"Some frequent travelers have... expressed discomfort about adding long, arguably unnecessary flights in an era where concerns over carbon emissions have sparked a 'flight shame' movement.... [The CEO of a 'mileage run itinerary crafter' company] says carbon emissions aren’t really a consideration for his mileage run clients, who typically view the travel as a necessity. Their point of view, he said, is, 'I have a job, it requires me to travel, and I don’t want to sit in a middle seat all year so I need to get this done.'"
From "Mileage runs are last-minute dashes for airline status. But are they worth it?/In an era of lackluster loyalty programs and concerns over carbon emissions, even onetime fans question the merit" (WaPo).
From the comments over there: "Why someone would waste time, money and pollute the atmosphere, for ever-dwindling benefits of questionable value, escapes me. That the airlines treat everyday customers so horribly speaks volumes to the actual value one receives with this so-called status, or even the price of admission. The airline industry looks for ways to treat customers worse each and every year. Flying is a miserable, low-value experience and service for me. I avoid it whenever possible."
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I remember working with a fellow who was fairly close to going over the 100,000 mile mark, at which point his frequent flier perks would be worth a pretty penny to him. So he bought a ticket for a round trip, nonstop, transatlantic flight to London Heathrow, where he basically got back on his nonstop return flight without leaving the airport. Since it wasn’t a business trip he paid out of pocket. Seemed nuts to me at the time (and still does) but obviously it meant a lot to him. By the way, this was back in the 1990s. These days I assume someone flying across the ocean with no luggage except a small carry on would get a lot of attention from TSA, or so I imagine.
I also knew someone who needed a few more “segments” to qualify for the next higher level in his frequent flier program, so instead of a nonstop return flight on his December business trip he booked a circuitous route that had him changing planes two or three times on his way home. That meant he spent almost all day Saturday in the air or waiting for a connecting flight, but he got three segments instead of one and thus made his goal.
Do it for the trees. They breathe carbon and poop oxygen.
I haven't been on an airplane since the mid 80s. But I proudly have a 60s United 100,000 mile club tag on a briefcase in the basement somewhere. They apparently treated you better back then.
Best treatment was on an Eastern L-1011, as one of two passengers aboard. Upgrade to first class so the stewardess wouldn't have to walk so far. Two steak dinners. Take-home bottle of wine. Those were the days.
For those of us who can't avoid travel because the inexorable wheel of year-over-year revenue and profit growth which is required of companies by the "free market" in an age of predatory capitalism and senseless consumerism,the occassional seat upgrade is a mitzvah that we greedily albeit reluctantly accept from the jailer at the sadistic prison that is the execrable airline industry.
"Flight shame".
What a ridiculous notion. Eco-puritan conformists are as obnoxious as any religious ones.
Why someone would waste time, money and pollute the atmosphere, for ever-dwindling benefits of questionable value, escapes me.
Well, the plane is flying whether you’re on it or not, so choosing to fly extra miles on a trip has no particular impact on pollution, and airlines really do want to keep the loyalty of people who fly 100,000 miles or more annually. It’s your time and your money, and your decision to weigh costs and benefits.
I fly Air Xanax so none of it really bothers me. I do dearly love a sleeper car on a train.
Birds do it, bees do it
but for them there ain't no fees to it
Let's do it, let's fly around
I fly a goodly amount for work, not the 100,000 mile sort, but enough that I am looking to take advantage of whatever perks may be available to me. I accumulate miles and use them for upgrades, whether class of service or even just to not sit in a middle seat. I've been that guy that gives up his seat on an overbooked flight in exchange for miles (never for $$$). This tactic makes total sense to me.
The great thing about the comment that you highlight is this: that asshole is very unlikely to be on a flight with me, ever, and that's a really good thing because as inconvenient and unpleasant as air travel can be the worst thing is getting stuck next to someone like that jerk.
I will note that on this day, I am pretty much in agreement with a commenter from the WAPO. I have to assume that the people that choose to do this have a tangible incentive for their actions. Personally, you'd have to pay me to make an otherwise unnecessary trip on an airline.
I hate flying. My family prefers to drive.
