This year is pretty much a wash, but why not load up early on easy EQMs (and RDMs) with American in 2012. Their Double Elite Qualifying Miles and Double Flight Miles promotion continues through March 31, 2012 and there are currently a huge amount of dates available from both San Francisco and Los Angeles.

It’s open to residents of Illinois, California and Texas and applies to flights from ORD or DFW to either LAX or SFO. The example itinerary below is the best deal coming in at 2.97 cpm, but plenty of availability also exists between LAX and ORD at 3.14 cpm. I’m sure DFW to LAX/SFO also has plenty of availability, but at a much higher cpm.

United also has a similar promotion through January 31, 2012, but it requires a W-bucket fare or higher. The cheapest LAX-ORD roundtrip in W, for example, is $339.40 or 4.86 cpm… a terrible mileage run option.

Routing: San Francisco to Chicago O’Hare roundtrip

Travel period: Now through March 31, 2012

Dates I found available: Almost unlimited

Number of nights stay: 0 (easy & quick day trip)

Day of week restrictions: Monday through Saturday only

Fare basis: QA07OQY1, 7-day advance purchase

All-in fare: $219.40

Elite Qualifying Miles earned: 7,384

Cost-per-mile (CPM): 2.97

Example itinerary: Click for full view

Visit my Mileage Running 101 Part 1 and Part 2 posts to get step-by-step instructions on how I found this fare and created the routing.

Last week American Airlines introduced Dynamic Air Awards where elite members of AAdvantage have access to discounted economy class mileage awards for travel in the contiguous United States. Based on published fare levels, the amount of miles varies, but are below the AAnytime award level of 50,000 miles for a roundtrip ticket. These awards are non-changeable, but can be cancelled and the $150 redeposit fee applies except for Executive Platinum members. Full details can be found here.

While I generally redeem miles for international travel, last year I did end up burning miles on a last-minute United Airlines Standard Award due to the fare being well above my financial threshold. Curious to see how I might save if that eventuality happened now, I took American’s booking engine for a test drive and offer the following examples researched yesterday. The airfares shown below are the all-in totals including taxes for the same nonstop roundtrip flights as those offered on the lowest Dynamic Air Award available. The Regular Award column is also what was available for the same Dynamic award flights. All mileage awards would also require a $5 payment.

As expected, where the fares are the highest there isn’t too much of a mileage discount from AAnytime awards. That Chicago to New York LaGuardia ticket two days out is discounted, but likely has plenty of availability. Also, several itineraries had MileSAAver availability at 25,000 miles, so it definitely still pays to first search for “regular” awards before trying the Dynamic route. The higher discounts seem to be for travel further out in the future, so the benefit of this program to me is really greatest with advance planning.

It’s a nice elite perk, especially in markets with few MileSAAver seats and I’d really love to see this extended to international travel. Well done, American.

I was going through my photos yesterday and came across the batch of pictures I took when I flew on the inaugural United Airlines Boeing 777 flight from Denver to Chicago on June 7, 1995. Knowing there are a ton of aviation geeks out there like me, I figured it would be worth it to post a vintage trip report of my experience and share the pictures below.

I was employed by United at the time, took a vacation day that Wednesday and purchased a revenue ticket to ensure I’d have a seat on the historic flight. As I recall, the ticket was about $240 for the same day ORD-DEN-ORD trip and luckily I still had elite status with United so was able to upgrade into Connoisseur Class on the all-important 777 segment. I was a ‘Premier Emeritus’, the “soft landing” United used to bestow on elites in the year following not having requalified for any status. This was in the day of paper 500-milers and I do remember I had only two left so my flight to Denver that morning on a 757 was in economy. I broke the rules and booked my own reservation (a no-no for employees to book their own revenue tickets at that time) and also self-upgraded the DEN-ORD segment, but did that within my 24-hour window per the rules. Sorry United!

It was a beautiful day to fly and I arrived in Denver early leaving about an hour and a half to savor the departure gate festivities at B36 for United flight 910.

The gate area was decked out with balloons, beverages, food & cake and several members of the media were present along with United executives.

