Month: March 2010

Background

I first read about American Airlines’ Elite Status Challenge in Chris Guillebeau’s Frequent Flyer Master, a 40-page hacking manual for travel junkies. Worth a buy if you’re planning a big trip in the next year, are a frequent traveler or are simply interested in the inner workings of the frequent flyer industry.

It wasn’t until recently that I actually thought about attempting the challenge. While many of my friends and family think I’m swimming in frequent flyer rewards, the reality is that it’s quite difficult to accumulate miles the traditional way–paying for a ticket and, well, flying. Sure, I make it a point to optimize each of my trips and fight for lost miles, but after seven international trips and a handful of domestic trips over the last two years, I’m still no George Clooney.

For those curious, here are my current frequent flyer balances:

42,827 American Airlines (One World Alliance)–30k miles from a credit card offer
75,012 United Airlines (Star Alliance)–have reached “Gold” status with the Star Alliance
15,175 Delta Airlines (SkyTeam Alliance)

[image from Grzegorz Chorus]

How the Challenge Works

Bare with me here. It’ll make more sense in a second. From the AAdvantage Elite Status Challenge wiki:

Choosing a Challenge

An AA Challenge is based on flying sufficiently to earn 5,000 (AAdvantage Gold) or 10,000 (AAdvantage Platinum) Elite Qualifying Points (EQP) in a three month period. Challenges may begin on the 1st or 16th of the month. Elite Qualifying Points are figured on the basis of miles earned and fare class. See the tables at aa.com for the official rates.

Important notes:

• Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) are not the same as Elite Qualifying Points (EQP) and it is Points that count for a Challenge, miles earned are not relevant. See Miles and Points for more information on the differences.
• See the tables at aa.com for the number of points that you will earn for the various booking classes. (Also see Inventory Classes and Mileage Eligibility.)
• As of January 2007, only flights marketed by AA (with an AA flight number) are eligible for earning points that count towards the completion of a Challenge. You can still fly on a non-AA metal flight operated by a partner, but you must make sure that you have booked it with an AA codeshare flight number. (Previously, points earned on partner-marketed flights were eligible, but that is no longer the case).
• You’ll earn points in accordance with the booking class that you purchased. This holds true even if you are upgraded into another booking class.
• Once attaining Gold through a challenge, you are not allowed to sign-up for a subsequent Platinum Challenge.¹
• You are not allowed to use a challenge to maintain status – you must lose it and then challenge to regain it.
• You are not allowed to use a challenge to re-attain status earned through a Challenge within the same year.
• There is no Challenge for Executive Platinum.
• To acquire Executive Platinum status you must fly 100 segments or earn 100,000 EQM / EQP in the calendar year; Challenge completion does not affect (minimize) this requirement.

Status earned through a Challenge is treated the same as elite status earned through other means.

¹There have been some reports of people doing this in the past, but it has become increasingly difficult and attempting either will likely just waste your time trying. It also goes against the spirit of the Challenge Program.

So, in an oversimplified nutshell: accumulate 5,000 or 10,000 points (not miles) in a three month period for Gold or Platinum status.

The Phone Call

After my May cost-of-living assignment to New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australia was approved, I learned that I would (mostly) fly with American Airlines. Score!

Using the information above, I called my travel agent and determined the booking class of each flight and the number of miles between each city–I was then able to calculate exactly how many points I would earn if I committed to the challenge. Since the number was just over 10,000, I decided to apply for the Platinum Challenge. If this sounds like a lot of work, it really wasn’t. Ten minutes with Microsoft Excel and a quick phone call.

I called American Airlines to verify the information.

After I walked the customer representative through my numbers, she agreed that I would indeed complete the Platinum challenge, assuming I took all the flights, of course. Here’s the best part–when I told her that I had primarily been flying United Airlines, that I had achieved Executive Platinum status with them and that I was interested in using American Airlines more in my upcoming trips, she offered to bump me up to Gold status before the challenge even started.

This means that for each flight before I reach Platinum, I get 25% extra miles. From Boston to Oceania and back, this will rack up quite a few extra miles. Several thousand, actually.

I gave the representative my credit card information–the Platinum challenge now costs $150–bid my thanks and hung up.

The Email

Thirty minutes later I received the following email:

Dear MR. ALAN PERLMAN,

Thank you for registering for the American Airlines AAdvantage PLATINUM® challenge. We have charged your credit card $150.00. If you successfully earn 10,000 points by 07/15/2010, you’ll enjoy AAdvantage PLATINUM status until the last day in February 2011.

Here are some tips to help you succeed:

* Be sure to fly AA (we know you want to anyway!) since only points earned on American Airlines, American Eagle and AmericanConnection® flights (including AA codeshare flights operated by other carriers) count toward Challenges

* Since Challenges are based on points, not miles, you’ll meet your goal more quickly if you select fares with high point values. If, for example, you use Deep Discount Fares, remember that those fares earn points at half the rate of miles – so you’ll have to fly twice as much! But if you buy Discount Fares, the rate is one point per mile and you can meet your Challenge by flying 10,000 elite-qualifying miles. And if you select premium fares, you earn 1.5 points per mile and can meet the Challenge by flying just — OK, you do the math!

