Thursday, December 31, 2015

Going for Gold


On United that is. Spending excessive amounts of time and money just to reach your airline status is crazy, right!? It is. It is ABSOLUTELY crazy - it makes NO sense.

And yet. I keep doing it. I'm sure whatever it is I'm getting in return for my extra time and money would be cheaper if I just paid for it, right? I'm sure of it. But for some reason, I got sucked in. Last year I did it to reach the Silver status. I kid you not, New Year's Eve last year, I flew from Salt Lake City to Denver and back. I don't mean I went for a short trip. I mean I flew there. Stayed in the airport. And flew back. Same day. No tourism. No celebrating. My only purpose was to get those last few miles in so I could reach my status. And you want to know what's even crazier? I sat next to a guy who was doing THE EXACT SAME THING! Seriously - he was flying from Denver to Salt Lake for the same reason, which totally made me feel justified that maybe I wasn't actually crazy for doing it. HA. Just what the airlines want you to think.

So, this year, New Year's Eve, exactly one year later -- what am I doing? I'm taking one extra flight to LA to make sure I hit my Gold status. It's addicting. I can't help it. I even made a spreadsheet so I could track my status and insure I get my Gold. Well, a few of my trips got cancelled so I ended up scrambling to fit just one more flight in before the end of the year. December 31. Last chance. So what do I get for all this? There's plenty of perks, but what are the things I'm most excited about? The priority security line. I already have it and now that I've tasted of that sweet nectar, I can't let it go. No joke. It's a life changer. Travelling is so different when you can plan to show up at the airport 45 minutes before your flight when you only have a carry-on and an hour ahead of time when you're checking your bag - because of course there's a priority check-in line too. It's pretty sweet. The other thing, well two things I'm excited about: 1 - I get 2 free checked bags up to 70 lbs each! (despite the picture, I rarely even check a bag) and 2 - that I get to book a complimentary Economy Plus seat at the time of my booking instead of when I check in. Was it a big deal to wait? No. Is the seat that much bigger? Nope. But those are my 2 things - 3 really. Ridiculous? Probably. But they make you feel special and they make it addicting and I got sucked in.

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