[LatinoHeat]

(12-08-2017 11:27 PM)jabba Wrote:  

I'm reviewing my business expenses for the year, and the flights were the biggest line item. I need to (A) better manage my spending and (B) maximize my PQM / status.

I would appreciate opinions from fellow travelers.

First of all I don't know what percentage of your expenses are on credit cards but if you're flying a lot you should put as much expense on amex, chase, citi or starwood cards and redeem those points for flights so you can get 4-10% return on your spend and save money from plane tickets. If you are doing cash back you are getting 1.5-2%, but by properly redeeming tickets you can get 4-10% return, and fly business on points much cheaper without having to worry about upgrades, and lounge access an all this nonsense, its just included in your ticket.

Secondly, Generally speaking status is bullshit unless you are on the very top tier. Your chance of getting an upgrade is always pretty slim, even at "platinum" level. You're also stuck with that airline (and alliance).And the "alliance" benefits are also pretty sad, maybe priority checkin if you are above gold level and seat selection whopdee doo. Maybe lounge access which you probably got from some credit cards anyways....

Reminds me of some of these travel threads of some shmo doing an airline run flying back and forth between ukraine and greece 5 times so they could get star alliance gold the next year. Its like bro was that 4 days of your time and $800 worth it so you can get some lounge access for the next 13 months and priority checkin on star alliance????

You say you don't want business class but you want to do credit card opens that focus on "qualification" miles vs redeemable one and do mileage runs for status in the "hope" of getting upgraded or getting the lounge access and free bags that come with biz class anyways, so why not just save up your points?

I think generally when it comes to status if you happen to fly the same airline every week for work etc, sure enjoy the points and status. But trying to do it on your own by opening credit cards with fewer redeemable points and more qualification miles and then trying to top it off through mileageruns is an extra is a waste of time. If you have to work extra hard to get status with a particular airline, chances are you don't fly said airline enough for it to be worth it.

If you add up the perks you may have used from the status (2 or 3 times you access lounge, 1 or 2 times you got free bags, maybe 1 biz class upgrade if your lucky), its pretty abysmal.

The status game is not the best for entrepenuers, leave it for the corporate shmos. You want to be maximizing your points and using as much points as possible to reduce your spend and enjoy more biz class too (if thats important to you)

If you want to maximize ROI my advice would be fuck trying to get status, always go for the cheapest ticket as long as you like the airline for shorter flights, and put as much of your spend on transferrable points and redeem them for flights as much as possible, esp biz class and longer cross ocean/country flights.