Airlines: 2014 Year In Review

My goal in 2014 was to be home a bit more, which meant trying to combine trips when I could, killing two birds with one set of flights.  I was still on the road quite a bit as evidenced by my hotel stats for the year.  I started the year with Executive Platinum status on American Airlines and 1K status with United Airlines.  I was pretty sure going into the year that I would be reducing my flights on United while maintaining my Executive Platinum status with American.  That being said, that’s exactly what my plan was for 2013.

This year actually turned out a bit more like I thought it would.  I reduced my travel to one of my key business stops, Denver, which reduced my United flights as well.  I still flew over 100,000 miles a year, and really didn’t do much in the way of mileage runs.  I also managed to clock miles on the first day of 2015 with our flight back from Lake Tahoe.

 

I still managed to get 100,000 miles on American to maintain Executive Platinum.  I also think I might be missing a few flights on United, since I just squeaked by with Platinum status, which requires 75,000 miles.

I had some partner flights for both American and United, but this is also where credit cards really helped me out.  I got 10,000 EQMs from my Citi Executive AAdvantage card and another 15,000 elite qualifying miles from US Airways (10,000 from the US Airways Mastercard and 5,000 for a lounge membership).  I scored 10,000 PQMs from United credit cards, but I also had a few mechanical delays on United where I ended up taking other flights but still getting original routing credit on United.  I’m technically short of Executive Platinum right now but I made the decision to wait until March or later for my US Airways account to push me over the top.

This year saw a handful of new destinations:

CDG (Paris, for Valentine’s Day)

RNO (Reno-Lake Tahoe)

SLC (Salt Lake City)

MCI (Kansas City)

ONT (Ontario)

SJD (Cabo)

VCE (Venice)

DUB (Dublin)

And, just for giggles, here’s a map of all the places I’ve been over the years.

 

What Does Next Year Hold?

My strategy for 2015 is essentially the same as 2014.  I’m planning to keep Executive Platinum status and will likely reduce my United travel again with Gold status being the most likely landing spot.  I’d like Gold so I have access to Economy Plus seats at time of booking, but that’s the only monumental loss I see if I don’t make it.

I’ve got a crazy mileage run planned for the beginning of 2015 and may have 2 overseas trips for work, so things could get a bit wonky.  But, my first choice for both trips is on American or a oneworld carrier, so I may coast into Executive Platinum, especially since we might be able to double dip and earn EQMs from an AA and a US Airways credit card again in 2015.

What are your plans for 2015?  Comments on my plan?

 

---

The post Airlines: 2014 Year In Review was published first on Pizza In Motion.

Don’t miss any of the daily travel tips, tricks and strategies found here.  Follow me using one of these options: