet since you buy the cheapies (or use vouchers)?
@ BTA -- Have you considered "moving" to Hong Kong? ;)
You'll still have enough for 38K? Wow!
This DEQM is going to make it difficult for me to make the switch to redeeming elsewhere. Hard to leave the EQM on the table.
Less BIS miles for 2 more SWU than to re-qualify for bmi *G. Guess I gotta rethink the strategy...
@ Mark -- I'm not so sure I understand United's strategy, but it seems like they're randomly spreading Ted throughout the system for his final act before he disappears. Enjoy! ;)
@ BTA -- For now I'll be crediting to United, although I plan on requalifying for bmi Gold (and crediting flights to them a bit later in the year).
Ben, are you crediting all of these miles to UA, or elsewhere (bmi ?)
I found your missing Theodore; he's pperating my Oct 4 DEN-IAH. :\
Also booked an IAH-GVA run to put me over the top for 1K.