After a ribbon-cutting ceremony it was time for boarding and my heart was racing in excited anticipation of the historic flight. The business class cabin on the initial configuration seated 49 passengers and was divided into a three row cabin forward of door two and a four row cabin aft.

Onboard, champagne was served to the Connoisseur Class cabin along with commemorative baseball caps and inaugural flight certificates.

I had hair (and acne)!

Although I was disappointed in not having scored a window seat, I was still able to witness many of United’s employees and airport workers watching us taxi out to the runway. The flight was fantastic and I noticed Lester Holt, a CBS news anchor in Chicago at that time (now on NBC’s Today Show), was seated in the rear Connoisseur cabin. The flight flew by and we were far too quickly arriving at our gate in Chicago.

It remains to this day one of my all time favorite experiences flying United and I hope you enjoyed the flash back photo tour.

Qualifying for elite status with an airline requires meeting a certain threshold the carrier has published, whether it be point, mile or segment based. Those thresholds have been periodically raised, lowered and adjusted even to the point of birthing new tiers. Delta’s fairly recent addition of the Diamond level at 125,000 Medallion Qualifying Miles is one example, and the all but likely creation of a uniquely named 75,000-mile level at the new United is another. The ability with which to achieve status beyond simply flying “butt in seat” (BIS) miles has also gone through its own metamorphosis over the years. Bonuses for flying in full-fare economy, business and first class is common today, as are bonus elite qualifying miles for charging a pre-determined amount on co-branded credit card.

This, of course, is nothing new to many of us who have been participating in the programs for years, possibly since their inception in the early 1980s. I have benefited greatly from the current policy at all major U.S. carriers by achieving elite status through flying the requisite mileage-based level of BIS miles on deeply discounted tickets. Failed attempts were made by U.S.-based carriers in the last decade to limit elite qualifying activity when flying in “low bucket” classes of service. Continental Airlines had at one time instituted a policy where only deeply discounted tickets purchased on their own website would earn full elite status miles, and Delta Air Lines had for a time outright restricted their lower fares from earning full qualification miles.

It’s a tricky landscape and the airlines know it can touch a nerve with the ranks of loyal passengers accustomed to the status quo. Here in the United States, the collective voice of the frequent flyer community seems to be able to apply enough pressure against policy changes to force airlines to effectively back down, as was the case with the Delta and Continental example above. Overseas it seems airlines are less reactive to similar pressures with Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, British Airways, Qantas and Singapore Airlines holding steady with their policies. This all finally brings me to the point of my post.

On one hand I think our time is short in just how much longer U.S.-based carriers will continue to offer 100% elite credit for the cheapest tickets. American’s elite qualifying point system is well-established giving preference to the higher valued revenue tickets, although you can still achieve elite status through straight BIS flying on any fare. American spearheaded an effort to challenge the distribution model of how tickets are sold, and although it appears they’ve lost for the time being, the debate is alive and I think we’ll see continued efforts by all airlines to overhaul that system. Who’s to say American won’t make the first move in overhauling elite qualification by eliminating the ability to achieve status via BIS flying and instead require the necessary points tied to fare classes?

On the other hand, it would be a very bold move for any one airline to attempt such a policy shift unless they’re willing to turn away a population of travelers, myself included. For such a policy to stick given the history of attempts here in the U.S., it would basically require carriers to collectively do it all at the same time. We all know that is highly unlikely given the illegal nature airline collusion. So then, is this the right time for a carrier to stick their foot out and test the water again? Is the economy recovering enough and will the price of oil remain at a level capable to support a potential loss of passenger revenue? These are rhetorical questions mostly, but I think the time is approaching and we’ll see attempts again.

The reason I think this is because I believe some of the recent changes at airlines, including those to frequent flyer programs and fare structures, reveal a bit of posturing at the different carriers. This is of course pure speculation on my part, but I’m going to put it out there.

I’ve already mentioned the point-based system at American rewarding higher fare levels, and they of course have the separate Concierge Key program for the uber high-end spenders. United’s similar program is called Global Services (GS) and I’ve read the “hidden” revenue contribution required for that level to be around $50,000 annually. Those programs have been established for some time, but I believe a newer system is looming.

