FlyerTalk Forums - The 2019 “Who, When, Where, What and How” thread!:) (2024)

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The 2019 “Who, When, Where, What and How” thread!:)

Who: I am a Robotic Field Service consultant. I live in Northern Colorado and enjoy what Colorado has to offer. I love spending what time I have with family and golfing.
When: I made 2018 status back in early October, kind of a slow year. I anticipate making 2020 1K status sometime around August 2019.
How: I mainly travel for work with the occasional personal travel (Mrs. RobotDoctor does like to see things in the US). I generally am in the $30K range for PQDs, and might see low $40K if its a busy year. My travel pattern has not changed in years, domestic US 1K flyer.
Where: Lots of places in the continental US. Seattle, San Diego, Atlanta, Newark (the corners of the US) and many points in between for my flying. 32 domestic round trip tickets in 2018 (anticipating over 40 RTs in 2019). I would love a trip over either pond as I have never had that in all my years of being in robotic field service.
Why: I don't do mileage runs and have not up to this point. I was generally a segment 1K qualifier based in Denver. Since the change to PQM/PQS I qualify on both with a spending yield far north of the minimum PQDs. I want to get to the 3MM BIS plateau within the next 9 years or so, sooner if possible. Maybe a handful of mileage runs will be in my future to attain this level.
What: I will go where there are sick robots to take care of. My travel pattern will be the same as it has in my nearly 30 years in the industry. I don't anticipate taking 15 weeks off as I did in 2018 so my travel will definitely be heavier. Of course taking a week off because of a mid-week concert is always a perk of an independent contractor. However, the pay on those weeks sucks (like nothing). :D

Who: German university student, loving to travel.
When: Gold since mid-2017 (did the status match challenge from Airberlin before they excluded it), 1K as of 2019
How: I almost only travel for leisure purposes, trying to maximize the vacation in study-free times. Most vacation takes place in the continental US or Hawaii (love it <3), but Southern America and Canada happens as well. Earned a lot of PQM with all these transatlantic flights, but had to do a quick mileage run to Chile in 2018).
Where: ITO, KOA, SAN (roudtrip through Utah, Arizona, Nevada), SFO, IAH, ORD, CLT, BOS, NYC, GRU, FEN, GIG, SCL and a lot of European Cities
Why: Star Gold incl. Eurowings lounge access (hope it stays for 2019) is worth a lot on my intra-european flights. Check-in lines are huge sometimes, lounge access is nice to have (despite Priority pass). Economy Plus is worth a lot to me (6'6") and I tend do check more than one bag. I won't make many CPUs with my European and long haul pattern, but GPU's might be useful - so I stretched for 1K over Plat.
What: I'm not sure about 2019 yet, but some trips to North America will surely be included. Also have never been in Asia or Oceania yet, so still a lot of things to do. Chile impressed me as well, but guess I can't fit everything in. So anything between Gold and 1K is possible for now.

Who: I am an Information Technology Specialist with Los Angeles County. I love spending time with my 4 dogs (1 chihuahua, 1 mutt, 2 Rottweilers) and other 2-legged loved ones.
When: I will make 2018 (Silver) status retroactively this coming February. Either I'll get it via RewardsPlus (as I am a Marriott Platinum) or applying my FLEX PEQMs from the old pre-merger CO Prez+ cc. Same story for 2019.
How: I mainly travel for leisure, and not so much as I used to. I typically will have a single work trip each year that requires flying. I've was a CO FF from the late 1980s until the merger. I'm just over 750K Lifetime miles... Hope to make lifetime MM some day
Where: SFO, LAX, MCO, JAX, and EZE.
What: My travel patterns will be mostly the same , or less, as they have in the last 32 years

Who: Pharmacy student (P1) and intern. Host local meetups.
When: Requaled for Silver in May and stopped there. Falling from Gold bc I'll have less flexibility while in school/working.
How: 100% personal travel. Love flying and earning status, even as a lowly Silver. Highlight of the year (and probably decade) was doing the Island Hopper for $450. Finished the year with 25810 PQM, 15 PQS, and 701 PQD! All UA metal.
Where: EWR, ORD, SAN, SFO, LAX, CLE, HKG, GUM, TKK, PNI, KSA, MAJ, HNL, IAD, DCA
What: No definite plans for 2019 aside from SRQ to visit family later this month plus UA events. Will requal for Silver. Would like to do another big intl trip and will probably be on miles since I'm cheap!

Who: Federal Government Manager and Attorney
When: Thanks to a job shift and a medical issue, didn't even reach Silver in 2018, but my 1MM status means I'm OK. :)
How: Fewest BIS miles last year since I started keeping track. Expect to fly once a month or so in 2019, but on routes that belong to alliances other than *A.
Where: California, Texas, Frankfurt, Vienna, Amsterdam, Brussels, Skopje, Split, Miami, Atlanta, Tampa.
Why: As before, being required to fly AA and DL on much of my business travel again this past year meant no hope of regaining 1K, but that's OK. Flying as *A Gold on *A partners is nice. Absolutely love the LH lounges - they know how to do it.
What: Will have many trips around Europe and 4-6 TATLs. Gold is probably the most likely level to shoot for this year.

