[thegurio]

Hi all, I've been fascinated and enthralled (and jealous) by the lengths that some of you will go to maintain your status's - or is that statii? It makes me appaled at myself for falling 600 points shy of silver last year...

What i'm itching to know is who pays? Is it a "business expense" or does it come out of your own pocket? How do you justify it(i really want to know this one as i own the company so all i have to justify it to is the Minister For Finances SWMBO Division)?

[simongr]

My mileage runs are built into fixed price tickets - DONE4/DAS13 so the only people who pay are the airlines. The additional time spent travelling is put onto the end/beginning of my journey and generally on my own time.

[QF009]

Originally Posted by simongr

My mileage runs are built into fixed price tickets - DONE4/DAS13 so the only people who pay are the airlines.

What he said.

For my Starwood mattress runs it's only a matter of swapping hotels every night or every few nights to build up stay count. So no additional expense there, in fact in KUL I actually saved money as the average rate of my stays at multiple hotels was lower than that of sticking to the same hotel the entire trip.

[Hawkeye]

My travel is a mixture - approximately half is point-to-point fares paid for by sponsors in J; the remainder is typically OneWorld Explorer and Circle Pacific fares that I pony up for myself.

Hotel stays that I gain credit for are all leisure stays paid for by me. Business-related stays for me are ineligible for credit.

I keep SWMBO happy by taking her along with me!

[QF009]

Originally Posted by QF009

What he said.

For my Starwood mattress runs it's only a matter of swapping hotels every night or every few nights to build up stay count. So no additional expense there, in fact in KUL I actually saved money as the average rate of my stays at multiple hotels was lower than that of sticking to the same hotel the entire trip.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I pay for my own trips as they're all leisure.

[Mal]

MRing is a bit of a hobby for me. Some is paid for by my employer (but not much), some is tax deductible for certain reasons etc, but both those combined would be less than 10% of my travel. This year it was probably 5%

Using creative skills to find cheap fares is fun, and I enjoy the lurks and perks of status with airlines/hotels etc.

I spend way too much on the hobby, but some people collect vintage cars, some people hire yachts or compete in yacht races or spend thousands on dirt bike rallying or dvd collections they never watch. I choose to travel, and for those people I just think they have a different view on life.

I have learnt lots by travelling and seen some unique (and too touristy) sites. Have had some bad moments, have had some good moments and some excellent moments.

Highlights like a rare upgrade to BA F (from a J award) was nice, so are the suites and executive lounges I've been in at certain hotels when I've paid a very low rate to start off with.

Airport lounges rate from poor to excellent, and places like the HKG Cathay Pacific F lounges and the Sydney/Melbourne Qantas F lounges are a very nice place to while away spare time before flying.

Bad moments include lost baggage, missed connections and lots of stress at various times from risky trips and suspicious customs officers. I've also become sick a few times from the travel I've done where I've picked up infections during my travel (colds, flus even chickenpox!). I also feel like I sometimes no longer appreciate holidays like I once did, and won't spend the preparation time I used to on a trip, and for some reason find flight after flight trips more interesting than direct (eg adding an additional 5000 miles (50%) and 2 sectors onto a UK trip by finding a way to go the wrong way around)

It's also the little things, for example with Qantas, I can't remember having a middle seat last year and about 80% of my domestic trips had a spare seat next to me (and were in rows 4-10). Being able to choose seats before I travel on Qantas Internationally also allows me to get my preferred seats (middle aisle).

There are people who don't agree with MRing here, and others who are concerned about the greenhouse footprint of the 'excess' travel. Similar to my comment above, very few people know my personal circumstances and they should not be throwing stones themselves.

The other thing to watch is that status is easily diluted by airlines/hotels etc, and there are so many 'elites' in the marketplace that getting some of the listed benefits are hard. Plus the constant battle to try and work out if a 45 min connection at some weird airport in the US is achievable or not or why you should change hotel after your first night!

PS - Virgin Blue Velocity (I assume that's the FF scheme you were referring to when you discussed 600 points?), is not an easy program to MR with. The non-flexible points system ensures that you pay fixed amounts for travel to get status within Australia. I am yet to analyse overseas flights, but there may also be some bonus partners that could assist with getting status (but once again, I've not researched it thoroughly)

[Homer]

Originally Posted by thegurio

What i'm itching to know is who pays? Is it a "business expense" or does it come out of your own pocket? How do you justify it(i really want to know this one as i own the company

I also own the company, thegurio, and have asked a similar question in this place myself.

