Chris and I are very Ying and Yang. He has talked extensive about his love of United Silver status, here and here. He likes the ability to choose better seats, check a bag and possible get an upgrade. I, on the other hand, have no desire for airline status.
Why, you might ask? You’re a travel points blogger, isn’t it
a requirement for you to have status?
My answer is simple. I don’t need status. Last year, I took
a whopping 4 paid flights (one to San Diego , one
to Atlanta , and two to Hartford , CT Seattle
I fly a few thousand miles a year. I don’t travel for business, so I don’t earn “free” miles there. Therefore, to get to Silver status on any of the American-based airlines, I would have to do mileage running. Mileage running costs money (out of my limited travel budget) and time (I only get 15 days a years leave).
- First
deal posted on 1/2: a flight from
MQMs earned: 16,380 or 65% of the amount needed for Silver Status
- Second
deal posted on 12/28: a flight from
MQMs earned: 5,076 or 20% of amount needed for Silver
Status
- Third
deal posted 1/25: a flight from
MQMs earned: 4654 18.5% of the
amount needed for Silver Status
With doing these three mileage
runs or trips, one would earn 26,110 MQMs (enough for Untied Silver Status) and
cost $1,290 I bet people could put
together a combination of mileage runs that would cost less than $1,290 to get
to Silver Status, but this is an example, the average layman could do.
For me $1,320 is a little more
than 1/3 of my travel budget for the year. In
full disclosure, I have not set a budget this year, so this may or may not be
true in a month. However, it is true based upon my budgets in years past.
Should I waste 1/3 of my travel budget on Silver Status, if I am very rarely
going to use the benefits. To answer this question, let’s take a look at what
United Silver Status gets you:
- Economy Plus Upgrades (you + companion) at check-in
- Complimentary Premier Upgrades
- Instant upgrades on Y- or B-class full-fare economy tickets
- 500 award miles and PQM minimum accrual
- Premier bonus award miles on United, Copa and select partner carriers
- Priority check-in, baggage handling, security screening, boarding privileges
- Special 1800 Phone Number
- 1 checked bag free
- Better access to award travel
- Reduced fees for changing, canceling, modifying award travel
The benefits are ZZZZZZZZZZZZ or
boring. Personally, I would use very few of them:
- Economy Plus Upgrades (you + companion) at check-in
- I am weird. My favorite seat is the last row and seat by the window. I don’t know where my seat choice comes from. Therefore, upgrade to economy plus is nice (extra leg room, closer to the door etc.), but I doubt that I would use it.
- Complimentary Premier Upgrades
- As a lonely silver, the ability for me to snag an upgrade is slim. Its always nice to have the opportunity to get an upgrade, but I don’t hold my hopes on opportunity.
- Instant upgrades on Y- or B-class full-fare economy tickets
- I doubt I would ever purchase a Y or B class fare. I would need to be desperate to purchase this type of fare.
- 500 award miles and PQM minimum accrual
- This is one benefit that I want/need. I take lots of short haul flights less than 500 miles. Therefore, this benefit would be nice
- Premier bonus award miles on United, Copa and select partner carriers
- I very rarely fly on paid tickets – so this does not appeal to me.
- Priority check-in, baggage handling, security screening, boarding privileges
- Priority Check-In – I can wait in line. I am very rarely in a rush.
- Baggage handling – who checks bags now a days?
- Security Screening – I get this with my Global Entry
- Boarding Privileges - The United Chase Credit Card allows me to board after premiere members.
- Special 1800 Phone Number
- I have no answer here -
- 1 checked bag free
- United Chase Card gets me one bag as well
- Better access to award travel
- I have never had trouble finding award tickets on United/US Airways. However, I have never had status, so I could be missing out on better award travel
- Reduced fees for changing, canceling, modifying award travel
- When you see how much a Silver saves, it isn’t much. But my Grandmother would say any dollar saved is important.
My verdict is still no. If I
decide to pay the $95 yearly fee for the United card (which I most likely won’t), I get many benefits offered above. Low
level airline status is not worth it to me. The benefits I would get from
status does not justify the amount of money I would need to spend, mostly on
mileage runs.
Going after airline status is a
person choice, but at the moment, going after it does not support my goals. My goals is to see the world for free. How does spending my travel budget to complete mileage runs to get status accomplish this? For me it doesn't. Travelers with families or people who travel for business, status can make travel a little easier.
Infrequent travelers, like me, won't benefit from low-level airline status. We want status, because it is something outside of our reach. Human nature is always to be jealous when others have something we don't. Jealousy can make people do strange things like mileage runs or overspending on credit cards for additional MQMs. However, you need to restrain your jealousy. Many of the benefits, outlined above, can be obtained by getting an airline credit card or advanced planning.
For some people, status can be a valuable part of the game. But, you can still do pretty well in this hobby without it, as well.
Infrequent travelers, like me, won't benefit from low-level airline status. We want status, because it is something outside of our reach. Human nature is always to be jealous when others have something we don't. Jealousy can make people do strange things like mileage runs or overspending on credit cards for additional MQMs. However, you need to restrain your jealousy. Many of the benefits, outlined above, can be obtained by getting an airline credit card or advanced planning.
For some people, status can be a valuable part of the game. But, you can still do pretty well in this hobby without it, as well.
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