How to Fly First Class through Life
By Dian Thomas
Once
on a Delta airplane, I read an announcement in the in-flight magazine.
The airline was beginning a new frequent flier program. There were
three categories — silver, gold, and platinum. The announcement
stated that if a traveler accumulated 100,000 miles in a year the
next year they would be placed in Delta’s platinum program.
When they purchased a ticket they would be upgraded to first class
at no extra cost.
It was only September and I thought to myself, “I’ll
bet I could fly first class all next year.” So when I returned
home, I contacted Delta and found that I had accumulated 60,000
frequent flier miles. So my challenge was, how could I get 40,000
more miles in the next four months?
Living in Salt Lake City, I looked
at either going to New York or Hawaii. I decided that Hawaii would
be much more exciting and would help me reach my goal faster. Immediately
I called the airline and asked them what it would cost to travel
from Salt Lake City to Honolulu. They informed me the flight would
be around $1,000.
Knowing the price would be different
if I flew from a different city, I asked the reservation agent,
“What would it cost me to fly from Los Angeles to Honolulu?”
She replied, “We have a sale for the next two months for only
$202.” I immediately said, “I’ll take three tickets.”
I was delighted to know that my round
trip ticket from Salt Lake to LA was only $200. What a savings.
The surprising fact was that I would be flying on exactly the same
plane as I would had I paid the $1,000 ticket out of Salt Lake.
With each flight, I would acquire 10,000 additional frequent flier
miles, which jumped me to 90,000.
Next I had to figure out how to come
up with the last 10,000 miles. Back then, any flight you took would
credit your frequent flier program with 1,000 miles, so I calculated
where I could travel the shortest distance. I knew that you could
fly from Honolulu to Maui, which was only a 20-minute flight. So
I decided to stay a week on my final Hawaii trip. In addition you
also got another 1,000 miles every time you rented a car. That did
not count toward the 100,000 miles, but it did give me extra miles
in my frequent flier program.
Now it gets exciting. Every afternoon
at 3:30, I left my friend’s house, where I had been staying,
and drove to the airport, where I would check in my rental car.
I would board the big jet that just got in from the mainland and
fly to Maui. As soon as I arrived, I headed for the rental agency.
I only had an hour and a half to rent a car, drive to a fast food
restaurant to eat my dinner, return the car, and rush to the gate
to board the plane for my trip back to Honolulu.
Every night the flight attendants looked
at me with a strange expression, because I had just flown over with
them. I would smile and say, “Just came over for a quick dinner.”
When I got back to Honolulu, I would go back to the rental agency,
pick up another car, and then return to my friend’s house.
This Maui adventure lasted about six
hours each day. But I found myself enjoying the peanuts, and the
flight attendants and the people who would entertain me on the way.
I repeated this process every night for a week, and every night
when I returned to Honolulu, the same man would be there to assist
me with my new rental. One night, he said, “You are the richest
lady I know.”
It wasn’t long before I hit
my 100,000 miles. For the next year, I flew first class on dozens
of flights. It was all worth it.
If you have any questions for Dian, feel free to write to her at dian@dianthomas.com.
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