My First App-O-Rama Part 1

As those of you that know me well (or follow me on twitter - @bradleycfox ) know that I am quite into traveling - be it for work, pleasure, or just to fly/mileage run.

Lately I have become more and more interested in the non-flying/hotel stays aspect of accumulating points - specifically with credit cards and sign up bonuses. I decided it was time I dabble in that part of the "game".

I got my first credit card when I was 14 - thanks Mom and Dad! It had a massive $300 credit limit and was used solely to fill up my awesome 1986 Buick LeSabre (check out that ride! - mine definitely did not have a sunroof.) It was a simple (and smart) way of teaching me responsible credit use and that every time you use a credit card, you eventually have to pay off that purchase. Once I started my job I realized I needed a card to track work expenses and since then have opened roughly 15+ accounts. I certainly don't recommend that for everyone, but if you are diligent in paying your credit cards in full every month and also on time you can reap some nice rewards!

Before my recent application fest I carried or had these cards open :
- Wells Fargo Visa (rarely used - was included when I opened WF savings/checking accounts in 08, no annual fee)
- Two Capital One cards (my original card from when I was 14 and my 2nd card that was used for work expenses, also rarely used / no annual fee)
- Discover Miles card ( signed up for companion ticket, now only use with promotions, no annual fee)
- My work Visa card from The National Bank of Iowa - yes, The National Bank in Bettendorf, IA! (this card is used for work expenses such as bibs, safety pins, envelopes, etc.)
- American Express Hilton HHonors card (used for booking Hilton stays, no annual fee)
- Chase United Plus Visa Signature ( main spend card, United bookings, 2x points on gas/groceries. $95 annual fee - I get a credit as United 1k)
- Chase Presidential Plus card ( allows me upgrades on award bookings, Avis elite status, United Club membership. Regular annual fee is $395. I got the first year waived and now annual is $287.50 - I'll share with you soon how to do this if there is interest.)

My goals for my first application process were to : get some good sign up bonuses (with spend I thought I could hit), get approval for all applications, and diversify my miles/points situation. I planned to apply for four cards - Citi AAdvantage Visa Signature, Citi AAdvantage American Express, Chase Hyatt and Chase Sapphire Preferred. I'll summarize my reasoning for each card (and two surprises...) next time along with the outcome and benefits of each new card.

Do you play any aspect of "the game?"
-Brad

First Mileage Run of 2012

Twelve segments, roughly 44 hours in the air, about 80 hours total time and lots of Airbus action.

I have embarked on my first mileage run of the year! I'm currently at my sister and brother in-laws place in Yelm, WA picking up some packets for an event in March and saying hi to my nephew and mom :)

Special thanks to FT user redheadj for this gem : Flyertalk Thread . I will be flying tonight and tomorrow thru Thursday evening. Routing is PDX-ORD-LGA-ORD-PDX (and repeat two more times). I had a CO e-cert from giving up my seat on a mileage run last year so in total my cost (for flights) came to $66.12. I will net just short of 15,000 EQM (elite qualifying miles) and 30k + RDM (redeemable miles - because of credit card booking bonus), this comes out to a pretty solid CPM!

I am looking forward to the trip, although I am going to assume my rear end might hurt on Thursday. Thankfully I have a friend in Portland where I can park my vehicle and take a shower each night. I will also of course make multiple trips to Voodoo Doughnut and probably bringing some back to the family and my G.F. The trip will also be more enjoyable as I have cleared nine of twelve of the segments to FC. I am waitlisted for all 3 ORD-LGA legs (currently sitting 1/27 for one seat on tomorrow morning's 6AM flight). I have seen some reports of fog in O'Hare so I might encounter some IRROPS and have a chance at a bump or two.

I brought both my camera and video camera with me, so I hope to have some solid pictures and possibly a video report post-trip.

Should be a few of these in my future as well

Stay tuned!

How My Elite Status has benefited Others this year

As some of you may or may not know, I travel more than your average person for work (traveling to races across the USA.) I flew 55K miles in 2009, 65K in 2010 and was expecting about 75K in 2011. Before some unexpected trips came up in 2010, I took my first "mileage run" to keep my Premier Executive status with United Airlines. I met someone on a flight from Chicago, IL (ORD) to Seattle, WA (SEA) that recommended I check out a website called Flyertalk. I dabbled a bit and eventually decided I would like to try for 1K status on United - 1K Webpage . Fast forward to today and I have flown 105,000+ miles on United or Continental Airlines.

Reading some other blogs - JohnnyJet , Frequently Flying , One Mile at a Time along with some inspiration from friends and my GF I have decided to start trying to blog a few times a week. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought my first post would outline how my elite status has helped others this year.

Most recently my girlfriend flew back to Chicago for a wedding of two friends and to see her family. I was able to use two of my CR1's (confirmed regional upgrades) to assure her first class on both her outbound and return flights. Although she does not have the flying bug like I do, she said it was much better sitting up front. I was tracking her flight last night, and knew it would be a fun one for her when I watched her Airbus 320 drop all the way out of Montana into Idaho due to turbulence, sorry babe! She will also be flying First home the week before Christmas and her return trip (care of another CR1 and a SWU - systemwide upgrade).

