Are airline loyalty levels mostly irrelevant these days?

[Guest]

A decade ago, when there were 3 levels of elite status with airlines, the status actually meant something. Back then American Airlines had silver, gold, and platinum. Silver meant you might get upgraded on leisure routes (such as LAX to Puerto Vallarta), otherwise low chance. Gold meant you'd get upgraded most, but not all of the time. Platinum meant you'd almost always get upgraded. Also you had different phone numbers to call, and the wait time on hold varied between the levels. Now they have Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum, and Concierge Key. I've had EP status for the better part of a year now, and still don't get upgraded a majority of the time--sometimes not even on flights to PVR. No one really seems to know why certain people get selected for CK, but getting over twice the needed miles for EP didn't cut it, as I found out. It seems like this level is probably reserved for high-level executives with decision-making positions with regards to with which carrier their employees will fly. As far as I can tell, the main advantages to the status at this time are:

Gold: you don't have to pay for 1 checked luggage or for preferred economy seats (no extra legroom, but in the front half of the economy section)

Platinum: you don't have to pay for Main Cabin Extra upgrades (the seats with extra legroom, free drinks), or for Premium Economy on those few domestic flights which have those seats

Platinum Pro: you get to use the 1st class lounge on OneWorld carriers when flying internationally, even when flying coach

Executive Platinum: sometimes you'll get upgraded, and you can get a free charcuterie platter if you're on long domestic flights in economy (presumably MCE or PE). 

We're flying to Italy in May, and the status doesn't even give me any preference to pay with miles to upgrade from Premium Economy to Business, so we may fly in PE on the way back (I did pay for business on the way over, because I like to sleep on overnight flights, and we're flying nonstop from LAX to LHR on the way over, then taking a BA flight from LHR to Venice). On the way back, we're just on a waiting list to have the privilege of using our miles to pay for an upgrade from Rome to Charlotte, and could get upgraded on a complimentary basis from CLT to LAX (my partner's Platinum, though, so not much chance, though he does have a MCE seat). 

There aren't even dedicated phone lines for loyal customers. Sometimes I'm told I'll get a call back in "40 to 50 minutes," even as EP. To make matters worse, if I book a code-share on aa.com, the prices for business are thousands more than if I book on the OneWorld partner's own site (i.e. JAL or Qatar Airways). Might as well just book elsewhere and pay for Business class. It doesn't look as if airline loyalty results in much value (though I'm about to top a million miles on AA, resulting in lifetime Gold). Is this the same with all US airlines? Has loyalty become irrelevant?

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

4 hours ago, Unicorn said:

Might as well just book elsewhere and pay for Business class.

This.

I've booked ten flights this year.

Seven of them business/first class, two of them premium economy (no first class available on those flights).

And on seven different airlines. (Alaska, American, British Airways, JetBlue, Southwest, United, WestJet)

Each time I booked directly with the airline who operates the flight.  I just choose the airline with the best schedule and price for business/first class for my desired travel dates.  I don't see the point in being loyal to a single airline that doesn't have convenient flight times to my desired destination, just in the hopes of earning enough loyalty points to someday get a free checked piece of luggage.

Edited March 23, 2023 by Vegas_nw1982

[+ nycman]

Honestly, if you fly business/first regularly, there’s basically no advantage 
to any of the loyalty programs. The "best" I’ve had is American making 
seats available on "sold out" flights when I was trapped. Happened twice.
Once when I was only Gold. Once, when I was Executive Platinum. 

I no longer pay attention to ”loyalty" and just book the flight I want 
in business/first based on the price/times/flight duration. Some years 
I qualify. Other years I don’t. I can’t tell any difference year to year. 

Edited March 23, 2023 by nycman

[mike carey]

AA's program to which I've paid the most attention in the US seems to be losing its point. Part of the issue for it is that they threw all the cards in the air and reassembled the deck differently and people either haven't worked out what it means to them or don't like it because it's different.

