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Comment by devereaux | Hacker News Reader

Here is an alternative algorithm: fly with whichever airline is the cheapest, having a frequent flyer account on each airline. Accumulate miles separately.

It won't get you a elite status, just a status slightly better than the normal flyer -- and free tickets too.

It will prevent you from reaching the extremes of this mile madness, like spending money just to maintain your status.

Bonus: when airlines merge, you get a really nice status. It may not be that interesting now with so little airlines in competition, but around year 2000 that was something regular

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If you are a frequent flier, you want elite status (at least equivalent to Gold), because the perks (especially priority access, Lounge, preferred seats etc) actually make travel better and more convenient. So not putting all eggs in one basket then simply does not do the job.

I'd argue that most of those who reach the extremes of mile madness actually love it, even if they sometimes might seem to be irrationally stressed due to pressure to maintain their status.

It's a hobby, and one that can get you to unexpected places of the world - even if the initial motivation might have been to chase some miles.

>the perks (especially priority access, Lounge, preferred seats etc) actually make travel better and more convenient. So not putting all eggs in one basket then simply does not do the job.

For $1067, you can get a year of TSA Precheck, Economy Plus and United Club lounge access, which is about how much you might save by comparison shopping on just half a dozen flights. And if you are a "frequent flier" you are probably flying more than that.

Even better, just get an American Express Platinum Card. It'll give you Global Entry (with Precheck), Priority Pass membership, and $200 in airline credit.

I'm actually about to let my Amex Platinum Card lapse. It's no longer worth the $450/year fee, despite free Global Entry ever five years.

Their points are becoming worthless (Chase has done well in this regard, partnering with United and Southwest), travel booked directly with Amex is usually simple more expensive than other travel aggregators, Costco is dropping taking Amex, etc.

I signed up for a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and its far superior. Its rental car insurance is first tier/full coverage; I have no need to file a claim with my own insurance ever if I use the card. The rewards are much better, and the yearly fee is only $100.

Depending upon your requirements, some of the other Chase cards are pretty useful as well. Currently you can use their United Club card to get a qualifying dollar waiver on status levels. It's otherwise not as good as the Sapphire but, if you fly a lot of domestic economy on relatively inexpensive routes, the waiver can be good to have.

I put most of my spend on my Chase card as well (they have some great transfer partners, especially for international award flights).

However, for me the $450 fee is easily worth it. The airline fee credit drops it down to $250. And $250 for lounge access + precheck + Boingo + SPG/HHonors Gold is worth it to me. Without those benefits, I'd be tempted to pursue loyalty to an airline and I save well over $250 a year by price shopping.

> And $250 for lounge access + precheck + Boingo + SPG/HHonors Gold is worth it to me.

I guess that's the crux. Its becoming a very niche card. You have to fit a very specific profile for the fee to be worth it.

I'm going to get a Citi Prestige as my next card, which to me works better than Amex Plat - 4th night free on paid hotel stays, Admirals Club access, Priority Pass Select for primary & authorized users (with access to 2 guests free vs. none on Amex Plat), Global Entry and 250$ in flight credit that can be redeemed for airfare vs. incidental charges with Amex. Not to mention, it's easy to get an in-branch offer of $350 a year plus the fact that there's no bonus for everyday spending on Amex Plats.

You can also just pay the $100 fee for Global Entry, which is good for ten years. $10/yr is a pretty slim benefit.

$100 for 5 years [1]

[1] https://www.dhs.gov/comparison-chart

If you are near (or travel to) the Canadian border, Nexus is a better deal at $50/5 years (and includes Global Entry).

If you're a frequent flier you will save a hell of a lot more than $1067 on the free upgrades alone.

TSA Precheck is rapidly becoming worth less and less, if it continues at this rate it will be the regular lines in a year or two. When grandma who flies once every 2 years can get it, it ruins the entire point. I've switched back to regular priority lines at some airports these days as they are faster.