In my case while I fly domestically in J regularly I usually use points to upgrade so until recently the SCs only allowed me to maintain SG for the last 4 or 5 years. In the last couple of years I started attending some conferences in the US and so managed a business-funded long haul a few times each year usually with a vacation tacked on to the end.

I only did my first DONE4 late last year. Before then it had seemed like a waste of time but I decided, after the inspirational stories on this forum, to take the plunge and try to make QF WP. That trip was a big success - I really enjoyed taking "the long way home" and experiencing J and F on a range of airlines.

To get back to your question about who pays, in my case at least, the cost of a DONE4 is about the same as (or even slightly less than) a regular direct J fare to the US or UK. So as far as the company is concerned, there is no issue with the cost of the airfare.

[serfty]

My answer is in post #29 of this thread: Work paying for F and J flights

Originally Posted by serfty

In my role, I can travel on Industry fares if I desire.

I prefer the FF points, SC's and security of confirmed bookings; so I try to travel on paid point/SC earning fares. I must keep the costs down to do this so most travel I do is on discount WHY fares; even overseas. I do use upgrades a lot on the longer trips (Since the May '05 changes I am 100% on those Upgrades I have requested.)

... more than that, about 10% of my domestic and 50% of international travel is for leisure & self-funded.

I do try to optimise my SC earning/$ ratio as much as possible.

[littl_flier]

Since discovering AFF and FT earlier this year, I have become a little bit (okay maybe obsessed) of a FF enthusiast. I stuggled with the concept of making pointless flights like an immediate turnaround to the US or even Adelaide but this site (and mainly FT) has opened my mind to some amazing possibilites and the lurks and perks that come with status.

In the last 12 months, probably 50% of my flights were business, and 50% were leisure (on a sector basis) though none of my work travel is overseas. For the business flights, I travel on Full Economy fares so I have paid the upgrade to Business Class a couple of times and enjoyed the extra status credits. In this case, even though the additional cost was bourne by me, I was able to claim this as a tax deduction.

I generally travel with a team so it's quite hard to drag anyone else with me on longish routings but on a recent trip by myself, I took the long routing home and flew through Darwin and Sydney for 50% extra points and more status credits. The additional cost (~$300) is funded by my employer/the client but this is hardly noticed when thrown in with the overall fees etc and it saved a nights accomodation. The client used to book our airfares so it was quite hard but because of discounts, I was still able to get the longer routing under what the client used to pay for direct routings so they are still happy.

Mileage wise, probably 80% of my travel is leisure and self funded. Like Mal, I quite enjoy finding a long routing to get to my destination if it will maximise points. (egs include BNE-SYD-CBR instead of BNE-CBR and BNE-SYD-LAX instead of BNE-LAX) All of my international travel is leisure but because of my circumstances, I will be able to write off a fair portion of a DONE4 (though I'm unsure about 100% because of the MRing) this year.

There are also some great bargains to be had out there if you can get yourself to the US. Have a good look at the Mileage Run Forum on Flyertalk and see if any will work for you. There was a recent fare that I picked up for Chicago-Vancouver-Toronto-Santiago-Buneos Airies-Santiago-Mexico for USD$490 and it's in United First Class, Air Canada Business Class and LAN Business Class that will give me a night in South America before heading back to Mexico. This is my worst MR by far but I will get to experience premium classes on several airlines. I'll also note that I can count the number times I've flown business class on one hand and none of these have been Internationally so it's a pretty exciting prospect. As Mal notes, it's arguably not the most sensible way of spending my money but it gives me the same satisfaction that my mates get from their trailbikes, surfboards and cars.

Thanks to FT and AFF, this year I'll be travelling on a DONE4 and will hopefully make AA Platinum and QF WP, something I never thought would happen at this stage of my life.

[Evan]

Company pays for my work trips and i have some flexability in routing provided its best far of the day (And since i can always find cheaper than my agent no worries) so a simple example for me booked by agent would be MEL-SIN-FRA train to STR, i would route MEL-SYD-HKG-LHR-STR for less money often and have some fun on the way.
All my work travel is economy.

For my personal travel its a mix of cheapest whY and some J product like DAS13 and my planned DONE4. I live most of the year in Singapore so i have some better specials at times to some locations and the trip home to MEL is much cheaper.

My current DAS13 (Business class circle pacific less than 13k miles) is SIN-PER-MEL-SYD-NRT-KIX-TPE-HKG-SIN, total cost less than $5k AUD (Could have been cheaper but booked via QF in SIN since it was somewhat last minute, eg i imagine starting in Japan and ticketing via AA would cost somewhat less)

My flights are nearly all OneWorld as i have status and prior to that used to be Qantas Club Life. Some other airlines also like SQ/LH but not as often.

Evan