Guest fountainhall Posted July 10, 2011 Posted July 10, 2011 This article from the BBC's website surprised me. A businessman has been rewarded by United Airlines with free upgrades and never having to queue when he flies again with United. All for having flown 10 milion miles with the same airline. I'm surprised because I reckon there must be quite a few international business travellers who have clocked up that number of miles - but perhaps not on the same airline. Michael, you must be pretty close!! Thomas Stuker, a sales consultant, reached the milestone after a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. He has boarded 5,962 United Airlines flights and flown the equivalent of 400 times around the globe. As a reward he will never have to queue at airports, always get upgraded and has even had a plane named after him. Mr Stuker reached the milestone after arriving to his native Chicago on Saturday. It took him 19 years to accumulate his first five million miles and another 10 years to double the mileage. "So we figure that we're going to be here in five years when you hit 15 million miles, because you're cutting it in half every time," Martin Hand, United's Vice-President of Customer Experience, was quoted as saying by NBC . . . Mr Stuker has now enough reward points through the airlines' frequent flyer programme to take several foreign holidays a year - assuming he can find the time. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14097038 Quote
TotallyOz Posted July 10, 2011 Posted July 10, 2011 Michael, you must be pretty close!! haha. I wish. I have done good with Delta/NWA but I am moving away from them as I always used miles to upgrade to First Class and now it is costing almost 4k to use the miles for International travel. I have told too many agents they must be joking. I am a lost puppy now and not sure what airline I'll spend money on other than Thai. However, my friend is Concierge Key with American and they pick him up in a limo at EVERY airport in the world and shuffle him to his gate, past security and checks. It is quite a nice life he has. Quote
Guest fountainhall Posted July 11, 2011 Posted July 11, 2011 I always used miles to upgrade to First Class and now it is costing almost 4k to use the miles for International travel. All the major airlines seem to have raised the bar for upgrades. Cathay Pacific has doubled the cost of upgradable economy tickets to the USA in the last 3 years. I am now giving up aiming for the top tiers of airline loyalty clubs. I already gave up CX (after 24 years). BA will last maybe one more year. The prices they charge are just so much higher than other airlines which are just as good, if not better. I take Emirates to Hong Kong, KLM to Taipei, and Qatar or Finnair to Europe. For the US, I generally purchase a round the world ticket and then pack in a lot of stop-overs to make it worthwhile. Quote