However, last year we drove from Seattle to San Diego and on our way home got stuck in the snow for over 12 hours. Thought we were going to run out of gas on the highway. This was after driving 16 hours straight.
This year, we're flying.
However, last year we drove from Seattle to San Diego and on our way home got stuck in the snow for over 12 hours. Thought we were going to run out of gas on the highway. This was after driving 16 hours straight.
A couple years ago I drove from Colorado Springs to San Antonio the day after Christmas to attend a friend's wedding. I got caught in the huge blizzard that covered the midwest and ended up in a hotel outside Wichita. The next day Oklahoma City was covered in ice. Stopped on the highway and seeing a semi in your rear-view mirror start jackknifing as it comes towards you is a great way to reassess your life choices.
I still prefer it to flying.
Got stuck in the middle seat between SLC and Honolulu in 2007.
I'll never fly again.
Travel by any means is pretty terrible in the winter. A sizeable storm anywhere in the country slows dow the entire airline system and you sit in terminals for hours on end watching CNN. In cars you take your life in your own hands with snow and ice conditions.
Just glad that being mostly retired means you have a third choice; don't go.
What is it going to take to the public to wise up to the fact that carbon dioxide is not pollution? Carbon dioxide is only considered pollution because of a 5-4 decision in favor of the EPA written by JP Stevens.
In any event, the emissions of today's jets are de minimis.
CAGW is a total scam and the Green industry needs to be defeated and destroyed. It is all about virtue signaling and the "right" people making money; like Elon Musk.
I have recently stopped flying and semi-retired.
I spent the last 29 years flying over 100K miles a year.
I have flown extra flights, made a one stop flight into a 3 stop flight and everything else. The best choice was when Delta just allowed me to buy 3 or 4 or 6 segments to make my 100. Platinum Status was VERY worth it.
I have also gifted "free" plane tix to my kids, and many others.
Well worth it for me.
YMMV.
DCP
Well I have flown 97,922 miles his year on Delta. To get Diamond I need another 27,078. Would have to fly to Paris and back 3 times to hit that number. Not this flyer. If I were a couple of thousand short I might consider a weekend in NY but the reward difference between Platinum and Diamond is not great enough to consider much further flying than that.
Air travel has never been safer or less expensive
Can't you buy miles if you want to up your status? Wouldn't that be cheaper than actually taking a flight?
let's review!
you flying two stops, instead of non-stop; for your last flight of the year: EVIL!!
them flying non-stop, to Davos; to complain about CO2: SAINTLY
Adding CO2 to the atmosphere is a generous gifting of a needed fertilizer. Highly valuable CO2 has never made climate warmer and it never will.
Sometimes I think I am the only person on earth who loves everything about flying, including the airport. But I do agree that airline loyalty programs are much shittier than they used to be.
But, you know! Air travel is
Safe
Convenient
Comfortable
Quick
Relaxing
IF
You own your own Jet
The only thing in human existence more banal than complaining about flying is finding a way to brag about it.
The son and his wife and 3 kids leave for a trip to Chicago today. He said trips to NYC are too expensive and overbooked this year. The Dau-in-law is from Minnesota and windy winter Chicago sounds like fun to her. I told them the Architectural River cruise is probably frozen over, but to eat at Mike Ditka's for me. That is fine for me since the lawyers are all off until January 6,2020, so I get to fill in at the old Law Firm.
Drove up from Rancho Cucamonga to Mojave yesterday. Everything was shut down except for 14 and I thought I was gonna die on the way up. We made it just before they shut IT down. It’s pretty wild, there’s snow all Over the place. It’s gonna melt where we’re at by tomorrow, but a bigger one is coming on Monday which is when we should finish. We’re freaking out and if they’ll let us will work around the clock.
Suggested by the random sentence in the blog. I'm constantly seeing articles about how "Terrible the Airline industry treats its customers" and also complaints about Doctors. Why is it we never see articles about how terrible the Legal professions is? Or about Journalists? Or Liberal Arts Professors?
Its like the people who write for these newspapers and magazines all have friends they don't want to cross.