With Australian airlines gold status (=AA platinum) you get lounge access and I value that (QF has a second domestic tier of lounge that you get with platinum). Free upgrades are not a thing here but points upgrades are and the higher your status the earlier they'll offer it and the higher your priority for getting one. For me gold is worth the effort and with only two domestic airlines there's less scope to fragment your flying. Obviously international is different. (And yes, my QF status gets me free checked baggage on AA and AS if it's not included in the fare. It's always included in QF fares.)

Even so, like @Unicorn I'm reassessing. QF award availability and ease of access is rubbish so I'm piling up points with limited scope to use them. Upgrades on international (and even domestic) trips is an option but I have to buy a QF ticket to get them. Like others I'm looking at buying the fare class I want based on price and convenience. Most airlines I'm likely to choose will contribute to my QF or VA status.

[+ tassojunior]

10 hours ago, mike carey said:

AA's program to which I've paid the most attention in the US seems to be losing its point. Part of the issue for it is that they threw all the cards in the air and reassembled the deck differently and people either haven't worked out what it means to them or don't like it because it's different.

With Australian airlines gold status (=AA platinum) you get lounge access and I value that (QF has a second domestic tier of lounge that you get with platinum). Free upgrades are not a thing here but points upgrades are and the higher your status the earlier they'll offer it and the higher your priority for getting one. For me gold is worth the effort and with only two domestic airlines there's less scope to fragment your flying. Obviously international is different. (And yes, my QF status gets me free checked baggage on AA and AS if it's not included in the fare. It's always included in QF fares.)

Even so, like @Unicorn I'm reassessing. QF award availability and ease of access is rubbish so I'm piling up points with limited scope to use them. Upgrades on international (and even domestic) trips is an option but I have to buy a QF ticket to get them. Like others I'm looking at buying the fare class I want based on price and convenience. Most airlines I'm likely to choose will contribute to my QF or VA status.

I have an abundance of AA miles which is pretty useless US/EU with their surcharges and that's my main travel. And on the few awards to EU where there's no surcharge, they jack the award price up to 300+K. UA is the carrier there with often 60K biz awards I use. AA seems best, other than domestic US,  for South America, Asia and Pacific. Just booked an 80K Biz award on AA awards but Fiji metal yesterday for Nov 1 from LA to Sydney on Fiji airlines with a stop. One way but I like to return west through EU. Eastward jet lag is a killer even with stopovers. Since AA has free cancellations and redeposits on awards there's no risk. AA has really screwed British with their new "web specials" taking the place of many savers, which is all BA has access to. My friends all credit to BA though for fastest status. QF just released big loads of Biz seats at once recently but I'm sure they're gone. 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by tassojunior

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

20 hours ago, Unicorn said:

Is this the same with all US airlines? Has loyalty become irrelevant?

Perfect timing to ask that question.

Today's Wall Street Journal had an article that said businesses and leisure travelers are abandoning their loyalty to an airline and forgoing their loyalty points in order to save money on the ticket, even if it was with an airline they normally wouldn't fly.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Airline programs have changed and if you're not willing to also change how you play the game, this new system probably isn't for you.  

It's no longer about BIS miles (butt-in-seat), but overall spend.  Any kind of spend.  The road warriors of yesterday are angry/losing status because they can no longer easily make top-tier with mileage runs.  The writing on the wall gave this away several years back, so I shifted my spending/flying patterns and have kept Concierge Key status with American for the last few years.  Before that, I was 15+ years as an EP.  

Loyalty isn't irrelevant as long as you understand the rules of the updated program.  

For some of us, when you travel 250-350k miles a year on airlines, it pays to be loyal.  We hit delays far more than the usual flyer and when the shit hits the fan, they usually take care of us first.  I can't say that AA has always gotten it right, but I'm happy with them 90% of the time and that's enough for me to stick around.

AA does have phone numbers for their elite.  Only at CK/EP levels do you get a dedicated desk.  The other levels are routed to more senior agents at the regular desk.  The secret to AA's phone system is to never hang-up and have them 'call you back.'  Always stay in the queue.  The wait time may say 30 minutes, but your call will be picked up in 2-4 minutes.

