With the Asiana crash at SFO, I thought that it might be timely to share some of my training in aircraft survival.  When I lived in Alaska, it was a requirement for me to go through wilderness and aircraft survival due to the nature of my work taking me all over the state.  The average time…

It’s that time of year to check your miles and see if you are on track to make your desired status goal.  Every January I make what I call a “Flight Plan” to figure out about where I should end up by the end of the year.  I put down all of the trips I…

So the buzz all last week was about United following Delta’s lead in requiring a minimum amount of spending commensurate with the status level you want to achieve.  For both airlines, you must spend an average of 10 cents-per-mile(CPM).  Readers of this and other blogs know that a good fare for mileage runs is 4…

I know every other blogger is writing about United’s announcement, but I noticed some good news today in the fact that Alaska Airlines has added another EQM-earning partner, Aeromexico, to its list of AA, DL, and EK.  I know writing about Alaska’s FF program is a little outside my normal subjects, but I am a…

For the last two weeks, I have been one of the featured bloggers on Boarding Area. My readership went up dramatically with this greater visibility and my writing new posts almost every day. That is not easy for me and my schedule of 70-80 hours a week of work. During the two weeks, I had…

  Airline:  Alaska www.alaskaair.com FF Program:  MileagePlan Flights: A bunch to 96 airports Aircraft: 245 Alliance:  None, but mini-network with AA, DL, EK which count EQM. Club:  Boardroom (Cost=$295-400/ year depending upon Mileage Plan status) Why fly Alaska?: The major airline flying out of ANC, SEA, and PDX. HAs special deals for Alaska residents if you are fortunate enough to live there. Has…

Just like that milk in your fridge, miles will last a while, but not forever. Until the late ’90s, miles did not expire, but they kept building up faster than they were redeemed and this presented a problem for the airlines. You see, in accounting rules, each mile represented a potential expenditure the airline would…

I find that this subject, more than any other, is the most popular one that we blog about.  My blog about this recently is the most popular I have written about to date.  Although taking a cheap flight to earn miles seems like fun, I think you need to decide what your level of pain…

As the first of my Advanced Course subjects we should start with searching for that great flight you are looking for. Most people are familiar with looking on their favorite airlines website or one of the consolidated websites such as Orbitz or Expedia.  Nothing wrong with booking through the airlines, but are you seeing all…