System reset: The race is on for 1K status in 2012

Happy New Year!

Every January 1^st is a bittersweet moment for the ranks of frequent flyers. We’ve all been knocked down to zero miles & segments flown for the year, so the race to achieve status begins all over again.

Since I once again took a voluntary denied boarding (VDB) last night, I have a booking today to get me back home to LAX, and earn my first elite qualifying miles (EQM) for 2011. In full disclosure, not including today’s flights, I have about 43,000 EQM booked for travel before even February is finished, including my first ever flight on Continental Airlines. So I’ll be nearly halfway to 1K by the time March rolls around this year, and I should have oodles of blog-worthy travel experiences and trip reports to share.

There is a chance I could win the VDB lottery again today, and will likely tweet the outcome this afternoon. My party years are behind me, so my New Years Eve consisted of watching Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin on CNN from a hotel room, and going to sleep around 12:05 last night. For me, it was an ideal start to 2011, and I look forward to blogging and expanding this site in the coming months.