The suggestion here to simply buy the seat you want is a wise one.  If the flight is important to you and you don't want to wait for the battlefield upgrade (which is the standard these days), just find a suitable J/F fare.  With the numbers of elite going up thanks to current spend patterns, the fight for the very few open premium seats has never been more fierce.

Just realize that it's now rare to get an upgrade confirmed at booking.  People are nearly always getting waitlisted.  My suggestion for anyone on AA looking to utilize SWUs or mileage is to buy a subscription to Expert Flyer and set alerts to keep track of routes open with the right fare classes.  That way, you can immediately call in when a seat opens up and get the rate desk to push the upgrade through.  You can also just search for available inventory so you can get the seat upgraded at time of ticketing.

It's more complicated.  It's more work for the consumer.  But it's just how it goes.

Edited March 23, 2023 by BenjaminNicholas

[+ tassojunior]

1 hour ago, Vegas_nw1982 said:

Perfect timing to ask that question.

Today's Wall Street Journal had an article that said businesses and leisure travelers are abandoning their loyalty to an airline and forgoing their loyalty points in order to save money on the ticket, even if it was with an airline they normally wouldn't fly.

also perfect timing for a lesson I learned a couple days ago. Not only do US businesspeople earn more mileage, but US airlines sell so many miles to banks for reward cards that every premium seat that comes available for upgrade on US airlines is snapped up in awards quickly leaving no surplus. OTOH EU airlines do not have either credit card award programs or people with status to any degree so they have surplus premium seats to sell cheap at the check-in desk or in online auctions. 

For years my main pond-hopper from the US has been the Virgin 10K + $150 award most days in coach and the last few times I had no problem getting a desk upgrade at flight time to premium economy for $200. Now there's an online auction that most non-US airlines use to sell upgrades a few days before. It's called PlusGrade.

I had to bring a Bel Ami friend over yesterday from Prague and I wondered why Air France and KLM are not on the auction site. Turns out when you check in they send you an offer to upgrade. On this award, which was just 17K + $140 KLM Prague to DC in coach, the offer to upgrade was $741 to go to business class. That's a $4K ticket. Then someone told me not to take the offer as they have upgraded at the desk twice for that flight, once on KLM and once on Air France, and both times the desk upgrade was just $500 coach to business !.

Those cheap upgrades never happen on US airlines because so many Americans have a zillion miles to burn and/or status that they're already way over-promised. And the EU airlines are usually better. 

https://www.plusgrade.com/partners/

 

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by tassojunior

[Bargara Leatherboy]

I collect credit card points avidly.  Along with the consumer programs that earn   points and status credits and are automatically transferred to your Frequent Flyer program.  

Yes the Australian market is different.

I always buy my domestic tickets and some short haul international tickets, in the class of travel I want to fly in.  I can do short haul domestic in economy - up to 3 hours - but anything past that I will always fly business.

So my point strategy is this :-

spending the money anyway - by using a branded American Express Card where possible (available in say 70% of transactions) and a airline branded Mastercard for all other transactions - I amass a decent number of points.

I then use them for confirmed business class tickets long haul.

For instance we flew Sydney to London and then Zurich to Sydney via Singapore on Singapore Airliners for about $278 in taxes and a bunch of points.  These long haul flights in Business were a pleasure. (if we paid cash it would have cost us $16 000 plus.

Our last trip was 2016 and I know have enough points to do another big round the world trip in business - and then some.

In my view we got the above trip for taxes - and the next trip for taxes - so the bulk cost is a freebie for being loyal and smart to maximise the program.

 

having said that I am also not adverse to flying on a LCC airline depending on the seating.  Air Asia is fine for short haul flights in Asia and their long haul flights in Air Asia X where they have a angled flat bed seat is great for a 9 hour day flight and passable for a night flight.

 

I have found that unless you are a very regular flyer status is not worth it - but if you manage to achieve it its a bonus, but do have a look at what you can achieve with points via credit cards 

 

 

[mike carey]

7 hours ago, tassojunior said:

QF just released big loads of Biz seats at once recently but I'm sure they're gone. 

