[opendtv] Mark Schubin quoted in NY Times on Freq Flier Miles

  • From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 23:49:18 -0500

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/travel/30prac.html

Frequent Fliers Worry: Is Elite Status Worth It?
By JOE SHARKEY
January 30, 2005

...

As a consequence, many high-level fliers are rethinking their 
commitment to attaining elite status each year. On most airlines, 
there are three elite-status levels: Platinum (for those who fly 
75,000 or on some airlines 100,000 miles a year); Gold (50,000 annual 
miles), and Silver (25,000 miles). So strong is the pull to retain 
elite-level status that some members actually take unnecessary and 
often complicated year-end trips, called mileage runs, just to rack 
up enough miles to hit the annual mark.

"Usually, I get toward the end of the year and I think, is it worth 
it?" said Mark Schubin, a television engineering consultant who has 
been a member of American Airlines' AAdvantage mileage program since 
1981, when American was the first to introduce frequent-flier 
programs. A main reason he kept going for elite status each year, 
said Mr. Schubin, was that elite-level fliers often receive free 
upgrades for their travel companions as well. The upgrades "let me 
take my wife along in first class" on vacations and other leisure 
trips, he said. That has become far more difficult to accomplish, he 
added.

...

 
 
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