earning star alliance gold for the less frequent traveler

one of the rules about airline travel is that by consolidating your miles on one particular airline (or even one particular airline alliance), you will get you more benefits than flying on a multitude of airlines. and of course, this is all within reason -- sometimes, price really is a determining factor.

almost all airlines have a reward system. and most airlines provide elite levels -- the more you fly with them (and their alliance partners), the more likely you will earn these elite levels, and the more benefits you get when traveling.

canadian travel is limited really to two major airlines: air canada, and west jet. air canada is affiliated with the star alliance, and therefore, benefits are extended to 27 member airlines. westjet is not affiliated with anyone ... and on top of that, there really are no benefits to their reward program asides from reward redemption. that's why when i talk about accruing flight mileage, i am more of a star alliance person.

air canada's (AC) altitude program (nicknamed "attitude" for their sometimes hostile customer policies), is the elite program for the airline. it has 5 tiers with various benefits based on the amount of status miles earned/flown. 25k, 35k, 50k, 75k, and 100k miles flown per calendar year. star alliance gold starts at the 50k mark. indeed, almost all airlines within the star alliance provide star alliance gold benefits at the 50k mark. (exceptions where the threshold are lower are: turkish airlines, greece's aegean airlines, and south korea's asiana airlines). the benefits of star gold/silver apply to all member airlines of the alliance.

the benefits of star gold are numerous:

1. at the airport: priority check-in (skip the line to drop off your bags), extra luggage (+1 free bag, usually to 3 free pieces of checked luggage), priority baggage (your bags come out first at your destination), lounge access (free food, drinks, internet), priority boarding (seated first, putting your stuff in the overhead compartments without worrying if space will run out).
2. in the case of irregular operations (e.g., weather delays, flight cancellations etc): priority reservation waitlist and priority airport standby (if your flight gets cancelled, you'll be higher on the standby list than other passengers with star silver or no status.
3. on certain airlines, like united, it's not uncommon for them to simply bump me to economy plus for free (extra legroom, less crowded) so that they can give non-status standby passengers my old regular economy seat. i've experienced this bump on the majority of my united airline flights.

the benefits of star silver are less:

1. you get same irregular operations benefits as above, except you're below the star golds.
2. on certain airlines, your first or second checked bag free is waived. also, on united airlines (UA), you get the priority boarding and check-in as well.

but really, how easy is it to earn 50k miles a year? if you're an infrequent traveler like myself, it's hard to do this on a north american-based airline program. so you have to hunt around.

in 2008, after much contemplation, i decided to join asiana airlines. their qualification period is 24 months, and their star silver and star gold levels are much, much easier to achieve. asiana gold status (star alliance silver) requires 20,000 flight miles on star alliance carriers in 24 months. asiana diamond status (star alliance gold) requires 40,000 flight miles on star alliance carriers in 24 months. lifetime star alliance gold status (diamond plus) can be had for 500,000 lifetime flight miles. in terms of earning, you will earn roughly the same number of miles from star alliance flights with asiana as you would with air canada or united (some exceptions apply: many of air canada's flex/tango plus fares still only earn 50% qualifying miles). the redemptions, i do acknowledge, are a bit more expensive than air canada for the same amount of flying.

  
so if you fly <10,000 miles a year, feel free to apply your miles to any one program you wish. even if not earning status, it's better to at least consolidate your miles in order to redeem for an award. if you fly 10,000-25,000 miles per year (20,000-49,999 miles every 2 years), credit to asiana so that you get star alliance silver or gold status. some status is better than no status. if you fly 50,000+ miles a year, ditch asiana and go for the airline program that you fly with the most as there are additional airline specific benefits that are only accessible by the members. upgrades are one particular example.

case example
my one and only mileage run occurred in 2010, just before my 2-year qualifying period was to end. i was 1,700 miles short of star gold status with asiana airlines (i.e., i had about 38,300 miles in my qualifying period). i ended up booking a 348$ same day, return trip from YVR-LAX (2,160 miles total). i had a 6 hour layover in the airport which i spent in the lounge thanks to my brother's single-use lounge certificate. i achieved star gold and have maintained that ever since.

asides from the non-quantifiable benefits of status (e.g., priority check-in, priority luggage, fast-track security at most major airports in north america, not having to gate-check luggage because of space limitations in the overhead bins, priority waitlist for times my flights were cancelled at the airport, the seat upgrades to economy plus), i calculated the quantifiable benefits. note: my memory is hazy now, so approximate but conservative numbers are being used.

1. checked luggage within canada. i made roughly 15 round trips between YVR and YYC between jun 2009 and mar 2011, and during those times, i was shuttling my bf's stuff to our home in YVR. all of those trips involved having two pieces of check-in luggage, two trips involved three. i saved 8 x 25$ second bag fees (200$), and 4 x 50$ third bag fees (100$). (originally they allowed two free checked bags within canada, but then pared that down to two). that was a savings of 336$ after tax.
2. checked luggage to the states. i made 6 trips to the states, requiring checked luggage on 4 one-way segments. i saved on 4 x 25$ first checked bag fee. that's a savings of 112$ after tax.
3. lounge benefits. during our trip to asia, we had a 10 hour layover in hong kong. so joe and i lounge hopped between the singapore airlines, united airlines, and thai airways lounges, showering before the flight and eating the equivalent of 4 meals. the amount of beer we lifted from the lounges over the years was impressive as well. that's a value of at least 50$.

for 348$ in spending, not only has life become easier when traveling, but also much more cost effective, having saved at least 484$. and now it's hard to justify losing status.