* Know the point values you’ll earn for the booking codes you select. Yes it may look like alphabet soup, but there’s a point to these codes. In fact, there’s anywhere from 0.5 — 1.5 points!
o Earn 1.5 points per mile when the purchased fare on your American Airlines ticket is booked in one of these booking codes: A F P D I J R B C Y
o Earn 1.0 point per mile for these AA booking codes: H K L M V W
o Earn .5 points per mile for these AA booking codes: G N Q S O (excludes tickets between North America and Latin America booked in O inventory, which are not eligible for mileage credit)

* How can you determine what booking code is used for the fare you’re purchasing? Simply ask the booking agent, whether that’s your travel agent, corporate travel planner or AA Reservations representative. Or, even better, when you book your flights on AA.com, the Flight Summary screen displays the booking code in the same column as the cabin booked.

* If you have the opportunity to upgrade, good for you! But with respect to the points you will earn, traveling in a premium cabin is not the same as purchasing a premium fare. When you upgrade, the points for your flights are still calculated on the fare and booking code you purchased, not the cabin that you were lucky enough to travel in!

* Remember that the charge for your Challenge is nonrefundable – even if circumstances beyond your control (or ours!) prevent you from meeting the goal. But we’re thinking positive thoughts and we know you can do it!

Keep in mind that a Challenge is intended for members who are in a hurry to get to the elite level they desire and begin enjoying their benefits. Think of it as a shortcut to the status you would probably earn on your own during the normal qualification period. Assuming you’re successful, please be prepared to meet the normal criteria when it comes time to requalify for your status, since we offer only limited opportunities to earn status via a Challenge. That’s fair, right? Now you’re all set — Good Luck!

I’ll keep you all posted!

As I mentioned last week, my buddy Chris and I are working on a new project, Abroad Care. I’m hoping that, with a little extra income I can start to free myself up for bigger and better things.

The idea: to market gift baskets/care packages to students studying abroad.

We still have several kinks to work out, but Abroad Care has officially begun. Chris and I had talked several weeks ago about publicizing our experiences, and we concluded that getting our readers involved would ultimately bring our practices to a higher standard. So, welcome to our project! If, at any point you feel like chiming in, please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Abroad Care is an experiment in bootstrapping–starting a business without external capital. One of the first things we discussed was how to legalize the idea. You know, get our papers in order. Per the suggestion of Alex King (a veteran entrepreneur and close friend), we incorporated an LLC in Delaware.

Why Delaware, you ask? A good question. Did you know that more than half of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware? Here are a few reasons why:

It’s Cheap. Delaware is one of the cheapest states in the country to incorporate a business. Only eight states have cheaper incorporation fees.

You don’t need to live in Delaware. In other states, you have to operate the business within the state to incorporate.

One person can hold all officer positions and serve as sole director. Many states require you to list separate people as officers and directors. This is an advantage for those running businesses alone.

You can read about some other advantages here.

For the record, here were the incorporation costs for Abroad Care:

$120/year: obtaining a registered agent.
$90: submitting a Certificate of Formation.
$250/year: Delaware state franchise fee.

So, $140 for the first year, then $370/year after that.

In my next update I’ll talk about some of the initial decisions we made, some of our very first mistakes, and how we’re moving forward.

Don’t you just love Fridays?

The city of Boston is all smiles this week–spring has officially arrived.

In other good news, I wanted to share my May survey assignment with you all. It’s a doozy.

New Zealand

Cue the Lord of the Rings music. New Zealand, here I come! I’ll be working in Auckland, New Plymouth and Wellington–all cities in the North island, for a few weeks. Hopefully I’ll have enough free time to duck down to the South island, rent a car and explore. Maybe head to Christchurch and visit Colin?

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea is one the most diverse–yet least explored–countries on Earth.  I’ll be surveying the capital, Port Moresby, and time allowed plan to do some snorkeling!

Australia

My mission: to find out if toilets actually spin the other way. Absolutely thrilled to be in Australia! Will be surveying Sydney and Perth…if you have any recommendations please throw them my way.

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In other news, I’m working on a start-up company with my buddy Chris called AbroadCare. Things have been slow so far, but we’re both learning a lot and I look forward to sharing our progress with you more in depth on Tuesday.

In other, other news, have any of you done the P90X workouts? A work colleague gave me the ab workout–11 short exercises, 25 reps each, and I still can’t get through it after a week. Hoping to have a seriously strong core in the next couple of months.

Happy weekend!

[photos by chasquito el roncoso, Alf Gillman, and Kyaw Photography]

One year and seven days ago, I wrote a post called “10 Ridiculously Offbeat Destinations.”