I've also been recently blessed with becoming an Uncle. My mother came out here to visit my sister and her newborn son, Aiden. Besides playing Grandma, she also helped me with lots of data entry and packet stuffing :) (thanks mom!) The least I could do is get her some good seats on her flight back. I don't think my dad appreciated it... he says she only wants to fly First now...oops! I also enjoyed the "had 3 bloody marys" text I received from here once she landed in DEN for her layover.

The two other experiences I've had involved complete strangers. I was flying back from vacation in FL and my seatmate noticed my KU (Kansas) sticker on my Macbook. Turned out she was a KU alum and we of course talked about KU Bball, etc. We were delayed getting into ORD and both of us had tight connections. I offered to guest her into the lounge and get her re-booked. She was able to get on the next flight out of MCI and get a free drink without waiting in what I would assume was a massive line at a customer service center in O'hare. The other had me traveling from BTV (Burlington, VT) to EWR (Newark, NJ) on my way home from IronMan Lake Placid. There were multiple folks trying to get to Seattle, including a very cute Golden Retriever in training. My original flight to EWR was delayed (and eventually cancelled) so I switched to the other flight. That was also delayed, but by the time we left there was no flights to SEA. I was able to give some hints to the Golden Retriever family on getting re-booked on the 6AM and also was able to help the woman next to me get a hotel room comped.

In full disclosure, I of course enjoy some of the benefits that spending countless hours on an airplane brings - but it is always nice to help out someone else in need. Hopefully I can get into a groove and start blogging regularly.

First Trip Report : SEA-IAD-MIA-ORD-SEA

I ran my total miles for the year calculations in November - I was going to be about 3,500 miles short of 50K for the year (1P on United).

I had a $150 e-certificate from irrops (irregular operations) from a previous flight. I did some searching and found a fairly cheap fare from Seattle to Miami (everyone wants to get out of Seattle in December right?). The trip would get me roughly 6,500 miles and only ran me $150 and my time. I'd been reading about mileage running - traveling solely for the purpose of earning miles or status with an airline. Although this trip would not be a traditional mileage run (because I used an e-certificate), it would be my first trip for no apparent reason.

 On Dec. 6th I rode the light rail to Sea-Tac around 10:00, and arrived at 10:45. Unfortunately the Red Carpet Club (United's lounge) closes at 7. I hung out outside the gate for a few minutes and it was time for boarding. My upgrade to first class had cleared the day before which made me even more excited for the trip. The snack provided in first was a wrap, salad and United's famous cookies. I asked the flight attendant if there was any extra cookies and she brought by another. Even though the flight was a red eye, I don't do much sleeping on planes. The flight attendant was also pretty aggressive about keeping my Jack and Coke's filled (hey, they are free right?). I dosed off for about 45 minutes before we started our decent in Washington, DC.

I headed the to RCC in IAD grabbed some breakfast, checked email and made some phone calls. I grabbed a root beer for the road and headed to the gate area for my flight to MIA. I caught up on email did some reading on the flight. Thankfully this flight was much shorter than SEA-IAD. We arrived in Miami and I brushed my teeth, freshened up and turned right back around to board the same plane in seat 3A to O'Hare. I listened to my recently received iPod and made some notes for the work week ahead. This was another short flight and uneventful. We landed at ORD and I headed to the RCC to grab some snacks. I had a little bit of time to check email and call my dad and then it was time to fly the final leg.

ORD-SEA was a good flight, we must have had a tail wind because we made some great time. I finalized my plan for the next week, enjoyed a nice dinner and watched Despicable Me. I got to Sea-Tac just in time to head to the RCC and catch the end of the Kansas game. A nice W was a fitting end to my first "mileage run".

First Blog - Restless

It is 2:33 am Pacific time (4:33 Central) as I sit here in the basement of my parent's house in Davenport, IA.

My Grandma (known to family as "Mimi") passed away this week and I made the journey home to celebrate her life. I've had trouble sleeping much since she has moved on. I've gotten in a few naps and and alcohol induced 5 hours of sleep in Denver thanks to United Airlines.

Mimi was such a wonderful person. She was married for 60 years to my Grandpa - Jim "Pop" Fox (who passed in '06). Grandpa is somewhat of a legend in the Quad City area. He coached 6 players that went onto the NFL, including Roger Craig and his brother. Between Pop's coaching and Mimi's teaching (27 years in the Davenport schools) there have been a great deal of lives affected by them both.

I was amazed, although I shouldn't be at the volume of ex-players, students and teachers at both of their visitations. Mimi was aging quickly in the past year. I was lucky enough to see her in October as I was home for work. She tired easily and you could tell she got people, days, places confused. Nevertheless she was still the best Grandma and friend anyone could ask for. Mimi was my source of information about the family - "XXXX had a new baby.", "XXXX and XXXXX are moving.", she knew everything that happened in the Fox family. I will miss getting her updates every week or so (even if she sometimes didn't respect the west coast time change). When my phone would ring at 5AM on a weekend I knew it was either work, or Mimi.

I have so many stories I could share about the 26 years I was able to spend with her and the many, many things she taught me. All I know is that she will be able to spend Christmas with Pop for the first time in 5 years and I can take comfort in knowing that she is in a better place checking in on all of us just as much as she would from Earth.

RIP Beth "Mimi" Fox