Going the Extra (100K) Mile(s) for Elite Status on United

Or, Why I Flew to Singapore for the Weekend

If you’ve never been an “elite” on a major airline it will be hard for you to understand why someone would subject themselves to 36 hours in an airplane (not including travel to and from the airports, plus layovers) to go to Singapore and back. For most folks it is probably unthinkable to want to fly 100K miles in a year and do everything they can to avoid air travel. In fact, some people despise travel so much (and flying specifically) that they avoid it at all costs. I am not one of those people.

I enjoy the journey almost as much as the destination. Where else can you totally get away from the immediate problems of every day life? Your boss isn’t bugging you, your spouse or significant other isn’t asking you about dinner or weekend plans and you can sit back (if you picked the right seat), relax (if you’ve brought your own entertainment), and enjoy some relative peace and quite (if you’ve brought some noise cancelling headphones) and have some quality me-time. What’s not to love about that? I get more pleasure reading done while flying than any other time.

But, that’s not what this post is about. This post is about why one would go to such extreme lengths just to achieve the top (non-subjective) tier of an airline’s mileage program. I can’t speak to the other airlines’ programs because I put all of my mileage “eggs” in one basket – with United. United offers three real tiers, Premier, Premier Executive, and Premier Executive 100K which require 25K, 50K, and 100K miles flown in a year respectively, to achieve. Until you’ve made it to Premier Executive 100K (1K for short), you won’t know what you are missing. The Perks, that is what you are missing.

Have you ever had a flight cancel due to weather? Ever wish you could take an earlier flight home? Wouldn’t it be great to ride in first class? Hate paying baggage fees, change fees, stand-by fees, award ticket booking fees, et cetera? As a 1K United has something special for you in all of those cases. Sure, the perks are nice, especially all of the upgrade certificates given out. But, for the business traveler, it is what United does for 1K’s when things don’t go as planned, that makes it worth it.

Stand-by and Confirmed Stand-by
When I get out of a meeting early or one cancels and I want to take an earlier flight home, I can switch to an earlier flight, for free! This is different from standing-by for an earlier flight, which I can also do, but I get bumped to the front of the list. So, chances are, I’ll get home hours earlier.

The Red Carpet Lane
There are a couple of places this comes into play. The first is when you check-in at the airport. If the airport is big enough, they will have a dedicated 1K check in; if not you can check in with First Class. When you get to the security screening area, again there is usually a priority line that gets you through the rubber stamp that is the TSA in minutes. Finally, at the gate there is a red carpet lane that allows 1K members to board with the first class passengers and is open during the entire boarding process. What this means is that from the time you get to the airport all the way to the gate, you get to avoid most lines and always have a place for your carry-on luggage. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to the airport the 90 minutes ahead of time recommended by the airlines because I know I can go from my car door to my seat on the plane in less than 30 minutes.

When Things Go Wrong
If you’ve ever taken more than just a couple of trips you’ve probably experienced a delay or worse, a cancellation due to mechanical issues, labor issues, or the weather. These things happen. The airline system is very complex involving hundreds of planes connecting to hundreds of cities with flight crews with different labor rules all of which can get messed up for any number of reasons. Delays happen. However, when the real nasty delays happen or if flights are cancelled, this is when being a 1K really helps. Let me give you a recent example:

I was in Salt Lake City on a Friday with a 4:40pm flight. The weather in Denver was really bad due to snow and flights were getting delayed and cancelled all over the place. I started getting text messages from United letting me know my flight was delayed over the course of the afternoon and ultimately got a few messages letting me know my flight had been cancelled and I had automatically been rebooked on the next available flight, the following morning. Within 15 minutes of that last text message I received a phone call from a United employee at the SLC airport letting me know she could put me on a Frontier flight at 5:15. All I had to do was show up at the airport, walk to the United check in counter and get my new boarding pass (with aisle seat assigned)!

If United hadn’t done that for me, they would have put me up in a hotel for the night, at their expense, even though it was weather related.

Another example:

I was recently flying to San Francisco and after takeoff the plane experienced a mechanical issue. We ended up circling for about 45 minutes before finally landing so the ground crew could look into the problem. I had a really tight meeting (meaning I didn’t have much time upon landing to get to the customer) in SF and could not afford to be late. Upon landing back in Denver, I went to United’s mobile site on my cell phone, looked up the next available flight to San Francisco, then called the dedicated 1K phone line and requested to be put on that flight. I was confirmed on that later flight by the time we hit the gate. I walked to the new gate, picked up my boarding pass and boarded the new flight and made it into San Francisco in time for the meeting. If I had stayed on the original flight I would have missed the meeting.

Dedicated Phone Line
That phone call I mentioned in the above paragraph is always routed to call centers in the US first. This means that the employee has probably been with the airline for a while and knows how to deal with complicated issues. I also don’t usually have a hold-time of more than a few minutes and the employees who work these call centers actually seem happy to help.

Hotel for Any Reason
That’s right. If I miss a flight due to mechanical issues or even weather issues, United will put me up in a hotel at their expense.

Proactively Rebook
As show above in the Salt Lake City example, they will search for the next available flight with seats on any airline to try and get me to my final destination. I might be a miles-whore, but making a meeting on time is more important and United will go out of their way (at their expense) to get me there.

Getting Treated Like a Human Being
From the reservations agent, the ticketing agent, gate agent, to customer service, they employees treat 1Ks better than the rest of the population. I know, that is a terrible business model and alienates the 99.5% of the flying population, but that is why I choose to keep this status.

Upgrades
Ok, I know I glossed over this above, but this really is a great perk. 1Ks get more upgrades (confirmed “Regional” and “System-Wide” upgrades) that allows me to sit in First Class (domestically) or Business Class (Internationally) when there are seats available. And there is almost always a seat available. Flying coach sucks, so being able to upgrade is a great perk and the fact that my upgrade will “clear” before everyone else’s means that I will get a seat up front more than the rest of the Premiers and Premier Executives. You might be thinking, “hey, coach isn’t so bad.” And you are right; it isn’t if you only fly a couple of times a year. But if you are flying every week, or internationally, coach is for masochists.

In Conclusion…
And that is why I flew to Singapore for the weekend back in April. Keep in mind that I flew to Singapore in Business Class (because I used one of those upgrade certificates) and enjoyed 35 hours to myself to read, watch movies, enjoy the decent airline food, drink, sleep all while ensuring that I can keep up the status through next year. Crazy? Probably. But once you’ve hit 1K, there’s no going back!

If you are interested in learning more about my trip to Singapore, here is the link to my website.