He ran the miles in report time.
A California man devised an ingenious technique to obtain United Airline’s coveted Platinum standing earlier than the yr’s finish — by taking six flights in in the future for round $500.
“It’s cool that it was capable of be accomplished in such a brief timeframe!” Stephen, a self-described “aviation geek” from San Francisco, instructed The Put up. “Many individuals have accomplished standing/mileage runs through the years, however doing one which stayed inside just a few constraints (in the future, quick flights, below a sure $$) was a enjoyable problem for me.”
Stephen’s mile-high marathon noticed him fly from San Francisco to Reno and again, roundtrip from San Francisco to Sacramento and at last, from San Francisco to Los Angeles and again — and all inside 12 hours.
Stephen initially detailed his sky-high Christmas purchasing spree in a publish taking off on Reddit.
“First flight departed at 8:40am and final flight arrived at 8:29pm,” he wrote on Reddit. “There have been some floor cease delays at SFO, however fortunately all connections had been equally delayed, so every little thing went off with out a hitch.”
Why go on this epic flight binge? The frequent flyer mentioned that he had launched into “quite a lot of long-haul flights to Korea” and “direct flights” to Orlando, Florida for work this yr.
This positioned him simply six flights away from United’s Platinum standing, which grants flyers perks starting from three free checked luggage, computerized Group 1 boarding, and precedence check-in.
Stephen instructed the Put up that he needed to go on a flight together with his spouse Europe and needed to make use of the “plus factors that they offer you with Platinum to improve us on a global flight to enterprise class.”
“In order that was sort of one of many primary motivators,” the United Mileage Plus member, who was additionally curious to see if this pace run might be achieved on a budget. He reportedly grew up with mileage on his thoughts, having been a Mileage Plus Member since 2002 and having a dad who was additionally a “frequent flyer.”
To qualify for this standing, one should full 45 premier qualifying flights and accumulate 15,000 premier qualifying factors (PQP), or 18,000 premier qualifying factors (PQP), which may be earned by redeeming miles, requesting upgrades, and utilizing the United Card.
As Stephen didn’t wish to spend a boatload of cash to be ushered into this elite fraternity — which is what number of flyers go Platinum, he mentioned — he determined to realize it by way of a mixture of flights and miles.
The Californian ended up utilizing a mixture of 60,000 miles and $500 on this sky-high sextathlon — tickets that may’ve usually run him roughly $1,100.
As for the route, Stephen mentioned he was initially considering of flying to Los Angeles after which Palm Springs and onward to Las Vegas, till he discovered by way of Google Gemini that there was a greater technique to obtain his aim.
“That’s the place Gemini was like, you may be higher off simply taking quick flights out of SFO and again to SFO,” he defined.
Naturally, taking back-to-back flights all day may sound like a flightmare, however the flight buff mentioned that the journeys had been surprisingly snug.
The life hacker instructed the Put up that the San Francisco to Reno round-trip leg was on a “spacious” Bombardier jet, the place he didn’t have anybody sitting subsequent to him, permitting for loads of room.
And that wasn’t all.
“There was Starlink Wi-Fi on that flight, which is superb,” Stephen exclaimed. “And I flew to Reno, deboarded the airplane, after which sat on the gate for quarter-hour, had a espresso, after which it was time to board once more.”
He added, “Whereas many individuals see airports as a problem, I genuinely love the expertise; the logistics, the engineering, and the angle you solely get from 30,000 toes.”
As well as, whereas there have been some floor delays in San Fran, the connections had been equally postponed, thereby stopping a domino impact that might’ve derailed his mileage mission completely.
“It was just like the delays compounded a bit bit, and fortunately that saved every little thing aligned all through the day,” mentioned Stephen. “It was like, yeah, if certainly one of these goes down, the remainder of the day is screwed.”
Whereas many commenters praised Stephen’s dedication, others felt that the juice wasn’t well worth the squeeze.
“That is completely not value it however good for you, I assume,” mentioned one critic.
“Was simply considering the Gold to Plat bounce isn’t value this,” one other sniped.
However for Stephen, the mileage run was as a lot concerning the journey because it was the vacation spot.
“It wasn’t actually a lot about, oh, I actually care about Platinum Standing,” he mentioned. It was simply extra like, ‘All proper, I’m an aviation geek, can I do that?’”
Whereas actually distinctive, Stephen isn’t the one one embarking on mileage pace runs to attain/keep airline standing.
“Flew Austin to Taipei and again plenty of years in the past when standing was based mostly on miles solely,” claimed one airline savant. “Bought ~15,000 miles for round $900, and that acquired me to Platinum, 75k flown miles. I’ve additionally accomplished a 6 PQF, Austin>Houston>Dallas>Houston>San Antonio>Houston>Austin, all in a day to maintain 1K just a few years in the past.”
In the meantime, final yr, a flyer named Keith described on social media how he deliberate to grow to be a 1K earlier than the year-end deadline by reserving three flights in a day — Washington DC to Newark, Newark to Atlanta, after which Atlanta to DC.
“I wish to get all the advantages, all of the issues if you grow to be a 1k member, I’m not about to let that s–t go down the drain,” he declared.
