The Results Are In: Going for Status on 3 Airlines

In April I made the potentially foolish decision to try for status on 3 airlines this year. I had an unexpected headstart with trip to Easter Island on an American Airlines partner and had to credit a west coast trip to United in order to keep my Economy Plus seats. So my possibly awesome, probably stupid idea was born:

• Use my United 1K status to do a status match challenge to Executive Platinum on American Airlines, with the Easter Island trip getting me 1/3 of the way there.
• Fly just enough to hit Silver status on United so I’d still have some access to Economy Plus seats, even if only the day of.
• Fly enough miles on US Airways that I could afford to buy up to top status for 2014 if the merger didn’t go through.

At the end of the summer, things were looking grim. I had flown to Alaska twice and qualified for Executive Platinum on American, but to keep it, I needed to fly another 70,000 miles in 6 months. Or fly 20,000 miles just to hit Platinum.

I was still short on United, although fortunately a $350 fare to Anchorage had just come up, so Jeanne and I would do a mileage run in September that would get me the rest of the way there.

And I only had 13,000 on US Airways, which would make it several thousand to buy up to Chairman. By the end of the year, I’d have actually flown 100,000 miles this year, but divided in such away across the 3 airlines that it basically got me nothing for 2014.

Then in late September, US Airways targeted me with a Triple PQM offer through the end of the year. I flew to Israel, I flew to the West Coast to wine taste and visit friends several times. And last weekend, I hit Chairman!

So here are my final standings for 2014:

• US Airways Chairman’s Preferred
• American Airline Gold (hoping reciprocal benefits kick in before I have to use this alot)
• United Airlines Silver

For next year I will probably only try to keep status on US Airways, hoping any miles flown on American before they move to Star Alliance can be combined at the end of the year. How did you do this year?

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