I know of no other business that operates like the airlines, where the executives are competing with one another for innovative new ways to screw over and annoy their customers. “What can we do today to make airline travel more expensive and annoying? Have you pissed off your customers today?”
Personally, I've seen no change in Airline service for many years. Yes, before they gave you a better meal, and free movies, but they found that people didn't care about that. What they cared about was PRICE. So they've been cutting out the "Frills" to cut prices.
If you don't like what's happened, look in the mirror John Q. Public.
10 or 12 years ago my wife flew a lot for business. One year she missed the rewards program and missed it a lot the next year. But about 3 years ago the rewards were so meager she didn’t miss them.
But if we want to talk the principle of the thing, of course there can be cases where it’s worth it.
One good thing about Trump is he's put all this Climate change BS on the backburner. But once Warren gets in, we'll be subjected to it like the Kulaks and Collectivization.
For the airflight aficionados, try Premier One driver on YouTube. Fun, fun, fun.
You know; even on Regular flights, if you fly 1st class: it's kinda nice (nicer, anyway)
If there was a market for Pan Am, '60's style airflight; someone would gladly provide it.
What's that? you DON'T want to spend $5,000 to fly from New York, to Miami?
You don't want to spend $500?
You want to spend $89 ? The GOOD NEWS is: that price includes: being able to bitch about it
Based on the excerpted comment: I’ll waste my money my way, you waste your money your way. Let’s hope our paths never cross, which seems likely.
someone who needed a few more “segments” to qualify for the next higher level in his frequent flier program
I had this situation this year. On my last trip to Heathrow, I took a layover in Newark. It added about 3 hours to my trip total, but also saved $2,000 on the whole trip and got me the extra segment I needed.
rocean said:
If you don't like what's happened, look in the mirror John Q. Public.
Sorry, but it's not just casual travelers that are responsible. I work at an FFRDC (Federally Funded R&D Contractor) and we are required to take the cheapest possible flights, on US carriers only. So this "cheapest never mind the pain" attitude is actually a policy for us.
BTW, I am 6'6" tall, and I managed to get my company to agree that traveling in cattle-car class is (for me) an ergonomics issue, so I at least get to go Economy Plus or whatever. That was a minor triumph.
To qualify as a SEAL you have to run way more than a mile. There is no distance marker. There isn't a finish-line,
Or a stop-sign.
If they told you how far you had to run you'd slack off. The whole point of making you run until you're stupid-tired is making you run until you have serious problems adding 2+2=5.
Gallagher's back in the news. I don't understand why people can't understand how war makes good people so bad. That's the whole point of war. It lifts the veil of normalcy and shows normal people just how bad the universe can be.
I don't care how badly he may have treated the enemy. They didn't prosecute my ancestors for what they did to Japanese on Iwo Jima during WWII. It was warfare.
The afghans housed evil people that started it. Gallagher finished it.
I flew in a military transport aircraft from Michigan to New York to Spain to Iraq.
Cry more about your commercial flying experience.
You're sitting in a seat, not driving, listening to music on headphones (if you're smart), somebody brings you food and drink, and you can ignore the asshole next to you if you so desire.
JFC.
we'll be subjected to it like the Kulaks and Collectivization.
Fun fact. Today is the 90th anniversary of Stalin's decree to liquidate the Kulaks. It can happen to you.
A-List Preferred on SWA. See those two seats in the exit row with no seat in front of them? One is always mine. My companion can fly for the tax amount on the flight.
$49 to Las Vegas. I don’t bitch. $25 to upgrade to better seat choice. I bitch but pay. Don’t want to be caught in a middle seat.
I flew about 30,000 miles in 2019, most in the first half of the year, so I got the lowest elite status for the rest of 2019 and for all of 2020. So far it's gotten me bumped up to first class exactly once and lets me go to a special counter if I need to check luggage. I would be willing to pay a very modest amount for each perk -- that is, positive, but not that much.
Basically, yes flying isn't that comfortable, but it also isn't that long. So sure I would be willing to pay for a bigger seat on a long flight. But thousands of dollars? No way.
A couple of years ago, I paid the same to fly to Vegas as someone from LA. Bwaaaaaaaaa
Stalin's decree to liquidate the Kulaks. It can happen to you.