The #1 perk any frequent flier will tell you matters the most is having competent people who pick up the phone instantly during IRROPS (e.g. weather/flight problems). Simply using this once a year trivially pays for itself by putting you so far ahead of the regular queue I still get amazed sometimes. Plus having them available for wonky changes/etc. due to rapidly changing schedules is great - 90% of the time they simply waive change fees for me.

I agree that the programs are becoming pretty gutted, but still barely hold enough value for me to keep "loyal" to my main airline. The experience flying Elite with them vs. plebe on other domestic carriers is night and day.

> TSA Precheck is rapidly becoming worth less and less, if it continues at this rate it will be the regular lines in a year or two. When grandma who flies once every 2 years can get it, it ruins the entire point. I've switched back to regular priority lines at some airports these days as they are faster.

Funny, this reminds me of when they tried the 3-tier security lines, for business, regular, and families, IIRC. I usually travel by myself, and have my stuff together enough to go through the security lines fast. I found the families one was actually the fastest, since everybody thinks they're fast/business and skips that one.

> The #1 perk any frequent flier will tell you matters the most is having competent people who pick up the phone instantly during IRROPS (e.g. weather/flight problems). Simply using this once a year trivially pays for itself by putting you so far ahead of the regular queue I still get amazed sometimes.

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I get better service than you even when I don't have status. I can and do rebook my flights on my phone, with my preferred routing and timing before the rush for seats begin as other people go try and call someone or god forbid, walk up to a desk and stand in line to do it in person.

No status needed. Delta's app will definitely automatically recognize a delayed or diverted flight and allow you to rebook. It even allows you to browse flights to alternate destinations, so I have totally switched from a plane going arriving at OAK to one arriving at SFO while taxing at SLC.

Oh, I also regularly switch to better seats in the days before my flight. I switched from middle to window on my flight leaving tomorrow this morning and moved up seven rows on the return flight, all without needing to make a phone call.

What you don't have is priority when things go pear-shaped. That's when status matters—status passengers go to the top of the list when rebooking and have priority over others.

Flight is cancelled and there's one more nonstop that night? The platinums and 1Ks are getting that. Everyone else gets scraps.

Maybe. I usually have a confirmed ticket and seat before other folks even begin their rebooking arrangement.

I agree without status I'm totally not gonna successfully standby anything, but I successfully rebook seats all the time when the whole timetable becomes a disaster because an airport like ATL closes and incoming flights land at completely different airports. (I watched the seats fill in realtime on the app, it was nuts.)

Also while I fly in and out of some small airports now and again, for most of my destinations there's just usually gonna be a spare seat for me to hop into, especially since I'm happy to go to either SFO or OAK, never check luggage and if I ever had to, would book to either SJC or SMF in a pinch.

tl;dr: For the most part I do about as well without status as with it. Maybe you regularly encounter more problematic weather delays than I do?

I have had Delta's highest tier, and the last year was back to being a regular old Joe. Currently back at Platinum.

The difference is that when you have status, you get priority. When you call the Diamond reservation line, someone picks up _immediately_. When you're not, you can wait in a queue for hours. They do the thing where they take your number and then call you back, but still.

And while this may not always matter, other times, it can. One time, weather meant that my flight from Newark got canceled. There was still one flight out of JFK. They immediately put me in a cab they paid for, drove me over there, and put me in the front of the line so I could make the flight. It was the difference between making my appointment and not.

Late reply, but I also am a Delta flier.

What you describe only works during regular operations, and it's spotty at best. 50% of the time the Android app fails at loading the seat map, for example. While Delta is considered the best IT in the business, it's still pretty atrocious - I use it multiple times per week.

You will never beat a Plat/Diamond for a confirmed seat during irrops. The problem isn't "can I rebook myself onto a plane with tons of open seats available" it's "can I bump the regular fliers from standby and get a seat on that entirely full aircraft".

Even when the app functions - it's still slower than calling the elite desk many times.