They are gone, and went quickly, and from my unreliable observation were easier to score on AA and AS sites than QF. But their news releases cite how many points were redeemed on a single day, so there must have been plenty of seats moved on the QF site. I'd rather they released more seats consistently rather than a heap at once, and improved the search page, but that's not how they do things, and as Ben says you need to work with how the airlines run things not hope they'll change. It seems QF likes the big seat dumps to prompt members to rush in and book. They don't have free changes and cancellations, but at a flat 5,000 and 6,000 points respectively, it's pretty much small change.

@BenjaminNicholas's point that at 250-300k miles a year loyalty makes sense especially as flights on any airline in the relevant alliance count. How your chosen airline treats you in IROPS matters, and they do differentiate. Fewer miles than that and the case is less persuasive.

A couple of weeks ago QF expanded its redemptions on China Airlines and said that it would mean onward seats would be available from Taipei. I couldn't find any but there was plenty of availability from here to Taipei.

[+ tassojunior]

5 minutes ago, mike carey said:

They are gone, and went quickly, and from my unreliable observation were easier to score on AA and AS sites than QF. But their news releases cite how many points were redeemed on a single day, so there must have been plenty of seats moved on the QF site. I'd rather they released more seats consistently rather than a heap at once, and improved the search page, but that's not how they do things, and as Ben says you need to work with how the airlines run things not hope they'll change. It seems QF likes the big seat dumps to prompt members to rush in and book. They don't have free changes and cancellations, but at a flat 5,000 and 6,000 points respectively, it's pretty much small change.

@BenjaminNicholas's point that at 250-300k miles a year loyalty makes sense especially as flights on any airline in the relevant alliance count. How your chosen airline treats you in IROPS matters, and they do differentiate. Fewer miles than that and the case is less persuasive.

A couple of weeks ago QF expanded its redemptions on China Airlines and said that it would mean onward seats would be available from Taipei. I couldn't find any but there was plenty of availability from here to Taipei.

the one's I started to book were a lot more from LA but I think around 60-80K for biz from AS or AA. Air New Zealand and Fiji Air seem to be the most frequent and reliable awards for Americans. There's one that has a nonstop from DFW that's supposed to be easiest to book. IDK if Mov 1 will work for me but so long as it's free redeposits I'll hold it and try to work the rest. I like Brisbane and Queensland and have friends in Melbourne. 

[+ tassojunior]

24 minutes ago, Bargara Leatherboy said:

I collect credit card points avidly.  Along with the consumer programs that earn   points and status credits and are automatically transferred to your Frequent Flyer program.  

Yes the Australian market is different.

I always buy my domestic tickets and some short haul international tickets, in the class of travel I want to fly in.  I can do short haul domestic in economy - up to 3 hours - but anything past that I will always fly business.

So my point strategy is this :-

spending the money anyway - by using a branded American Express Card where possible (available in say 70% of transactions) and a airline branded Mastercard for all other transactions - I amass a decent number of points.

I then use them for confirmed business class tickets long haul.

For instance we flew Sydney to London and then Zurich to Sydney via Singapore on Singapore Airliners for about $278 in taxes and a bunch of points.  These long haul flights in Business were a pleasure. (if we paid cash it would have cost us $16 000 plus.

Our last trip was 2016 and I know have enough points to do another big round the world trip in business - and then some.

In my view we got the above trip for taxes - and the next trip for taxes - so the bulk cost is a freebie for being loyal and smart to maximise the program.

 

having said that I am also not adverse to flying on a LCC airline depending on the seating.  Air Asia is fine for short haul flights in Asia and their long haul flights in Air Asia X where they have a angled flat bed seat is great for a 9 hour day flight and passable for a night flight.

 

I have found that unless you are a very regular flyer status is not worth it - but if you manage to achieve it its a bonus, but do have a look at what you can achieve with points via credit cards 

 

 

have you ever used the upgrade auction on QF or any other airline down there?  On EU flights it's very much a bargain. Of course it's best if you have free cancellations like the US or $50 ones like EU so you can cancel if you don't get a cheap upgrade. 

https://www.plusgrade.com/partners/

[mike carey]

9 minutes ago, tassojunior said:

There's one that has a nonstop from DFW that's supposed to be easiest to book.

