Triangle Trip

I’ve been Marriott Platinum Elite since middle of 2005.  However in 2007 I only had something like 40 nights but they gave me Platinum status for 2008.  I thought it was some kind of fluke.  One needs 75 nights to maintain or become Platinum status with Marriott, possibly the toughest hotel status to gain.  In 2008 I had even less, 28 nights to be exact.  But lo and behold, I received my 2009 Marriott Platinum Membership card in the mail the other day.  Can someone explain this to me?  I’m not complaining though.  I just hope they don’t fix this glitch in their system.

A couple months ago I thought I had planned it perfectly.  Spend Christmas and New Years abroad with friends and also maintain my airline status with the miles incurred for the trip.  I did the math a couple times to make sure I would be guaranteed airline status for 2009.  But today while logging into my United account and seeing my mileage summary reset to zeroes, it suddenly occurred to me that my return leg would be in the new year and not count toward status for 2009.  So I’m short the 7,000 miles that my return leg back home covers.  Darn it!  

So moral of the story is this: if you are planning an year end trip that doubles as a mileage run to maintain airline status, make sure you spend New Years at home.

Good piece from Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat) of the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/opinion/24friedman.html

This is how I feel every time I come back to the States from Asia.