What you're describing is just normal access everyone gets. The elite fliers get even more options in the app (block the seats next to you, switch to economy comfort for free, etc.), but I guarantee you it's worthless when it all goes to shit :)

I've used it when ATL shut down. I don't know if there's a way Delta's routes can go to shit more than losing ATL and diverting flights to other entirely different airports.

And you're right. I am describing the normal access anyone can get. That's the point, elite status offerings just don't do as much as most people seem to think.

I don't know why every flier with status on this thread wants to insist to me that "it's worthless when it all goes to shit" when it clearly isn't. But I'm not surprised, 90% of fliers I know with elite status are incentivized to think they're getting something out of it that regular people can't access, even though they're saying things like how awesome it is to be able to call a phone number. Gag me with a stick, I'd rather use an app.

Y'all got it pretty bad.

(I have status sometimes too. It's nice when I have it, but I don't and won't do anything extra to get it, for me, flying without status is not that much different. It's certainly not worth being loyal to a domestic airline. The airlines we have in this country just suck. If I lived in SG or JP or even ID I'd totally go ahead and give some loyalty to an airline, SQ, ANA and Garuda are all great.)

Pre check, and the TSA experience in general, depends a lot on the airport. Some are run quite well and others are a total train wreck.

At some airports pre check is fantastic. At others they have a bad habit of sending "normal" travelers over to the pre check lane which just slows everything down. Infrequent travelers don't understand what's going on and start dumping their bags and stripping down then get all confused when they're told to put everything back in the bag.

Unless you have very high status, you're paying for TSA Precheck and (domestic) lounge access out of pocket. I'm not sure what exactly the status of Economy Plus is if you don't get it with status. I know you pay for it but you may not be able to pick preferred seating on United at the time of booking.

Just BTW, you can book refundable 1st class tickets for free lounge access.

One could argue it's immoral, but lots of people (including many airlines) seem to think these things are just a part of the game.

It won't get you a elite status, just a status slightly better than the normal flyer -- and free tickets too.

The lowest tier on the major US carriers is 25k qualifying miles/year. So to maintain the lowest-level status on two of them requires 50k miles/year, and to maintain that on all three requires 75k/year (and remember these are qualifying miles -- you can't get them from pudding cups or other promotions, and while there are ways to get more qualifying miles than you've flown, you either have to actually put your butt on a plane or spend a lot of money on a credit card).

Coincidentally, 50k is the next tier up on all three airlines, and 75k is the third tier up on two of the three (American is the odd one out, with only three tiers instead of the four at Delta and United). And to be frank, the "benefits" of the lowest tiers on all three are garbage. You might, if you're lucky, score an extra-legroom seat a few times a year on Delta, for example, or maybe once or twice get an upgrade on a domestic flight (but only if it's not on a busy route).

So if you're going to fly enough, you really should aim to get worthwhile status on one airline before spreading miles around to others.

(I'm currently Executive Platinum on AA and Platinum on DL, and know whereof I speak on the worthlessness of the lower tiers, since I've had to put up with them in the past)

When you have a 1k or global services status, almost all your seats are automatically upgraded to business or first class. It makes spending your life in an airplane seat tolerable. For that reason, it's best to focus. If you haven't spent months of your life in a plane and away from home, it's hard to grasp how valuable an upgrade is.

Fat chance on that if you mostly fly out of hubs. Most 1K's will still be stuck in 20 and 21.

Line 1 is 3 times longer than any other line at SFO, EWR, LAX, ORD, etc.

You would only need one per alliance.

You still need to fly quite a lot to get even first level status if you are flying economy and spreading around in multiple airlines. That won't get you much, not even lounge access which is a big benefit. Also on some airlines miles expire.

Also if the airline does have a frequent flyer program, you should always register as they will bump up frequent flyers (even when brand new) before other people.

This worked out for me twice so far, one airline bumped me to business on my first ever flight with them.

I think you are forgetting the fact that most people who fly around for work don't really care to pick the cheapest flight. This means they are free to stick to the same airline to accumulate status for themselves.

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