May 27th, 2009
On The Road: Here, There, And Everywhere Edition…
This is the trip that never ends…My return flight home out of LGA this evening is now 5 hours delayed and counting…
Stickied until 06/09, scroll down for new posts:
Let’s see…I’m driving to Pittsburgh today (05/27) where I’ll spend the Shavuos holiday among relatives. From there I’ll fly to Los Angeles via Houston on Sunday (05/31) for a cousin’s wedding. I fly back to Pittsburgh via Cleveland on Wednesday night (06/03) before driving home to Cleveland sometime on Thursday (06/04) and then flying from Akron to NYC for my brother-in-law’s engagement party the following Sunday (06/07), before returning home Tuesday night (06/09).
At least there are double elite qualifying miles through 06/15!
Yes, updates may be sporadic at times over the next 2 weeks…Should I write trip reports like I did for Las Vegas and Detroit? (Yes, I know many of you requested a Hawaii trip report…it’ll come one of these days!)
May 27th, 2009 at 2:07 am
We’d love to read your trip report.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:41 am
flying back to Pittsburgh via Cleveland and driving back to Cleveland…. guess the car can’t drive itself back.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:59 am
why the stop overs??
May 27th, 2009 at 10:38 am
@Chaim:
I was considering the upgrade to that model, but it was just too cost prohibitive
@josh:
More miles/segments
May 27th, 2009 at 11:58 am
have a safe trip and a wonderful time.
May 27th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
which airline? wed love to hear details
May 27th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
im lil new to this but DAN …you get more miles for stop overs???
May 27th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
We come to this site for deals. Please leave personal stories out of it. You’re a great guy but the reality is that people only love your deals. No one really cares how ypur trips are. Thanks for posting great deals though.
May 27th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
@steve: Steve! I dont know if you have read the personal stories/trip reports that Dan writes, but each one involves many deals!!
You seem the type that if Dan would’nt post any deals for a few days you would also say “We come to this site for deals”
so with this post you know that updates are going to be sporadic due to traveling!
May 27th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
@steve:
What an insensitive comment.
Please keep your opinions to yourself, especially when many of this site’s visitors will disagree with you.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Just out of curiosity, what airline(s) will you be flying ?
May 28th, 2009 at 1:01 am
@effymz: I’ll take a guess
Continental
May 28th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
@steve: Are you stupid or confused? – dan’s roundups are the best!!! – if you don’t like it, too bad!
May 28th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Dan asked for our oponion if we wanted to hear about his trips and I gave my honest oponion. What’s wrong with that?
May 28th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Steve,
the problem is that you did not just give “your” opinion about whether you would like to hear about the trips. You said that “nobody” cares about the trips. You should have said “I don’t care about the trips.” Other than that there is nothing wrong with stating your opinion.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Steve noone cares about your obnoxious opinion or tone either, keep em to yourself, will ya?
May 28th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Which brother-in-law of yours got engaged?
May 28th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
i understand where steve is coming from. some people just come to this site for the deals and some like to hear of dans trip experiences. he just gave his opinion, i personaly disagree with him and enjoy reading about dans trip but steve has the right to give his opinion about it. As steve said, Dan himself asked for readers opinions if they want him to write about the trip. i dont know why everyone was jumping on steve. i personaly would love to hear about dans trip and thats my opinion and steve is also entitled to his own.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
@David:
Dov from Israel
May 28th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
@tachlis:
You get miles based on the distance of each flight, so having stopovers can add a lot of miles. Plus short flights like the 100 mile CLE-PIT flights earn a minimum of 500 miles+500 bonus elite miles.
Also last year on Continental I requalified for elite status based on segments, not elite miles. I only had 19,000 elite miles, but I had 32 flight segments so I got elite status based on that. I had one flight last year that had 12 segments because of stopovers!
@effymz:
Continental: PIT-IAH-LAX-CLE-PIT.
Airtran: CAK-LGA-CAK.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Dan correct me if Im wrong:
If you are silver as indicated in your comment and even if you have the Chase Presidential Plus card (which Im sure you do) the mileage bonus is %25 + %25 for the credit card for a total %50 bonus which for the CLE-PIT flight would mean only 250 bonus elite miles
May 28th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
@David:
For the last flight segment I took here is what I got.
MCI-CLE:
Base redeemable miles: 695
Elite bonus redeemable miles: 173
Presidential Plus 25% Elite Bonus redeemable miles: 173
Elite qualification miles: 695
Elite status twice as fast: 695
Total RDM = 1,043
Total EQM = 1,390
May 30th, 2009 at 1:18 am
If u don’t mind, I’d like u to clear up something for me via “tachlis’s” question. When u have a layover, does that time in between count as earning miles/is it the connecting flight which takes u out of ur way that earns u more miles(of which I presume it is)? Pls keep n mind that I ask dumb ?’s b/c I’m a newbie at this. Thanx!
May 30th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I see you cleared for first on your PIT-IAH-LAX flights tomorrow. Where will Mimi be sitting? Are you expecting a companion silver upgrade for her?
May 30th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
@Dan
How’d they calculate that? I’m lost
May 30th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
@mommafrica:
It’s that the flight goes out of the way.
e.g.
