Triangle Trip

Damn it United, I cannot quit you!!!

Similar to American Airlines (see Captain G’s previous post), United is offering Double Elite Qualifying Miles or Segments yet again.  This time it’s for all flights flown from September 3 to December 15, 2009, regardless of when you register for this promotion during this period.

You can only choose to do either DEQM (double elite qualifying miles) or DEQS (double elite qualifying segments).  If you are flying short routes, you should pick DEQS.  Go with DEQM if you are going coast to coast or over 1,500 miles.

To register for this or for more information go to the promotion page here.

No matter how much I hate United, they keep drawing me back.  I really am a status monger!

So I’m on this United flight sitting in an aisle seat reading a book when a flight attendant comes by with a coffee tray.

“Sir, he wants coffee.” I look up and he’s clearly talking to me. I’m thoroughly puzzled. “Excuse me?” I ask. I don’t even drink coffee.

“The gentleman next to you wants coffee.” I’m still confused. Does he want me serve the guy next to me coffee? I give the flight attendant a puzzled look.

“Can you please take a cup and hold it while I pour coffee for the gentleman next to you?” Wait, what? The guy next to me has no hands or what? I look over at the guy next to me; he has all his hands and his arms are long enough to reach over the length of my narrow seat.

Grudgingly I pick up a cup from the tray and hold it while the flight attendant pours coffee for the guy next to me. Once he is done I give it to the guy next to me.

I’ve always complained about service or rather the non-existence of it on United. Now it has hit an all-time low.

Or maybe I’m just a jerk.

Delta introduced two major changes to the 2010 SkyMiles program: 1) Rollover Medallion Qualifying Miles (Rollover MQM) which lets you build status toward the following year; and 2) a new Medallion class: Diamond which requires you to have 125,000 MQM. We are extremely pleased to see this change as it is definitely ground breaking for the airline industry.

I have been traveling coast to coast on United and Delta for the past six months. The Rollover MQM along with the free/complementary upgrades clearly made Delta my carrier of choice for the rest of the year (see previous post regarding Delta as the best for coast to coast travel). I would be surprised if United or American follows this promotion as they have most of the corporate customers locked into corporate travel plans/accounts such as 25 to 30% discount plan.

Marriott launched their Elite Rollover Nights program in late spring and none of the major hotel chains followed. Marriott’s move to offer Elite Rollover Nights doesn’t surprise me since they require 75 actual nights to obtain Platinum status which means Elite rollover doesn’t begin until your 76th night. With 50 to 60 nights at other hotels like SPG, Hilton respectively, you’d be at their highest level.

Delta is extremely generous with its rollover plan. You can practically begin rolling over miles after making silver – or your 25,001st medallion mile. For example, if you earned 45 MQMs this year – 20,000 MQM more than the Silver Medallion requirement – the 20,000 MQMs will automatically roll over to next year’s balance. This means for 2010, you will only need to get 5,000 MQM to get Silver Medallion. This is actually a great perk as Delta didn’t devalue its mileage program with the Double/Triple MQM scam (see previous post) – I only earned 1 double MQM from all my trips.

Captain G will go on record to endorse Delta despite the fact that Delta JFK’s customer service should all be overhauled (see previous post).