wally34949

For the second year in a row, I have made 1K with United Airlines. I had 98,500 miles back in November and my flights with Turkish Airlines from Frankfurt to Istanbul in W Class were not posting, so I flew from Orlando to Denver for $173 round trip.

I used my first two upgrades on flights from San Francisco to Hong Kong. I don't mind a long flight if I can sleep in a flat bed.

My next upgrade was from Newark to Brussels. I had to upgrade the ticket to a W Class to make this happen but it was well worth the $120 cost.

Impressed with the San Francisco to Hong Kong flight, I used two more upgrades and flew from San Francisco to Saigon (via Hong Kong)

In November I used an upgrade and flew from Newark to Frankfurt. I flew Swiss from Frankfurt to Dubai (via Zurich) and used my last upgrade from Dubai to Washington D.C.

I used my regional upgrades to fly from Miami to Anchorage, Alaska and Orlando to Portland, Oregon.

I must say 100,000 miles is a lot of flying. I'm earning double miles on my flights and I now have over 550,000 miles.

So honk, honk and a beep!

julia1

Way to go, Wally! At your level, do you have to wait for upgrades to come through or are you guaranteed the upgrade when you book your flight?

wally34949

I just applied for an upgrade for my flight in May to Munich. I immediately was upgraded on the Orlando to Washington flight and placed on the waitlist for the Washington to Munich flight.

I always get upgraded at least two weeks before the flight and usually two months before the flight. Unless a major event is going on at my destination city, the upgrade works and then coach customers are allowed to upgraded using $$ and miles.

julia1

Sounds good. Thanks for the info.

Melnq8

Gawd...you obviously like to fly more than I do Wally. Two return trips from Perth, Australia to the US, one return trip from Perth to New Zealand, and one return trip from Perth to Kuwait was MORE than enough flying for me. Fortunately, I no longer suffer from UA Stockholm Syndrome having earned lifetime Premier status last year. Premier is good enough for the likes of me.

We're in the early stages of planning a trip to Europe and/or the US for first quarter next year and I get tired just thinking about it. Just getting old I reckon.

ms_go

When I fly from Phoenix back to Chicago on Thursday, I'll requalify for 1K for next year.

My upgrade percentage is not quite as good as Wally's, apparently. I missed on the only international flights I tried to upgrade with GPUs earlier this year. My CPU domestic upgrade percentage for the year is around 50 percent. I did make use of all my RPUs by looking for upgrades that were confirmable at booking, and I used a couple of GPUs for long domestic flights (e.g., BOS-SFO-PHX) late in the year when it became apparent I wasn't going to be able to use them internationally. Better luck next year, I hope...

simpsonc510

Did just over 110,500 paid miles on UA/partners this year, so yes, I made 1K once again. This is about 5 years in a row for me now.

Along with my paid miles I also flew twice to Bangkok from ORD on first class FF tickets (I'm in mid-travel on one of these right now).

Upgrades are harder to get. I was disappointed in Oct/Nov when my "W" fare did not get me upgraded ORD-NRT and NRT-ORD, but I did get upgraded NRT-BKK and again on BKK-NRT. I got back my upgrade certs because the transpac segments did NOT clear. I was really surprised to get the certs back. Thanks, UA.

I fly more international miles than I do domestic, My CPU percentage is very low. I use RPUs on those few domestic flts that I really want to sit 'up front' and they have cleared 100%.

Carol

wally34949

I live in Florida and I usually fly out to California before flying to Asia for two reasons. I like to soak at Harbin Hot Springs for a day and I've had good luck getting the upgrade from San Francisco. Chicago seems more difficult. Is Newark difficult, too? Their using a 777 where SFO uses a 747.

simpsonc510

Chicago will not be having 747s to Asia in 2013. Only 777. SFO will get 747s. Too bad. I like upper deck. Upgrades are getting more difficult even for 1k.

Seamus

Good on you, Wally, but I have jumped over to American. (In fact, am writing this at 30,000 feet somewhere between DFW and EWR at the moment. Love the inflight WiFi!). Like Melnq8, have earned lifetime Gold with UA via the Million Miler program so will always have that status for myself and SO. With that in mind, after a series of screw ups and lousy service with the "new UA" * I decided to try American after boycotting them for nearly 25 years (not that I hold a grudge or anything) as they matched my 1K to their ExecPlat.

Planes are older but seats more comfortable, and service has been great - friendly, efficient. Flew one TATL in coach and it was as miserable as CO / UA but the food was slightly better. Looking forward to getting my 8 SWU's next month so I can try the front of the plane on Int'l routes.

*my fave snipe: "10 year old planes, 20 year old paint scheme, 30 year old computer software - the new UA!"

wally34949

Interesting article about American's program and the United program.

www.nicholaskralev.com/tag/united-1k/

Gardyloo

<i>Interesting article about American's program and the United program.

www.nicholaskralev.com/tag/united-1k/</i>

Yeah, the comps irritated a lot of EXPs at AA (although this article, and the issue, occurred much earlier this year.)

As "thanks" for the disruptions caused by the AA pilots' "work to rule" shenanigans in the summer/fall, AA mounted an end-of-year incentive promotion in which both elite-qualifying miles and elite-qualifying points were doubled from November until tomorrow. (Redeemable miles were also doubled, which means Platinum and EXP members received 3x redeemable miles as well as 2x EQM/EQP during that period.)

I hadn't planned to re-up to EXP this year, but that was too good an offer to skip, so I did a couple of two-day mileage runs this month - SEA-JFK-SJU, then overnight at the hotel in the San Juan airport, then SJU-JFK-SEA the next day, and requalified for EXP a couple of weeks ago. I figured the money I spent on the MRs was roughly the value of one or two of the 8 SWU upgrades I'll get, plus the free domestic upgrades that come with the status. The EXP phone desk alone is probably worth a few hundred bucks (at least) for the superb service they offer.

In my view, AA is going to come out of Ch.11 in pretty decent shape - ditching the Mad Dogs, new 738s and 773s, 787s on the way, and a pretty solid domestic product.

wally34949

Just an update, I finally received my miles from Turkish Airlines. It took two months and a report being filed. The flight was from Frankfurt to Istanbul.

I don't think I will be booking anymore flights in January with United. Five days before the flight, the 24 first class seats on United's 757 are 3/4 empty. The next day they are almost full. I'm guessing that people need to use their upgrade certificates because they expire at the end of January? Also, there are two years of Milage Plus users on the board. Right?

simpsonc510

Just got CPUs for both DH and myself, both TO and FROM LasVegas the last 10 days. I was surprised. They cleared at 96 hours, just like they are supposed to do!