Planned population, not limited to planned parenthood, is a recycled interest with the progress of [catastrophic] [anthropogenic] global cooling... warming... change prophecy based on inference of times past, misunderstanding of weather present, and predictions of seasons to come. Also China's great leap, selective-child, and other exclusionary rites. The genocide of native populations for social justice and other purposes throughout Africa and their aftermath. It still happens, but in darkness.
The CO2 preachers believe the science predicts a Hollywood apocalyptic scenario if we don't act. It's an anti-science political stance. They are anti-science. Look it up...
The flyers making mileage runs are making their own cost/benefit analysis. There are websites to help them. In most cases it is a rational economic decision.
...and the plane is still going if they go or not.
Airline pricing and the prices for surgery use similar tactics. You. Want a heart transplant next summer? Fine, $15000. Oh, tomorrow? $75000
“Flying is a miserable, low-value experience and service for me. I avoid it whenever possible."
Well, I think we can all agree on that!
One reason that I strongly dislike flying is that, at least domestically, the flights always seem to be full. I'm taller than average and that means that I'm cramped in my seat for the duration. At least in the olden days, I could get up and stretch my legs in the aisle and even walk a bit. Now, I'm instructed to sit down. However, this means that the airlines are being efficient by fully utilizing their assets. Compare that to any metropolitan area public (taxpayer subsidized) transit system: lots of pollutants and minimal efficiency.
well it's been almost 20 years, nearly as long as Odysseus's proper quest, back to Ithaca, but these were the same people who collaborated with jag who hid critical evidence, so I don't put much stock in it,
I used to fly Thai Airways nonstop from JFK to Bangkok. It was about an 18-hour flight, but the airline did away with the route back in 2012. Perhaps flying back and forth between Florida and southeast Asia in my 20s immunized me to bad flying experiences. Four- or five-hour flights seem like a piece of cake by comparison.
the rest of that story,
https://twitter.com/KristinnFR/status/1210586356000444416
Eh, I fly 3 or 4 times a year and don't find it too horrible, considering they're getting me halfway across the continent for a few hundred bucks. The worst thing about it is the TSA bullshit, which isn't even the airline's fault.
rhhardin: "Best treatment was on an Eastern L-1011..."
I flew on an L-1011 once. I recall it was a very nice airplane. I was in coach, but it was so sparsely populated that I was able to lie flat across the line of seats in the middle. It was probably in the '80s.
Yep, you never see an airplane that empty these days.
SGT Ted: ""Flight shame".
What a ridiculous notion..."
Indeed. Flying business class round trip to Osaka was heaven. No one to bother me, no need to explain where I am, ladies me bringing tasty snacks and unlimited wine... Even time to read a book, or listen to music on the CD player if I felt like it.
I actually looked forward to it, even though the dreaded company meetings awaited me at the distant end. But during late summer and fall, there was sumo on TV to watch on the downtime.
For years I was 1K on United and Platinum on American, a few times in the same year. before about 2005 I got upgraded to first or business on almost every flight, but that stopped and now you don't get much, free first tickets to Europe and Hawaii are OK though, but the United/Lufthansa non stops (Paris, Frankfurt) were 747's and business class on them had bone breaking reclining seats. The best flight I have had was a 787 round trip Chicago-LA-Melbourne. No Business class seats on the plane so I was in real first, got a good nights sleep in the capsule. Now I only take Southwest and could care less about a list or status especially with TSA pre.
I have 1.7 million British Airways Avios points, according to my Visa statement. My daughters have my BA password and use my points when I strong-arm them into joining me in some interesting foreign place for a week or two. Last was Varanasi.
My husband flies 100k miles a year and is almost a million miler with United. We think he’s going to make Global Services this coming year. Our three year old has flown 75 segments. Our 18 year old is going to be a commercial pilot. We love everything about aviation; absolutely everything. People who bitch and moan about how horrible it is don’t know anything. We call them the Aunt Mabel people because the only time they fly is every five years to go to Aunt Mabel’s funeral. They don’t know anything about the economics and incentives of being a frequent flyer.
