I went to Mumbai this past weekend - really for three-and-a-half days, landing on a Thursday evening, leaving at Midnight Sunday Night/Monday Morning. I had a few pieces of business to take care of, but in reality, I took the trip because I got a rock-bottom fare for that flight ($750), and could load up on PQMs to ensure I re-qualify for at least Platinum. I'm not the first perrson to take a flight just for the purpose of mileage qualification, but I did have abrief moment of personal reflection when I realized I was that person.
Three years ago, I wrote a piece about how I was a weird guy who had one of his biggest goals in life being getting his Gold status back on United.
Three years later, I've graduated to a larger first world problem of being annoyed that I'll lose my United 1K status (the highest level you can earn yourself - the higher level 'Global Services' is invite only for those who have made 1K a few times running), going back to just United Platinum. I'll also miss getting Ambassador status on Marriott (needing both 100 nights and $20k spend - I crossed the 100 nights but not the money). These are stupid things to complain about, but I've learned the hard way the last 24 months of how much it hurts the closer you get to the summit of these traveler benchmarks.
I was able to climb my way up to 1K last year from a combination of going on a bunch of expensive, but short flights to Toronto in the beginning of the year, and loading up big time on weekly Neawrk-San Francisco flights towards the end, with a few international trips mixed in. It was great. I knew it would be hard to match with my San Francisco project ending, and the fact that I'm going to somehow scrape to Platinum this year is a testament to a few long weekend trips, and a handful of work trips. Anyway, what gets me ticked is I travel a lot. I've spent a day in a hotel all but flike five weeks this year (less if you include AirBNBs). But I'm still not at the top.
There's even more petty things I dislike about my current standing, is that United made a bunch of changes to make my platinum status less meaningful for 2019, like just starting to have 1K pre-board, and having Gold board in Group 1. I take it as a personal affront, a move to set the have-all from the have that much further apart.
I know how crazy this all sounds, but in our world of consulting, status, as in airline / hotel status, matters, and it does a lot. That's why we'll take a 1-stop instead of a non-stop if the price is OK. That's why we'll stay further away to stay brand loyal. That's why we took a fine-toothed comb to every nugget of information on how the SPG/Marriott merger would go down. We cared about each change to how PQMs and PQDs are calculated, things that most people wouldn't give two whims about.
But what really annoyed me was I was stuck on a local project, with no flights and no hotels for over a year, and I finally escaped that hell in 2017, being able to myself up to where I always wanted to be, and then it was, partially taken away (a project close enough to not fly, and just get hotel points) and then United went and made it tougher to re-gain it next year. I got a taste of the high-life, being able to be upgraded quite a bit, being able to pre-board even these last two months, and it is all going away.
Going back to the fact that I went to United to pick up PQMs (and nearly considered paying full fare for Business Class - ~$3.5k - to get closer to 1K), I do wonder if I have takent it too far. I realize how much of an obsession this is in the industry I have chosen, and more so for someone who loves traveling anyway.
Where this obsession maybe is most clear is the fact of how little I've redeemed of the miles I've earned, both from flying and staying in hotels, and getting so many credit cards that I was declined for Chase's incredible Sapphire Reserve card two years ago. Aside from United & Marriott, which I naturally have the most points as I use those brands, I have 100k Delta Points, 250k AA points, between 70-85k points on Lufthansa, Korean Air and Singapore, and then 100k-150k on Hilton and IHG, with 72k on Hyatt. This is enough for many a vacation. I don';t want to use any of them. Seeiung those numbers rise put a distinct value on the fact that I've given my life away, or at least a sizable portion each week, to taking a flight and sleeping on a foreign bed in a suburb of some city.
At the end of the day, as we approach the end of an accrual year, the cycle will start again come January 1st, the hope to be put on a few projects that have me fly far enough to pile up PQMs, or have affordable 1-stop options to pile up PQSs, even if that runs the risk of countless delays and missed connections. We give a lot for that status, for that right to board a plane that isn't going anywhere until all the plebes board anyway, for getting that little 'thank you for being a platinum premier mumber' greeting when you check in at a suburban Courtyard Inn. In the end, while you can put a tangible value on the upgrades and the points, it is these little these, these brief moments that make it all somewhat worth it.