It was a fun list to put together.

Lucky for all you wild and crazy travel junkies (myself included), there are plenty of other wacky, ridiculously offbeat places around the world. Cheers to this second gathering!

Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve: Madagascar

Known also as Madagascar’s Stone Forest, the Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve is a wild expanse of limestone cliffs, housing a remote and mostly inhospitable terrain–strange species of lemurs, wild birds, slotted canyons and preserved mangrove forests. The deep and brittle precipices were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. Check out more information and photos in this National Geographic article.

[photograph from National Geographic’s Stephen Alvarez]

Mount Huashan Hiking Trail: China

The ascent of Mount Huashan in China’s Shaanxi Province can be done in one of two ways–easy…or ridiculously and terrifyingly difficult.  Deemed one of the most exhilarating (and dangerous) hikes in the world, it is estimated that the ascent claims the lives of 100 people each year. The Chinese government has made considerable improvements to the trail, but hikers must still scale narrow and unsteady planks, nearly vertical staircases, and ladders that would make even Indiana Jones cringe in fear.

The wildest part of the Huashan Trail is the “Changong Zhandao,” a 13 feet long, 1 foot wide wooden path. I believe that is what is pictured above.

[photograph from Flickr user Verde PR]

Three Camel Lodge: Mongolia

One of the world’s most remote hotels, the Three Camel Lodge may not have 4 stars…but it’s got a heck-of-a view. Guests can stay in one of 45 hand-made gers, traditional Mongolian tents used by nomadic herders. Felt carpets, indigenous furnishings, and wood-burning stoves can be found inside, and guests can participate in a variety of activities–camel trekking, horseback riding and visiting nomadic Mongolian families.

Make sure to allow enough time to get there. After a two hour flight from Beijing to Mongolia’s capital, Ulan Bator, you must take a 60-minute prop-plane to Dalanzadgad, followed by a 90-minute drive along a remote dirt road.

[photograph from Flickr user jennifer_schuetz]

Lac Assal: Djibouti

Lac Assal, a crater lake in central Djibouti, is the deepest point in Africa and, behind the Dead Sea the second lowest land impression on Earth. Also, outside of Antarctica, Lac Assal is the most saline body of water in the world with nearly 34% salt content. Nearby, the original Planet of the Apes was filmed.

Mataveri International Airport: Easter Island

The only airport on Eastern Island, Mataveri International Airport in the South Pacific is considered the most remote airport in the world. The closest major city that can be reached by plane is Santiago, over 2,000 miles away. Travelers can also come via Mangareva  (GMR) in the Gambier Islands.

[photograph from Flickr user peace-on-earth.org]

Tanggula (Dangla) Railway Station: China

At 5,068 meters (16,627 feet), the Tanggula Railway Station is the highest railway station in the world. The region is completely uninhabited, therefore recently no passenger transport system has been available.

[photograph from Flickr user Calem]

La Rinconada: Peru

Another one of the world’s most extreme places, La Rinconada in the Peruvian Andes (5,100m or 16,732 ft) is officially the highest inhabited city in the world. Just over 30,000 people live here, many of them working at a gold mine nearby. The city has no running water or sewage system.

[photograph from Hildegard Willer]

Socotra Island: Yemen

One of the most alien looking places on Earth, Socotra Island lies in the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Yemen, geographically isolated from mainland Africa for the last 6 or 7 million years.

Similar to the Galapagos Islands, the island flourishes with rare species of flora and fauna. Check this–a third of the plants and animals on Socotra Island are endemic…as in, they aren’t found anywhere else in the world.

Despite the fact that Socotra, one of four clustered islands, has around 40,000 inhabitants, the Yemeni government only recently built roads. Socotra is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.

[photography from Flickr user Martin Sojka]

Pripyat: Ukraine

Pripyat, Ukraine is an abandoned city within the “zone of exclusion” near the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, around 50,000 residents abandoned Pripyat, many of them dying from radioactive exposure.

Pripyat’s buildings haven’t been maintained for over two decades, giving the city an eerie, post-apocalyptic feel. Visitors can walk through an abandoned school, amusement park and hospital–seeing peeled paint, broken glass, rotting floorboards, and all kinds of interesting Soviet relics.

Guoliang Tunnel: China

Through the Taihang Mountains in China’s Henan Province, the Guoliang Tunnel twists and carves its way through towering rock. The tunnel is nearly a mile long and was opened in 1977 to traffic.

[photographs from Flick user Toxane]

There’s only so much you can learn from a guidebook.

In an attempt to pull travelers away from their Lonely Planets, to help focus one’s reading of particular cities and countries, I have created a new page on this blog, “Location Reading.”

My list of fiction and non-fiction books is far from complete. That’s where you come in. Please comment below, or better yet, on the Location Reading page, with your favorite travel books and authors.

Eventually I will create a review/ranking system, and I hope to format the list in a more user-friendly way.

Let me know what you think!

[photo credit to Lochaven]