The creation of four tiers of elite ranks not including Global Services at United leaves the door open to further segment travelers based on revenue contribution. Should United make an attempt to limit elite qualifying miles on the cheapest fare classes, such as ‘G,’ ‘L,’ and ‘K,’ I could see United’s existing 1K level becoming a lower published version of the GS program as there is likely a huge population of business travelers who don’t quite reach the GS level of spend, but are far more lucrative to United than flyers like me. While I’m sure some business travelers do end up falling into the lower buckets from time to time, the ones United is looking to incentivize typically purchase closer to departure. How much longer will United (and all airlines for that matter) be willing to bestow the best benefits to non-significant revenue contributors? I believe the lack of systemwide double elite qualifying mile bonuses is another indicator the game may change soon.

I also believe Southwest’s recent overhaul of the Rapid Rewards program, which places an exponentially higher significance on top-dollar revenue tickets has made the legacy carriers take a keen interest in wanting to look at their programs again. Yes, the Southwest scheme affects primarily accrual and redemption abilities, not elite qualification, but it had to bring the conversation back up among legacy program executives.

Another change that peaked my interest was United’s recent move to bring the ‘G’ bucket into published tariffs that now allow mileage accrual. Some will say this was to aid in mapping fare classes with Continental coming into the mix, but I’m not sold on that idea. I believe in time we’ll see that ‘G’ bucket as one of the deeply discounted fare classes with restrictive elite qualification conditions.

I’ve really blathered on for this post, but it’s something that’s been in the back of my mind for some time. It’s no secret airlines want to cater to the higher yield business traffic and I think the time is approaching we’ll see more attempts for a shakeup of elite qualification, if not even going so far as to restrict accrual of miles. That’s a topic for another post, so for now I’ll close and hope for my own sake I’m completely wrong and will continue to reap the benefits of top-tier elite status.

I’ve seen a couple of reports in the last month where Delta Air Lines has upgraded several of Georgia’s current and former politicians with Gold, Platinum and even Diamond Medallion status. The first report surfaced last month when a WSBTV Channel 2 story slammed Delta for giving out Gold and Platinum status to several top Republicans.

The first round of status upgrades was valued by Delta at $1,600 for Gold and $2,400 for Platinum, so well within the guidelines for campaign contributions as they were so termed. Channel 2’s consumer advisor Clark Howard disagreed and claimed they were worth more to the tune of $10,000 to $15,000 per year, which is incredibly high in my opinion. Yes, Golds and Platinums on Delta get many nice perks such as priority airport services, complimentary upgrades, waived fees and more, but I disagree with the valuation by Mr. Howard. Whereas I may reap a significant benefit from my elite status given my knowledge of how to manage my miles and benefits, I don’t think that’s the case for the entire population of elite travelers. Also, redemption of accrued mileage in the SkyMiles program is well known to be an issue at the lowest mileage levels with virtually no availability, and their Systemwide Upgrades require much higher purchased fare classes to even use them for an international upgrade.

I believe some of the criticism in the first article is due to the fact that only Republicans received the perks, and it appears that Channel 2 is owned by Cox Communications, a well-known contributor to the Democratic Party. Another criticism was that at least one politician received Platinum status and then decided not to run for reelection. That is a little questionable, but otherwise I don’t really have an issue with Delta granting status as campaign contributions.

This week, it was also reported that Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and his wife received the highest Diamond Medallion status “to promote economic development.” Here, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, another Cox Communications company, claims it was Delta’s way of saying “thank you” to the governor for signing a tax break into law which reportedly will save Delta approximately $30 million in jet fuel taxes over the next two years. Could it have been a thank you? Unofficially yes, but I also see the benefit for senior politicians to have status to make their travels more comfortable.

So that brings me to wonder how you feel about airlines giving out status to elected officials who wouldn’t have normally earned it as we do by flying the required amount. Do you agree or disagree? I’d love hear your comments, including how you feel about the valuation of each status level.