For the second time in a month I find myself sitting in the Best Care Club in Milwaukee’s General Mitchell airport (MKE).  BCC is Frontier Airlines‘ airport lounge, and the only one is at Milwaukee.  Sadly, the club is closing on May 31st of this year, leaving only a Delta Sky Club, which means no access for people like me.

“People like you,” you ask, “what do you mean?”  I access this club lounge via Priority Pass Select, which I’m enrolled in via my American Express Platinum card.  One of the perks of Priority Pass is that you’re not required to be flying on an airline to access their club if they accept Priority Pass (vs. Delta‘s Sky Club and American Airlines‘ Admirals Club, which gives access to American Express Platinum members when traveling on that airline).  That means the Best Care Club was the only option for me when in Milwaukee and flying on American Airlines, as American has no club here, period.

I actually enjoy the BCC here because they offer a fantastic environment to work in – comfortable seating, nice views of the tarmac and gates, and above-average refreshments (self-serve soft drinks/juices, warm cookies, kettle chips, nuts, and fruit, with a cash bar available), great WiFi, and business accoutrements like copiers, phones and workspaces.

A lot of the reason relates to cutbacks.  Where last year Frontier had 100 flights from Milwaukee a day they’re paring down to 18 a day on May 15th, so the volume just isn’t there to support continuing operations.  This reaches beyond the BCC, though, to downsizing in-terminal restaurants and services, affecting the local economy as well.

So farewell, Best Care Club, I’ve enjoyed you and you’ll be missed!

Yesterday Milepoint announced that it had entered into an agreement with Gogo Inflight Internet service to provide free access to Milepoint on any Gogo-enabled flight on any US airline (kudos to FlyGracefully for picking this up first, it seems!).  While this in and of itself is very, very cool, it also means that you can read excerpts of new posts on GettingStatus on any flight free, too!

How?  Milepoint has a Newsstand section that mirrors blog content from all BoardingArea bloggers, including GettingStatus!  Just log on to milepoint, head over to the newsstand (via the link above) and read an excerpt of any new posts – or those of my fellow bloggers – right there – at 30,000 feet – for free!

The announcement from Milepoint:

In a first for frequent flyers — members of Milepoint can now access milepoint.com for free on the roughly 1,500 flights powered by inflight Wi-Fi provider Gogo.Members with laptops, iPads, iPhones and other Wi-Fi enabled devices can read and post to Milepoint on all domestic AirTran Airways, Delta Air Lines, Virgin America flights and on select Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways flights, with Frontier Airlines coming soon.

In this special three-month test of the interest for Milepoint members to exchange travel information when actually flying, Milepoint founder Randy Petersen comments, “While this is yet another first for any frequent flyer forum, Milepoint continues to find ways to add value for our members and what better way to spend a three-hour flight than to stay connected with fellow flyers and both increase your own travel knowledge or to help others increase theirs. Milepoint really can say it is where frequent flyers meet, even at 33,000 feet.”

One of the unique features of the Starwood Preferred Guest program is that hotels can offer local amenities alongside traditional benefit choices (points, breakfast, etc.).  Although I usually prefer to just get the extra points, I always ask, as there are some really neat treats out there.

Tonight I’m at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Chicago.  The local amenity was a tin of Cheddar and Caramel popcorn mix from Garrett Popcorn.  I love popcorn and I needed a late-night snack after a “snack” flight on American Airlines from Dallas to Chicago so this was perfect, and it got me to pull the trigger on my first local amenity choice.

Have you taken a local amenity at a Starwood property?  Leave a comment below with a description and location!

Some would argue the relative value of 500 Starpoints vs. a tin of popcorn… but tonight?  Easy choice.  Pics below…

I sat down to reconcile my BusinessExtrAA earnings against my flights for the first two months (the March flights aren’t posted yet) and once again there’s about a 66% success rate.  I had to go back and claim points for several missing itineraries for three ticket numbers spanning more than a dozen segments.

Because I almost always buy deep-discount fares I don’t earn a lot to BusinessExtrAA points (since the program is revenue based).  I do, however, find good use for them: I used them to give my dad a year of AAdvantage Gold status for this year.  He and my mom are traveling more this year, including an overseas trip, so having status saves them on things like baggage fees and gets them Priority Access so they can board earlier.

