Elite Status
Fly 4K Extra Miles for Lounge Access?
Debating the best way to keep my US Airways/American Airlines Lounge access next year. Fly cross country one more time or keep my Citi Executive AAdvantage Card?
I logged into my US Airways account this weekend to check my status and discovered I am about 4,000 EQMs away from hitting the 125,000 EQM mark.
But once I made Chairman at 100,000 flown miles, I didn’t really care how much farther I went. But for fun I looked at what the extra perks were.
I’ll pass on the US Airways Vacation discount, but a Free US Airways Club Membership and nominating someone for Gold Status was pretty nice. But is it worth flying an extra 4,100 miles when I have no additional trips planned for the year?
So I looked at my other options for American Airlines/US Airways lounge membership:
1. As a Chairman I could buy membership outright at $350
2. My Citi Executive Aadvantage Card offers lounge access and has an annual fee of $450
Since lounge access is the main reason I was keeping the credit card, clearly it’s time to cancel since the other two options are more cost effective.
So should I buy membership or fly the extra miles? Alot will depend on airfare prices for cross-country flights and how hectic my schedule is, but I’m leaning towards flying. If I can get a ticket for $400 or less I’ll be getting a much better deal:
- US Airways Club Membership
- Nominating someone for Gold Status
- 8200+ US Airways miles (4,100 earned + 100% Chairman bonus)
In the past I’ve had to do the math on whether to fly or buy up to US Airways status, I never thought I’d fly enough that I was analyzing the best deal for lounge membership. 🙂
What about you? What elite status decisions/calculations are you making?
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