Cleveland to Seattle nonstop round-trip nets 4,000 base miles, but via Houston will net 6,000 base miles.
With elite bonus miles the difference will be even greater.
@Moshe:
Hmmm…the amount of public info can be slightly disconcerting at times.
We’ll see what kind of upgrade I can finagle.
@David:
Which part?
May 31st, 2009 at 12:47 am
why arent u flying on miles?
May 31st, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Does this mean that if a non-stop costs $100 & an out-of-the-way flight costs $25 more,then u would prefer paying the extra $25? I’m also assuming that the amt of time concerning the lay-over w/ paying the extra $25 has a major role w/ this as well.
May 31st, 2009 at 3:27 pm
@Moshe:
Stalkerish…
May 31st, 2009 at 9:18 pm
please stick to the deals.
thanks
June 1st, 2009 at 12:14 am
i dont get it. if u ppl dont like wat dans writes just ignore it.and only read the deals… its that simple!!!
June 1st, 2009 at 10:44 pm
@steve
lots of ppl using this site know dan pesonaly
@dan
u turned me into a miles junkie
but i would never take a layover if it meant less than 3000 miles, i mean how desperate can u be for miles, doesnt ur comfort/time ( and ur wifes for that matter) mean more to you than some lousy miles, especially when u have more than a million
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:34 am
Dan – I personally love your trip reports and can’t wait to get a detailed report on your Hawaii trip. For the few of you who do not like it just skip it and go to the next deal!!!! I have taken many amazing trips using points and I can only learn from someone else’s experiences.
PS: Dan, Sorry about Lebron and the Caveliers!!! Maybe next year!!
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm
@mommafrica:
In general nonstops on major airlines are much more money than connecting flights, not vice versa. connecting flight add miles and save money.
@anno:
Obviously I don’t need the RDM’s (redeemable miles), I have accumulated over 5 Million RDM’s since I became I mileage addict some 5 years ago.
What I do need are the EQM’s (elite miles) that get you elite status. By going with a stopover and with the double EQM’s promo I’ll add over 2,000 EQM’s by taking a stopover.
In addition it’s often easier to get upgraded on a stopover than on a nonstop. (EWR-LAX=small chance. LGA-IAH-LAX=greater chance, LGA-IAH-ONT=excellent chance) Like the sleuth commenter noticed above, I was upgraded on my entire PIT-IAH-LAX flight 24 hours before the flight.
Trust me, as far as the comfort of the nonstop goes, its more comfortable flying in First!
Plus the other elite bennies (expanded mileage ticket availability, free luggage, bonus miles, priority lines, elite phone reps, etc.) make the chase for EQM’s well worth it.
@Jeff:
Thanks for the feedback!
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:41 pm
wow 5,000,000 !!! but still confused— if you DAN got so many miles why don’t you fly on miles and save money??
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:43 pm
@ Tachlis: Traditionaly Mileage Junkies will resist using their miles for a few reasons:
1. You cant earn RDMs or EQMs or get free elite upgrades on a trip you redeemed with miles.
2.There’s always the argument of wanting to get the most bang for the mile so traditionally you avoid redeeming them
3.unless your going long-haul in a premium cabin
Someone else might be forking over the money for the trip anyways.
4. And above all: The less miles you use, the more you have!
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:58 pm
ok . attention mile junkies please donate miles to me if your not using them anyway!
June 4th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Hey Dan sorry to see you didnt make the upgrade tonight. Silver out of LAX….Whadya expect?!?
Better luck next time!
June 4th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Guys, flying only within the US must be annoying trying to earn miles and status. Im a 1K member with United as If you fly to australia you get 20k EQM and 40k RM, so 5 trips a year would make you 1k and now they have promotions on certain fares earning double or tiple EQM which means in 2 or 3 trips you can earn 1K, which I have done, and they give you 6 INTL upgrades a year and plenty of domestic ones. Espcially now with $400 fares to OZ might be worth it.
Dan, if Im a 1K with United, do you know which other airlines do a STATUS MATCH, i know some do, just not sure which. If anyeone has ne United questions feel free.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:38 am
I thank u very much for ur responses & pls continue to talk about ur trips b/c I, like some other, not only enjoy them but most importantly learn from them.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
@Eli F:
You can status match easy to CO, BD, AS, NW and DL. However, there is almost no chance you will get PL with them (sim. to 1K), only Gold (like 1p) on UA. However 1k on UA is better anyway then most other top tiers.
June 6th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
how many places do you fly a year? and what do you do for the holy sabbath?
ps. i want to thank you dan for the wonderful site.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:38 am
How do airlines make $ when it is cheaper to buy new tkts than to change existing reservation./…
when they cant sell those initial seats b/c they think you will be on flight????
ps you dont need to put on site if you have time can you answer me… it is related to spirit air
June 9th, 2009 at 11:29 am
@Eli F:
Continental will match you to Platinum, but just bear in mind that a status match is a once per lifetime exception.
Northwest may be a good airline to get matched on as the lifetime of that airline on its own is near the end…and it probably wont hamper your ability to match to Delta in the future.