End of an Era - Really
In the mail yesterday I got my annual "thank you" from American Airlines. My Platinum AA Advantage membership card.
Why is the end of an era? This marks the first year since 2001 that I have not been Executive Platinum. It reflects that I have some balance back in my life and that I didn't spend huge amounts of my personal time last year flying places. According to American, I've done 2,281,552 miles with them. Since before that I was GOLD(top level) on British Airways and Royal(top level) on KLM/Northwest, I figure I've flown around 3-million miles.
A huge amount of that was on my personal time, early mornings, late evenings, Sundays to be ready for Mondays etc. Yes corporate/business travel can be fun but at what cost?
Well simply put, say your flight averages 400MPH, many of mine were long transatlantic flights so thats not unreasonble. The averages don't include arrival/luggage time and sitting on the runway. Simple math tells me that 3000000/400= 312 days of my life on planes at 24-hours per day. Put another way, assuming flying only consumed 10-hours per day, I travelled every day for 2-years. Add to that time to get to the airport, check-in, collect luggage on arrival, drive home, it's depressing.
Since I've traveled over 2-million miles with american, as far as I'm aware thats Platinum for life, nice if you can get it, beware what you have to give up though.
Why is the end of an era? This marks the first year since 2001 that I have not been Executive Platinum. It reflects that I have some balance back in my life and that I didn't spend huge amounts of my personal time last year flying places. According to American, I've done 2,281,552 miles with them. Since before that I was GOLD(top level) on British Airways and Royal(top level) on KLM/Northwest, I figure I've flown around 3-million miles.
A huge amount of that was on my personal time, early mornings, late evenings, Sundays to be ready for Mondays etc. Yes corporate/business travel can be fun but at what cost?
Well simply put, say your flight averages 400MPH, many of mine were long transatlantic flights so thats not unreasonble. The averages don't include arrival/luggage time and sitting on the runway. Simple math tells me that 3000000/400= 312 days of my life on planes at 24-hours per day. Put another way, assuming flying only consumed 10-hours per day, I travelled every day for 2-years. Add to that time to get to the airport, check-in, collect luggage on arrival, drive home, it's depressing.
Since I've traveled over 2-million miles with american, as far as I'm aware thats Platinum for life, nice if you can get it, beware what you have to give up though.