My luck with United e500s

I seem to collect United 500 mile upgrades. My coworker asked me why and I said I'm cursed when I use them and this is what I told her.
If I request to use them over a week in advance bad weather happens, flight 1 gets delayed, and I miss my upgrade on flight 2.

If I request them when I check in the flight gets delayed AND my upgrade does not clear. This makes them very useless to me and I can't wait for the automatic elite upgrades coming this year.

Just last week I decided to use some e500s because I was taking a redeye. I was #6 on the list with 8 seats remaining. Then eventually I was 3rd on the list and 3 seats remaining, then suddenly only 2 seats remained and I was still #3. I decided it would be better to not look at who was in F so I wouldn't speculate why I suddenly didn't make the threshold.

I had a connection after the redeye and the upgrade cleared on that. Then good old Mesa couldn't get the main door sensor to say the door was closed. After 45 minutes of messing around with the door they let us off (because it was cold in Chicago!). They made us hand around for an hour while they continued to figure out what was wrong. Pretty soon the next flight was coming up so most of us jumped ship onto it. I got the last coach seat available on that flight so I can't complain with United there, but I was supposed to get home at 10 am and instead got home at 3:30 pm. This really messed up my day since I had calls scheduled at 3 pm.

2010 off to a good start

I still haven't decided if this is two thousand ten or twenty ten, but 2010 started off well. I started my year with a trip across the country involving 2 airlines and 3 flights. The three flights went off without a hitch and I got op-upped on the 2 United flights.

Time to start again

January 1 marks the day that my frequent flyer accounts reset to 0 for elite qualification and the race to status begins again. This year is looking good for United right now. I have a 6 segment transcon this week and I'll be flying from the east coast to MEL this year. That trip alone pretty much guarantees at least Premier so that plus my normal travel may just push me over to 1K. I know I better take advantage of any DEQM promotions. My only concern is that my regular west coast project is coming to an end and I'm getting more east coast business so we'll see how this all goes.

Delta is always an unknow. Last year a trip to GIG supplemented my Delta miles. The Hilton promotions for MQMs always help too, but who knows if that will happen this year. I should get at least Silver, but hopefully I can maintain my Gold status. Delta DMQM promotions have never worked for me because they require the highest fair classes and that is a little too much for me to spend on a mileage run.

Hilton is in the bag for diamond.

US busiest airports

The top 10 busiest US airports

This list could double as the list of airports I avoid. Although I frequently connect in ATL and ORD out of necessity, I try to never connect in NYC airspace. It's just too risky.

Even if the flight is technically "on time" it may still be late. One time I was flying out of JFK on Delta. The flight was already 45 minutes late for boarding. Then when we finally pushed back the pilot announced we were #45 in line for take-off! I was glad I was on a direct flight because there is no way I could have made most connections after that much of a delay.

United does seem to like hubs prone to delays with SFO, ORD, and IAD all making the list, but at least UA is smart enough to avoid NYC airspace.

Another year coming to an end

This year I'm in pretty much the same boat I was in last year except on the rental car front.

• Airlines: still 1P with United and Gold with Delta. Hit 75,000 and 60,000 respectively
• Hotels: still Diamond with Hilton and Silver with Marriott. Lost status with SPG, but only because that was conferred from a credit card and I shifted my spending to Hilton AMEX.
• Rental cars: Avis First *ahem* I mean Last. National got up to Executive Aisle and I made 5 star with Hertz, but I haven't rented with Hertz since then.
  

In a couple weeks it all resets to 0 and the race begins again.

Continental and United to offer reciprocal upgrades

Announced today that upgrades will be reciprocal. This is good news as a whole, but has little impact on me. First off United has smaller First cabins so upgrades will be difficult, second, it's only recent that CO has mainline service to CLT and they don't have mainline service most of the time I fly them so I will probably never get upgraded on CO. I'm not sure how CO elites will affect my ability to upgrade on UA.

To bump or not to bump

My flight this afternoon was oversold and they were seeking 3 volunteers to take a flight 4 hours later. Normally I do not take bumps because the exchange is worthless, but this time it was on Airtran and they were offering 2 r/t tickets to anywhere they fly. It was quite tempting and if the flight they were offering wasn't 4 hours later I might have, but sometimes I just want to get to my destination.

I'm not sure how useful their bump vouchers are. On many airlines when they do the free* r/t ticket it's very limited so the odds of using it limit its true value. United will give flight credit if asked. This is usually better b/c then you can book your own flight and even use it internationally. With this option the odds of getting a free trip are lower, but there are more options.

I just never get a good opportunity to bump. Either I want to get to my destination or I just don't feel like waiting around that airport any longer.