Anybody eat with golden utensils on flights during 1970's?
Air India
The flight is safe, but the unclean aircraft and the airline food might kill you.
I agree there is much to celebrate with air-travel.
But it's not glamorous anymore. It's like taking a groddy bus or sitting on a disgusting subway car.
Biggest status benefit is the mileage bonuses to get to free tickets sooner. ("free" upgrades no longer exist particularly on United but the mileage redemptions for actual tickets still do)
Downside is you fly so much for work you don't want to fly for leisure.
Solution: give miles away to family and friends to see you at home during breaks.
I had Delta Diamond status for a few years. The first year I got it, I flew into JFK around Christmas time on an international flight. A Delta employee met me at the plane's door, as soon as I stepped on the jetway. That person walked me to luggage pickup (since it was an international flight I had to walk my luggage through customs and then check it back in), took me through the employee corridors to the front of the line at passport control, walked me through an employee entrance to the flight crew security checkpoint and put me on a cart to the gate for my domestic flight home.
I think that skipped about two hours of waiting in lines and a very long walk across the airport.
Plus, Diamond status got me an upgrade on a direct flight back from Johannesburg. It was a Delta flight, not a code share with KLM or Air France, so the business class wasn't super special.
Man Gets Millions of Air Travel Miles from Pudding Cups
I live in Hawaii & fly back and forth to the Midwest every year to see relatives. I take Delta economy, because one flight a year, even a long flight like Honolulu-Minneapolis, doesn't award enough points for an upgrade.
The RT ticket costs about $1300. In a way, it is miraculous: I am flying 4,000 miles, a sixth of the way around the globe, one way, in about nine hours. A century ago, this would have been at least a two week train/steamer trip that would have cost a year's wages. A century earlier the trip would have taken months, and there was a not insignificant chance of dying en route.
On the other hand, the flights are miserable. I am a tall, long-legged fellow, and I hate the narrow seats and cramped leg room -- but not enough to pay $5000 for 1st class (however, I do pay for an extra legroom seat).
When I retire to the Midwest next year, I will fly back from Hawaii, one way, 1st class, and I look forward to never getting on another airplane for the rest of my life. If I have to travel far, I will drive or take a train.
Back in the day, I accumulated lots of miles, on two different airlines. I had enough miles on each of them for a first class ticket to Europe. So I cashed them both in and my bride and I flew separate flights on our honeymoon.
Later, the two merged and I became a lifetime million-mile member. Half million on each one. Good for me that they chose to merge with each other.
I have a gut feeling that the people who complain the most about flying are frequent flyers. They are more likely to count on their flight being uneventful, being on time, making connections, not losing luggage, etc. If you are a frequent flyer, eventually a bad thing will happen and stick in your memory. Probably this happen more than once.
For all my complaints about being herded like cattle on long-distance flights in coach, I really can't complain. All my flights have been on time and uneventful. My luggage always arrived with me.
I've done mileage runs in the past to hit a level for the next year. It seemed silly they wouldn't just let you buy the ticket, tell them you weren't going to actually fly, let them keep the money and you get the miles/segment credit.
I flew Thai Airways a bit in the 90’s from Pattya or Phuket to Chaig Mai and the golden triangle. Good airline, first class was cheap, and you got to copp the pilot Often getting to sit in the cockpit jumpiest. (crop Kuhn Kopp.). They always had a bottle of meklong rice whiskey for the falongs.
Howard said...
Air travel has never been safer or less expensive
You know, you're right.
Thanks, President Trump!
For those who hate flying and prefer to drive...do that! There's nothing worse than flying with people who whine and complain about every little thing on a flight.
