Low Level Airline Status: More Than It's Cracked Up To Be

At last weeks Frequent Traveler University in McLean, VA the butt of most jokes was our poor Delta flying friends who try to redeem their miles and find out that you can only get a trip from Chicago to New York for 335,000 skypesos in coach. But the second butt of most jokes was low level airline status.

Most of the presentations on airline status seemed to insinuate that most airline status isn't worth it until you get to the top levels, your 1K or Executive Platinum, and that's when the real benefits kick in. While that may be true for the ultimate business traveler or the supremely hardcore flyer, for me I don't actually think that low level status is that bad for the average miles/points enthusiast who doesn't travel for work.

This is the first year that I have had any kind of status and I squeaked into United's Premier Silver  level of status for flying just over 25,000 miles in 2012.  When I qualified I was actually really excited to have my first level of status and to check out the benefits.

This year I have flown just about 25,000 miles in the first four months of the year so I have had a few trips to experience what the lowest level of status can get you and have been pleasantly surprised!

Many of the benefits of the lowest level of status on United can, of course, be obtained with their MileagePlus Explorer Card (link directly from Chase; we do not have affiliate links). Those include the free checked bags and Priority Boarding. But I can count the times that I have actually checked a bag on one hand so this benefit doesn't really matter that much to me. The Priority Boarding is nice with everyone bringing their "carry on" sized bag onto the plane, but the added benefits that come with status can add value beyond the credit card.

One of the main benefits that most people hope to enjoy when you have status with an airline is the chance to get upgraded to first class. I've actually had decent luck as a Premier Silver. Most people told me that I would be lucky to get one upgrade as a Silver. So far this year I am 5/16 in upgrades and have been number one or two on the waitlist for about seven of the remaining flights. On our mileage run to San Francisco yesterday (which JD wrote about from the perspective of his first ever mileage run) I went 2/3 on the upgrade front, including a flight from Chicago to San Francisco. On our flight back from San Francisco to Baltimore I was number one on the list, but ended up as number two because they accidentally oversold first class.

But I think the biggest benefit of Premier Silver status is the access to Economy Plus at check in and the ability to add a companion into Economy Plus with you. I have never had trouble getting an Economy Plus seat at check in and always get the seat that I want. I've never had to choose between sitting in the middle in Economy Plus or sitting in an aisle at the back of the plane. That could change if my travel habits were to ever change...but for now it's not a problem. If we take yesterday's set of flights as a starting point (Baltimore - Chicago - San Francisco - Baltimore) access to Economy Plus saved me around $150 if I would have paid for every leg, including the hefty $87 charge for the SFO-BWI flight. That level of savings really adds up over time.

I personally think that most of the value of having a low level of status comes if you are a casual traveler who travels mostly on the weekend. The loads on aircraft are much much lower on the weekends and so your competition against the road warriors during the week is significantly reduced and your chances of an upgrade are much better.

If you are a casual traveler, like me, that is willing to go on "mini mileage runs" or "weekend trips" along with your regular travel and don't mind missing out on an upgrade more often than not there is real value in low level status. In fact, I would argue that it makes those times when you ARE upgraded even sweeter because you aren't expecting it!

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Why I am Not Going for Airline Status?

With yesturday's annoucment of the merger between American and US Airways, many people have been concerned about their status with the two airlines. What pieces of American will stay? What will be left from US Airways? Yesturday was filled with articles/posts with people's guesstimation. I personally could care less . . .

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).  The rest of my travel, last year,  was paid for by points overseas except for my trip to Seattle, to visit Mom, here. I don’t travel enough on planes to justify status.

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).

 Let’s say I really wanted to get Silver status and I decide to do a mileage run, a great place to look is on various forums on Flyertalk or Milepoint, you will need to do some work, but there are gems to be found. However, let’s say you are lazy (like me this month) and want to do limited work, I would highly recommend following The Flight Deal Blog. He posts daily amazing deals that can earn you many MQMs (miles that count toward status) for a low costs. Let’s take a few deals to put together mileage runs for silver Status:

• First deal posted on 1/2: a flight from Washington, DC (IAD) to Narobi, Kenya

          Cost: $902

          MQMs earned:  16,380 or 65% of the amount needed for Silver Status

• Second deal posted on 12/28: a flight from Baltimore (BWI) to San Diego

          Cost: $209

    MQMs earned:   5,076 or 20% of amount needed for Silver Status

• Third deal posted 1/25: a flight from Washington, DC (IAD) to Portland

          Cost: $179

    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.