Being Austin-based I used to earn double the BusinessExtrAA points, a perk for fliers not based in DFW or MIA, but that has recently changed to make the program more equitable: starting April 1, American Airlines now awards 2 points per $10 of base fare to everyone (not just those based outside of DFW/MIA, who only got 1 point per $10 prior to this).  It takes a while to earn awards and upgrades flying “on the cheap,” and BE points expire (unlike AAdvantage miles) so you have to use them on a rolling basis… but it’s another program that’s worth having even if it is only for the infrequent extra perk.

Note: BusinessExtrAA requires registering your business information with American Airlines – it’s not a personal program.  While little documentation is required up front, American wouldn’t be out of line to request it if they needed.  The perks of this program are *not* worth lying or cheating to obtain and if you do you risk losing them all.

To translate, “beaktor” over on FlyerTalk found and posted a fantastic Mileage Run deal he found on American Airlines.

Austin to San Francisco, via Dallas to take advantage of the Double Elite Qualifying Miles promo that AA extended the time for between DFW and SFO.  The trip earns 6,856 EQM and RDM (if you’re AAdvantage Gold or higher on AA, which gets you the 500-mile minimum for the AUS-DFW legs) for a total (all-in) cost of $171.80.  That’s just under 2.5 cents per mile which is a GREAT deal, especially when it doubles the EQM, too!

Note that you MUST register for the promo (do this BEFORE you book) at AA’s Bonus Offers site using code DEQ11.

Per beaktor’s post, only certain dates seem to be coming up, but I was able to book this for May 12th (Mother’s Day weekend, a Saturday) so if you book for the same day leave a comment and we’ll meet up!

Note:  FlyerTalk user “Stripe” found a deal that produces similar mileage but more segments (6 vs. 4) by routing through LAX.  If you need to qualify on segments, these are about $29.80 per segment, which beats my DFW-Tyler runs last year.  See his post here.

For those of you that have (or are considering) an American Express Platinum card, the $200 annual airline fee reimbursement does work for purchasing $30 500-mile upgrade certificates on aa.com.  7 upgrade “stickers” is $210, so with the $200 discount you’re getting 3,500 miles of upgrades for $10.

I’ve set American Airlines as my airline of choice for the program, and I purchased the upgrades one at a time as keeping the charges under $100 seems to have the fastest reimbursement; under $50 is even “safer” in my experience.  Within 48 hours I had 6 $30 credits and 1 $20 credit for the full total of $200.

As an AAdvantage Executive Platinum I get a free drink and snack in coach, so I don’t have onboard sundry charges to look for reimbursement for so using the entire $200 amount for upgrades made sense as I use them to upgrade my wife when she’s traveling as my companion (which still requires the use of 500-mile stickers for her).

So, if you have the Amex Platinum, have American Airlines as your choice but don’t know what to do with the reimbursement program, buy upgrades!

Austin, being the “live music capital of Texas,” routinely offers local performers slots to play in the airside (secured side) of the passenger Terminal, typically on a stage near Gate 10.  Given that there are local restaurants all around (Austin doesn’t have a Starbucks, instead there’s a local Austin Java; likewise Mangia Pizza, Salt Lick BBQ and Amy’s Ice Cream are all present, as well), this is a great place to spend time while waiting on a flight to depart.  Austin is my “home” airport, so I spend a lot of time here… and living in Austin, I’ve had quite a few friends get gigs here.  Always nice to pass through security for your flight and hear a friend’s music entertaining the crowd!

Two pictures:

Image courtesy of Austin Matters by Ralph Barrera

Image courtesy of USA Today

With the changes Starwood made to the SPG program this year, I’ve started re-thinking my prior approach to stays and nights.  For hotel programs there are typically two ways to achieve status: crossing a threshold for the number of individual stays, or achieving a prescribed number of nights (regardless of the number of stays).  Las year I split my stays between two programs: Starwood Preferred Guest and Hilton HHonors.  I see the best treatment as a SPG Platinum member, regularly getting upgraded to better rooms at every brand in the chain (including Sheraton, Four Points, W, Westin, Le Meridien and Aloft).  For HHonors, however, the strong value was in their ability to redeem points for hotel nights; before the change to their program this year, HHonors had one of the best set of redemption options out there.

