To be clear, I am not at all happy about the addition of the revenue component United has introduced to their elite qualification tiers.  It is heavily weighted in favor of those who have someone else buying their tickets (businesses) where money doesn’t matter in the same way as if it were coming out of your own piggy bank.  I get that the airline is a business, and businesses need… Read the Rest.

I plan to post more about this later, but wanted to share the news as soon as I read it.  This is bad news for those who like mileage running for their United elite status (or for those who just fly on low fares) since there will now be hefty spending minimums to go along with each elite threshold.  The silver lining (at least for next year) is that those… Read the Rest.

One of the ways to my heart is absolutely through my stomach, so part of my devotion to Hyatt’s elite status program is due to the generosity of their breakfast benefit. If you have Diamond status, it is full breakfast for every registered guest in the room if there is no lounge open. With some hotels this even means almost unlimited room service breakfast. It is a tremendous benefit for… Read the Rest.

I make no apologies for valuing and stretching for elite status. It certainly isn’t for everyone, and wouldn’t be worth it if I didn’t travel as much as I do, but I have found that the benefits outweigh the costs for me and my family. That said, in this case, my “loyalty” can be bought for a price. Or rather, it can be lost with a high enough price. Here’s… Read the Rest.

There are many reports of a nice little gift from Starwood Preferred Guest when you qualify or requalify for Gold or Platinum elite status in 2013.  For those not familiar, the traditional route of achieving Gold status is 10 stays or 25 nights at SPG hotels in a calendar year.  Platinum status is achieved via 25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year.  Remember with SPG that award stays… Read the Rest.

This week I received my third United elite status packet in the mail that I has been sent my way in the last 9 months.  I received one when I hit Silver, one when I hit Gold, and now a Platinum Premier packet.  The envelopes are fairly large and noticeable when they hit your mailbox, but is anything useful really in there? What is in the packet depends on what… Read the Rest.

In 2012 I made the return to the ranks of the United elites. Once upon a time I had low level status with Continental, but in 2012 my paid travel picked up enough again that by being a little strategic and thoughtful about crediting my flights to United, I ended up with decent elite status. As a refresher, Gold status requires 50K premier qualifying miles or 60 premier qualifying segments… Read the Rest.

I know this isn’t the type of thing that will impact a huge number of folks, but I was excited about it so wanted to share. If you have suite upgrade certificates to use that you earned via having Diamond status with Hyatt, by having just Platinum status and getting their Chase co-branded credit card, or using extra points to confirm a suite then according to this Flyertalk thread you… Read the Rest.

At heart I am a rule follower. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t “gray areas” with some things, but when there is a clear rule for something, odds are you will find me following it (most of the time – I’m nowhere near perfect). Being a more-or-less rule follower, I get pretty annoyed when others don’t follow the rules, and it ends up impacting me negatively. Call it shenanigans, call… Read the Rest.

Today was a rite of passage of sorts for my traveling toddler.  It wasn’t like the days she first walked, or used the potty, or slept through the night.  Those were all bigger milestones for sure, but this was still an occasion to be marked.  She scored her first complimentary first class upgrade!  In a domestic first class cabin filled predominantly with white males over the age of 40, my… Read the Rest.