QF has non-stops from DFW to SYD and MEL, and AA to AKL. SYD is daily and MEL 3 or 4 per week.

2 minutes ago, tassojunior said:

have you ever used the upgrade auction on QF

I don't know about other airlines but QF has an upgrade auction. Seats offered to members who request an upgrade at the QF fixed points rate are allocated before auction bids are considered.

[+ tassojunior]

57 minutes ago, mike carey said:

QF has non-stops from DFW to SYD and MEL, and AA to AKL. SYD is daily and MEL 3 or 4 per week.

I don't know about other airlines but QF has an upgrade auction. Seats offered to members who request an upgrade at the QF fixed points rate are allocated before auction bids are considered.

does Air NZ have a DFW flight? There's one partner that's supposed to be easier from DFW I think. Pretty sure it's not Fiji Air. 

[mike carey]

25 minutes ago, tassojunior said:

does Air NZ have a DFW flight? There's one partner that's supposed to be easier from DFW I think. Pretty sure it's not Fiji Air. 

I don't think they do, they're Star Alliance and they do fly IAH-AKL (United also flies IAH to SYD.) As far as I know, Fiji Airways only flies to the west coast.

[+ tassojunior]

2 minutes ago, mike carey said:

I don't think they do, they're Star Alliance and they do fly IAH-AKL (United also flies IAH to SYD.) As far as I know, Fiji Airways only flies to the west coast.

maybe it's the IAH flight I heard was easiest.(but United to EU eats up my *A miles).

[Bargara Leatherboy]

On 3/24/2023 at 1:31 PM, tassojunior said:

have you ever used the upgrade auction on QF or any other airline down there?  On EU flights it's very much a bargain. Of course it's best if you have free cancellations like the US or $50 ones like EU so you can cancel if you don't get a cheap upgrade. 

https://www.plusgrade.com/partners/

I don't fly QF - and I do not like the lottery of upgrading - I want to know when I book that I have a confirmed seat in Business so I either pay for a business fare or use points for a business reward seat.

QF upgrades might not clear until 5 hours before departure - so it's a huge risk.  I normally book really early so can get the business saver seats - on Singapore Airlines - but never have an issue getting on the flight I want to be on 

[Bargara Leatherboy]

On 3/24/2023 at 3:39 PM, mike carey said:

I don't think they do, they're Star Alliance and they do fly IAH-AKL (United also flies IAH to SYD.) As far as I know, Fiji Airways only flies to the west coast.

Air NZ does have a IAH flight as well as an ORD and JFK as well as their standard SFO and LAX flights.  

Fiji only does NAN - LAX with add ons to AKL WLG CHC BNE SYD MEL ADL 

[+ tassojunior]

2 hours ago, Bargara Leatherboy said:

I don't fly QF - and I do not like the lottery of upgrading - I want to know when I book that I have a confirmed seat in Business so I either pay for a business fare or use points for a business reward seat.

QF upgrades might not clear until 5 hours before departure - so it's a huge risk.  I normally book really early so can get the business saver seats - on Singapore Airlines - but never have an issue getting on the flight I want to be on 

unless it's Virgin at IAD where I know the desk upgrade for $200 to PE routine well, I'd only do an auction where I'd know a few days before flight and also have a alternative. Both on free or cheap cancel airlines of course. 

Edited March 26, 2023 by tassojunior

[+ tassojunior]

39 minutes ago, Bargara Leatherboy said:

Air NZ does have a IAH flight as well as an ORD and JFK as well as their standard SFO and LAX flights.  

Fiji only does NAN - LAX with add ons to AKL WLG CHC BNE SYD MEL ADL 

I'm holding an LAX/NAN/SYD Fiji Biz award for November that was 80K on AA. Hoping a better deal pops up but if not, I'm fine with that. 