Who: Allied Health Consultant working in Aged Care throughout Australia. I love to travel, and I maintain the United Express information for the United Fleet Site
When: Hit Gold early November, basically the same each year. That's really as high as I can go with UA living in Australia with mostly Australian domestic travel.
How: Most UA travel is back to the US (2-3 trips per year, along with related domestic flying), I travel often for work and maintain Platinum with Virgin Australia Velocity as well.
Where: EWR, BDL, IAH, IAD, MCO, MSY, BOS, LAX, SFO, HNL, LIH, SYD, CBR, MEL, BNE, TSV, CNS, HBA
Why: *G lounge access is great for trips to NZ, Japan, US
What: Similar to previous years, 2-3 trips to US/Canada, possible NZ, at least one trip to Hawaii, and endless domestic Australian travel for work which keeps me at Velocity Platinum

Who: I am a pilot (Captain now, on the 75/76) for United. When not flying, I'm home with my kids, trying to survive the teenage years!
When: Does Non Rev count? Seriously, I think many of you probably fly more often than I do, as a pilot with the airline.
How: USAF after college, 22 years active/reserves with them. Hired on with CO, way back when now. Miss that culture so badly...
Where: Mostly Europe these days...
Why:Pays the bills, and I absolutely love flying. Even still, after all this time, I still can't believe I get paid to do this.
What: Thought my post may be a refreshing change from some of the others. Thank you for flying with United. Wishing all of you safe travels....

Who: I am an event operations director for major paintball tournaments around the world and also run the player membership/tracking system.
When: 12/31, after a EAU-ORD-LAX-MEL mileage run that put me at 120,227 miles and $12,008 PQD.
Where: Various US destinations, this past year also CDG twice, LHR and PRG.
How: Work travel gets me to just about platinum and almost $10k spend. An unexpected funeral got me up to 10,500 PQD, so did the mileage run to make 1k
Why: Maintaining status makes travel much easier. SDC is a godsend and GPUs reduce some of the wear and tear of any Asia flights I don't sweat the RDM too much.
What: With the new $15k PQD requirement for 2019, I will probably fall back to Platinum which should be easy to make with regular business travel (and if not, I still have a Presidential Plus card and a pile of FEQM.)

Who: I am Sales Director for a billing software company. When I'm not flying, I spend as much time with the family and 4 year old black lab.
When: 12/18/18 - made Platinum on a flight from Omaha to Toronto, finished the year with ~80K PQM and $10,500 PQD
Where: 95% US destinations (all over) plus a few trips to Toronto
How: 99% Work travel gets me platinum and almost $10k spend, usually have 1 or 2 personal trips
Why: Maintaining status is important for E+ seating and earlier boarding to ensure my carry on bag always stays with me. Probably a 25% CPU in 2018 which was nice
What: Goal is to maintain Platinum and maybe push to 1K. Most likely won't make the 1K due to the PQD requirements but may get close if my trips to Toronto increase in 2019

Who: Early 30s finance type. Partner in a boutique investment firm.
When: I hit 1K in April this year, earliest yet. Hoping for GS nod in coming weeks.
How: 2018 was all North American travel for me for the first time in a long time. Very busy year with 122 overall legs (almost no connecting flights). Almost always book in discount first (A,Z,P) unless there is 1) no FC cabin, or 2) the price is truly astonomical.
Where: Finance cities. Tons of ORD <> LAX, SFO, LGA, EWR, BOS, MIA, DFW, DEN, SEA (that probably covers 90% of my destinations in a given year)
Why: IRROPs handling is the primary reason I appreciate status. MM companion status is also super helpful with my wife.
What: While it is always a moving target I think my domestic pattern looks very similar in 2019. I do think I will have 2x ORD <> LHR trips as well as the potential for a European vacation that could seriously bump my PQD, however.

Who: I'm a full time undergrad at a DC-area university, with family back in TYO.
When: 12/20/18 - reached 1K on EWR-NRT, ended 2018 with 112K PQM and 3000-ish PQD (had some non-016 and BULK fares this year)
Where: Primarily between WAS and TYO 3-4x a year, with some detours along the way to make things "interesting" - IAD, NRT, SFO, EWR, HKG, BDL, HND, KUL, ORD, SIN, YYZ, BWI, LGA
How: IAD-NRT nonstop on NH Y frequently being in the $2500 range made it easier to justify/pay the difference for a $2700 P-fare with my family...which obviously played a big part as it used to earn 200% PQM. When flying Y, .bomb was returning some pretty cheap fares that routed via SIN and HKG for that extra haul of PQMs. I also did a IAD-HKG mileage run between the last day of classes and my first final exam, back in the Spring.
Why: I've been burned quite badly by UA several years ago while in boarding school, when I was flying home for the holidays. (MX IRROPS on the outbound = 1 day delay + involuntary downgrade from J to Y during rebooking/WX IRROPS on the inbound, delaying my return by 3 days). While this swore me off of UA for a while, moving from New England to DC for college pushed me to try UA and *A again, especially having been granted Premier Silver from my expiring JL elite status. I'm hoping that being 1K would result in better customer service during IRROPS, instead of being put on hold for 4 hours on the General Member phone number. (The *G status, GPUs, and RPUs are obviously also quite large factors)
What: Hopefully I can be creative with my routings enough to get to 100K PQM, even with the reduction of P-fare earnings for 2019. Either that, or I start accruing my *A flights on NH, in the hopes of getting NH Platinum (and thus semi-lifetime *G)