Not Going To Buenos Aires Again

On a late night in November, The Flight Deal post an amazing deal from Mexico City to Buenos Aires. The total cost of this trip less than $160.

The trip would net about 10,000 miles. However, what I was most excited about was that one segment was on AeroMexico's Dreamliner.

Image from Boeing

One of my goals is to fly on every airline's 787. I know kinda geeky. This was the main reason why I booked this trip.

Earlier this month, I wrote about how I am having trouble with my name on tickets. One of the two tickets with problems is this one.

I first noticed a problem with the tickets, when I was trying to pick seats on LAN. A quick call to Orbitz, who I booked the ticket with, that LAN's computer cancelled the tickets. However, LAN would only reissue the tickets if I had a passport with the name JD Teitelman, the name on the ticket. The problem is that my passport says J David Teitelman. After 3 weeks back and forth, Orbitz told me I would not have a ticket, but they would offer me a $150 travel voucher for future use.

Overall, I am very satisfied with how Orbitz tried to help me out. They did almost everything possible to make it happen.

Am I disappointed about not going on this trip. Not really. I love the idea about going on the trip, but I was dreading doing the trip. Flying for 20+ hours on four flights sounds daunting.

Like last year, I have a feeling my boss is going to Ground me like a 787 again for the Spring market. The excitement in the real estate market is growing and I have a feeling that we are going to be busy. That means not weekend jaunts to far off places.

Therefore, Buenos Aires, I ain't going to see in 2014!

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  Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for me? E-mail me at jdteitelman@gmail.com

Another News Article About Our Hobby - "The Short Path to First Class"

Another day, another article in a major newspaper about how to obtain the top tier of airline status for cheaper than you think. The article, "The Short Path to First Class" in today's Wall Street Journal covers two flyers who have 1K on United and details how they will take a few trips to Asia or the South Pacific for 8,000-10,000 to maintain their elite status.

I've always wondered how people feel about these articles. They accomplish the idea that many blogs have...which is to show people that it's a lot easier to travel well for much cheaper than you think. But articles like this also expose the hobby to the masses who might decide to join in and shrink the deal windows for everyone else. Now, I've only been at this for a year to a year and a half, so I KNOW I don't have much ground to stand on...but for the long-timers who have been doing this forever...how do you feel about articles like this?

The one kinda cool thing about this article is the awesome chart they have that the bottom of the article that they compare the top elite status levels on UA, DL, AA and US.

United Silver...What I didn't think was possible. Plus maximizing a mileage run and hotel promotions

Back when we started this blog I was just easing into the idea of trying for elite status on some airline next year, throwing this year out of the question because of time and work. But then I added a bit of work travel I was not expecting and an extra trip to the west coast and realized that I was only about 5,000 miles away from United Silver.

I know that some of the benefits can be obtained with the United Mileage Plus card, which I already have, but I was interested in some of the other possible benefits, including the possibility of upgrades (of course) though that is slim, priority screening and best of all the possibility of Economy Plus. 

My parents live in Seattle so at least a couple of times a year I make the trip from Seattle to DC and I always pay for Economy Plus to give me a little extra room on the ride over. If I could avoid paying those fees a couple of times a year it would really save me some money. 

So...for the past few weeks I have been looking for mileage runs to try to cross 25,000 miles on the year when The Flight Deal, which you have to follow on a regular basis for all things mileage run, posted a deal for BWI to LAX for $191 all in. I quickly booked two tickets for Kelsey and myself and now I when all of my travel is done I will be 500 miles short of 25,000 and will need one short run to help push me over. 

The best part is that while in LA Kelsey and I have each booked one night at the Radisson in Anaheim near Disney Land so that we can take advantage of the Radisson Stay One Get One promotion. We can use those earned free nights to book a night in December in New York City before we go to Europe and save another free night for another trip where a cheap hotel (read: free hotel) room is needed. 

The best way to get to your travel goals is to look at where you stand...what you want to do...and the best way to get there in as few steps as possible and for as little money as possible. :) 

Time to start planning for next year?

Since this fall will mark my first official year as a miles and points collector I have not been able to make a real play at gaining status with one airline. But, I have been kicking around the idea of trying for status as soon as 2013 rolls around.

That got me thinking...when should you start planning for the next year? I did a little bit of research on ITA and found some great fares in the Jan-Feb time frame out of the WAS area so I am debating on pulling the trigger and starting the new year planning early.

What do y'all think? When do you start planning? Am I already behind?