[+ ThroatCummer]

On 3/22/2023 at 10:14 PM, Unicorn said:

No one really seems to know why certain people get selected for CK, but getting over twice the needed miles for EP didn't cut it, as I found out. It seems like this level is probably reserved for high-level executives with decision-making positions with regards to with which carrier their employees will fly.

There aren't even dedicated phone lines for loyal customers. Sometimes I'm told I'll get a call back in "40 to 50 minutes," even as EP. 

I freaking love these threads because this is my wheelhouse. lol 

As far as CK, there is an element of "Customer Lifetime Value" (CLV) they use that can vary drastically. My CEO has kept CK status for the past four years flying less than 20,000 EQMs (LPs now) per year, including a renewal now for 2023.  This was because he flew JFK-China and back, in paid J (business), twice a month, for almost a decade. AA keeps people like that close to the heart because they know their future spending potential is through the roof, and it is simply good business to retain them even when they're not actively flying. 

That said, your second point is right on. I control the "airline of choice" for my company and in the beginning, I was a loyal US Airways (Chairmans Preferred) and subsequently AA. So I picked AA for our corporate travel and now that we've grown exponentially, so does our employee contracted travel. AA hands out a small handful of CK memberships to us each year to give to execs or those who travel all the time but wouldn't otherwise qualify for CK. I can write about this for hours, but that's the general gist here. 

As far as the phone even for EPs, just disregard that message and keep holding. They'll pickup in less than five minutes generally -- they just do that to get the non-urgent people off the phone and into a later position in the call queue.  

On 3/23/2023 at 3:38 AM, nycman said:

Honestly, if you fly business/first regularly, there’s basically no advantage 
to any of the loyalty programs. The "best" I’ve had is American making 
seats available on "sold out" flights when I was trapped. Happened twice.
Once when I was only Gold. Once, when I was Executive Platinum. 

IROPS is one of the most valuable things about higher-level status. There are times I have landed and turned my phone on to a notification AA has already rebooked me on a new flight or even double/triple booked me on multiple options so in case that goes tits up, I have a seat on a few other flights all within the next hour or three. You can't put a price on that. 

On 3/23/2023 at 6:52 PM, BenjaminNicholas said:

For some of us, when you travel 250-350k miles a year on airlines, it pays to be loyal. 

The suggestion here to simply buy the seat you want is a wise one.  If the flight is important to you and you don't want to wait for the battlefield upgrade (which is the standard these days), just find a suitable J/F fare.  With the numbers of elite going up thanks to current spend patterns, the fight for the very few open premium seats has never been more fierce.

My suggestion for anyone on AA looking to utilize SWUs or mileage is to buy a subscription to Expert Flyer and set alerts to keep track of routes open with the right fare classes. 

From what I can see in the AA EXP/CK group on Facebook, even people who had 500,000, 750,000, or even 1M LPs in 2022 failed to quality for CK. I'd give almost anything to see their algorithm or decision process in these scenarios. With the new program where you can spend your way to LPs, I actually believe that matters less and less for high-level status. As a business, people can easily put six figures of spend monthly on a credit card, but part of me thinks that AA is looking at the value you give the airline on flying their metal butt-in-seat. Not sure on that though but go back to my CLV post above. Again, I would love for someone to leak the private rules here.  

Also for the upgrades, it is very dependent on your home base.  You're generally ex-DFW, right? There are thousands of CKs in that market all taking the upgrades from EPs and lower status. I'm BOS based and we have a huge market here but a very distributed airport that is not a hub for anyone. Equally Delta, United, American, JetBlue. It's really nice actually. I am upgraded almost 95% of the time and it rare I don't get an upgrade, even when I was an EP from like 2012-2019. I can also land a confirmed SWU time of booking on the BOS-LHR flight every single time. Hasn't been a time I was waitlisted. We (BOS) are not competing with as many status flyers as DFW, ORD, CLT/PHX, etc. 

On 3/23/2023 at 11:03 PM, Bargara Leatherboy said:

I always buy my domestic tickets and some short haul international tickets, in the class of travel I want to fly in.  I can do short haul domestic in economy - up to 3 hours - but anything past that I will always fly business.