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I have done this sort of thing several times. One year, I was going to be a couple segments short of the next level at United. Instead of a nonstop between SLC and PHX on another airline, I did the trip with three hops - SLC to SFO, SFO to LAX, and LAX to PHX. The problem was that TSA was doing “random” gate checks, and I ended up getting “randomly” gate checked on each of the three segments, making me almost miss the flight from LAX to PHX. Why? Because TSA agents are bureaucrats. They would invariably gate check one of the first people to board, because they had been loitering a bit. Of course, those were inevitably first class or really really frequent flyers, neither of which were the least bit likely to be potential hijackers. Didn’t matter - quotas are quotas. I would have been first to board in SLC and SFO, if I hadn’t been gate checked. Then the plane was delayed leaving SFO (duh - its United out of SFO, they get late the first flight of the delay there, and stay late all day, which is why I prefer Southwest). Which made me the last person boarding in LAX. As United was closing the door (despite my being late being completely United’s fault), the TSA agent at the gate was under quota, so delayed me with my third “random” gate check of the day.
Why worry about getting to the next level? Partially, it is seating. Sitting in coach, you are far more likely to get the exit row, or even the seats with more space. And you get to board early, which means that you can find overhead space for both your suitcase, and your briefcase, which means that you don’t have to check luggage (but, it made it far more likely that you would be “randomly” selected for being gate checked by TSA). But also, you get priority on rebooking and standby. One day in Missoula, with an incoming blizzard, United cancelled two of three commuter flights to Denver, including the one I was supposed to be on. Everyone else mobbed the gate people. I called the special number for frequent flyers, and got the single remaining seat on the third plane. Next flight was probably two days later. Then there was my standby problem. I was flying frequently between to Denver and Austin. I quickly found that I could buy the cheapest flight of the day, and then get on the flight I wanted standby. Only once, in maybe 100 flights, did this trick not work, and I lost out to someone with a higher membership status on the one standby seat on the flight I was trying to get on. I caught the next flight, two hours later, being the highest ranking standby passenger on that flight.
'Big Mike' said, "Well, the plane is flying whether you’re on it or not, so choosing to fly extra miles on a trip has no particular impact on pollution
And there's that. Or at least some version of ye olde free-rider problem.
Yet it's long past time for frequent-flyer perks to just die, as they are inherently corrupt. It isn't exactly a secret that employers are paying for most of this travel, and thus if offering the perks returns anything to the airlines it can only be because these expense-account flyers are choosing their flights for reasons other than business utility.
Paying the perks to the employee who's not paying for the flight is an inherent conflict of interest. And how much to businesses pay just to discourage their employees from putting their interest in 'miles' ahead of their employer's wish to minimize travel costs?
I've done mileage runs. Back in the days when you got airline miles based on miles flown, rather than money spent.
For a next ~$600, and two days time (and I managed to accomplish some useful things in that time), I got upgrade coupons that let me and my wife buy coach for an international round trip, but fly business class with lie flat seats.
Plus, we had a winter flight with screwed up flights, and Premium support was able to leave us "not screwed"
It was worth it
Big Mike said...
These days I assume someone flying across the ocean with no luggage except a small carry on would get a lot of attention from TSA, or so I imagine.
They asked me to put my luggage through the "food" scanner. 2 minutes later, i was on my way.
Lurker21 said...
Can't you buy miles if you want to up your status? Wouldn't that be cheaper than actually taking a flight?
No. Some of the airlines will "sell you qualification miles" at the end of the year, but it's pretty much always a lot more than you would spend on a well chosen flight to get the same miles.
Blogger PB said...
I've done mileage runs in the past to hit a level for the next year. It seemed silly they wouldn't just let you buy the ticket, tell them you weren't going to actually fly, let them keep the money and you get the miles/segment credit.
For the most part (other than upgrade coupons) airline status is mainly useful for competing with other flyers. Letting people move up in the competition easily means the people they want (the pure business flyers buying expensive tickets) lose out, and possibly switch to a different airline
Blogger Caligula said...
Yet it's long past time for frequent-flyer perks to just die, as they are inherently corrupt. It isn't exactly a secret that employers are paying for most of this travel, and thus if offering the perks returns anything to the airlines it can only be because these expense-account flyers are choosing their flights for reasons other than business utility.
Paying the perks to the employee who's not paying for the flight is an inherent conflict of interest. And how much to businesses pay just to discourage their employees from putting their interest in 'miles' ahead of their employer's wish to minimize travel costs?
One way or another, the company is going to pay. No perks for flying? Then they're going to have to pay people more, up front, to get them to take jobs that involve travel.
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