I should note at this point that we earn status and points on the American Express HHonors Surpass credit card and are owners (via the resale market) of a Hilton Grand Vacations Club timeshare, so we have a strong ongoing affinity with the HHonors program.  The majority of our household bills and expenses go on this card, and it’s valuable because that spend qualifies towards HHonors Diamond status.  I also carry an American Express Starwood credit card which I primarily only use for SPG stays (to get the extra Starpoints).

Back to the Starwood changes.  Platinum status has required 25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year.  Once you crossed that line, however, there were no more [official] benefits to be earned (other than the perks of having Platinum status).  This year, however, additional benefits kick in at 50 and 75 nights:

• At 50 nights a member receives 10 Suite Upgrade certificates for confirmed upgrades
• At 75 nights a member receives an additional Starpoint for every dollar spent and “Your 24,” the ability to check-in at a member’s choice of time and stay for 24 hours, regardless of check-in/check-out times typically posted for a property
• At 100 nights, the member is assigned a personal Ambassador who assists with recommendations, calling ahead with a guest’s personal preferences, etc.

These new benefits provide additional perks to those with a high number of nights.  My guess is that Starwood had quite a few Platinum members with 25 stays and between 25 and 50 nights (probably closer to 25 nights, representing 25 one-night stays), and wanted to attract those that crossed 25 stays to cross 50 and 75 nights – especially those like me that split time between multiple programs.

10 confirmed Suite Upgrades are nice for those times traveling with family – we’re a family of three, so a suite can save us from needing two separate rooms.  Additional Starpoints are always nice, too.  Your24, however, is an interesting perk.  While I can typically check in anytime after noon, and stay the next day until 2 or 4 PM, Your24 offers a chance to do something like check in at 6PM and check out at 6PM the next day, or later should I desire.  When my flight out is at 11PM or a red-eye, this could be a nice way to have a place to come back to at the end of the day, shower, work online, take a nap, etc.  It’s not something I’d use often, but could be very handy when flights dictated a need.  As for an Ambassador?  It sounds like a fun thing, but I make my travel reservations myself, and I don’t really have any preferences or needs that require being catered to.

Given the changes to HHonors, the fact I still accure points there via spend, and that I’m enjoying my Starwood status, I’m likely to keep staying with Starwood this year after crossing the 25 stay mark.  As of today I’m at 19 stays / 31 nights, with 2 more stays and 3 nights planned for next week.  I’ll cross 25 stays this month… so 75 stays isn’t out of bounds by any stretch of the imagination! [Update: I just booked a seven night stay at a Sheraton for May.  I thought about rotating hotels for stay credits, but since nights matter more to stays (I'll hit the stay count, it's nights I'm chasing now) it made sense to keep it all in one place.  Might as well enjoy a property, right?]

Which program captures your loyalty?  Do you split time between programs or focus on just one?  Are there perks others offer that you consider valuable?

I’m starting a new series here on GettingStatus: Airport Perks!

In the course of flying we all spend a lot of time in airports.  Many airports, especially the smaller, second-tier airports, have unique conveniences or attractions; larger airports often have unique dining experiences and services for travelers that aren’t often found elsewhere.

I’m going to use this as a master thread and provide a list below that links to the airports I’ve listed perks for.  I’ll certainly take advice on things to look for, but to be fair and authoritative I’m only going to review airports I fly through personally during my travels.

Airports with Perks:

Chicago O’Hare (ORD) – Water Bottle Refill Fountains

Milwaukee (MKE) – Ping-Pong Tables

San Francisco (SFO) – Hydration Stations

Boston Logan (BOS) – Legal C Bar = AA Priority Access

Austin (AUS) – Live Music

Arrive early for your flight?  Flight delayed?  Or waiting for someone to arrive from a flight?  Never fear – before you clear security at Milwaukee there are ping-pong tables in the common atrium area.  Complete with paddles and balls, the tables provide recreation, activity, and distraction from checking the clock to see if it’s time to fly off again, back into the hustle and bustle of business.

The tables… being used by a family that arrived early and was waiting before clearing security and sitting in a chair, watching flight status:

This post is part of the Airport Perks thread.  For a full list of Airport Perks reviews, click here.