I then use them for confirmed business class tickets long haul.

For instance we flew Sydney to London and then Zurich to Sydney via Singapore on Singapore Airliners for about $278 in taxes and a bunch of points.  These long haul flights in Business were a pleasure. (if we paid cash it would have cost us $16 000 plus.

Exact same. If you know how to play the game, you can get five-figure value redemptions (still) doing it the right way. There was a friend of mine who bragged recently about using something like 50,000 miles (each way!) on BOS-MCO or BOS-ORD (can't remember) and I died a little inside. 

Back in the day with US Airways Dividend Miles, I did BOS-MUC/CDG-BKK-SYD-BKK-LHR-BOS for 90,000 miles in FIRST (not even Business) and like $50 in cash. That was a total fucking steal. Those days are mostly gone but you can still find good uses for partner redemptions with AA and UA miles. Although Delta has gone off the rails with their flexible redemption criteria where a J seat anywhere out of North America is like 700,000 skypesos these days. Like WTF, seriously? 

On 3/23/2023 at 11:09 PM, mike carey said:

A couple of weeks ago QF expanded its redemptions on China Airlines and said that it would mean onward seats would be available from Taipei. I couldn't find any but there was plenty of availability from here to Taipei.

I think with CX coming back "online" finally since the start of the pandemic, that will take some of the OneWorld load off QF (and others) for redemptions, plus HKG is just an amazing airport and a great place to transit. But we'll see how that plays out in the next 12-18 months. People in the industry aren't confident that Cathay Pacific will stage a complete comeback which is sad. 

Edited March 26, 2023 by ThroatCummer

[+ sniper]

There's basically no way to get anything just flying when there are tens of thousands of people who work the credit cards system as a part time job. A friend of mine has over a dozen credit cards he meticulously tracks so he and his wife and kids can fly free and get free hotel rooms.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

14 minutes ago, sniper said:

There's basically no way to get anything just flying when there are tens of thousands of people who work the credit cards system as a part time job. A friend of mine has over a dozen credit cards he meticulously tracks so he and his wife and kids can fly free and get free hotel rooms.

Certain elite levels open up additional inventory for mileage rewards, so there's a definite difference between the credit card churners and those who are loyal elite.

That said, churning is the new 'hack' for many.  While they may have enough points to get that freebie ticket, they won't have the airline's loyalty to get on the next plane when IROPS happen...  And they will happen.  On a rewards ticket with low-to-no status, they'll be lucky to find another seat several days later.

[mike carey]

14 minutes ago, sniper said:

There's basically no way to get anything just flying when there are tens of thousands of people who work the credit cards system as a part time job. A friend of mine has over a dozen credit cards he meticulously tracks so he and his wife and kids can fly free and get free hotel rooms.

There are two separate things going on there. One is playing the credit card system for redeemable miles, the other, less lucrative, is playing the system for loyalty points or whatever path to status an airline uses. Most people would be chasing redeemable miles in which case their success in shutting others out would be only whatever luck they have in finding a reward first (the number of miles in your account doesn't help with that). Apart from American, credit card activity is of marginal help in earning status, if any, and there are more productive uses of your credit card spend (or rolling credit card applications) than AA status.

[+ tassojunior]

Not to insult anyone, but today, April 23 is the last day of the Spirit status match. Easy to match with hotel programs to Gold which gives, among other things, free checked bag, free carry-on, free exit row seats, free pets, free changes, and waiver of oversize/weight bag fees. Gold costs $99 but mine is good until Dec 31, 2024. Hopefully it can be used to match other statuses too. It's Spirit but it's a good deal. 

Free Spirit® Status Match

SPIRIT.STATUSMATCH.COM

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Spirit Airlines Status Match - Silver & Gold Status Match. Eligible travellers apply today for a Status Match with Spirit.

What you need to know about Spirit's new status match - The Points Guy

THEPOINTSGUY.COM

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Eligible customers can match their loyalty from major airlines and hotel companies with immediate benefits.

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by tassojunior