What Makes a Million-mile Flyer Nervous About Flying?

Having spent a good portion of my life on airplanes, is there anything about flying that can make me nervous?  Not counting a plane malfunction, the primary thing I get nervous about is flying “the unknown”.

Recently I had to book a trip to Chicago and I requested the client book me a ticket on United – my preferred carrier.  It is here where I know the agents at my home airport by name, here where I can get the best seats and board first.  My global services status is AWESOME!  My Red Carpet Club membership provides an oasis at the airport.  But unfortunately my client’s preferred carrier is American, and their flight to Chicago at similar times was $5 cheaper.  I offered to pay the $5, but NOOOO, they had to book it on American.

So what really made me nervous is not having any status on American and having to live like the ”infrequent” travelers do.  How would I deal with being shoved in a cramped seat in the back of the plane?  What would I do if I couldn’t fit my carry-on bags in the overhead bin because I had to board the plane last?  What would I do if I was running late to the airport and couldn’t use the elite check-in line?  All these questions plagued me for days leading up to……my call to the American Advantage desk.

I hadn’t flown American in several years – at least 4 years because at that time I got married and changed my name but failed to notify AA to update my (in)frequent flier account.  Why bother if I never fly them?  Actually, it may have been longer than that because the address they had on file for me was 8 years old.

So I called the advantage desk to ask about status matching.  I figured “who wouldn’t want a super-duper Global Services member” flying with them?  I have done status matching with hotels and it worked, why not with the airlines?   But before we could deal with this question, we had to deal with the fact that the name on my account did not match the name on my reservation.  To my delight the agent was able to change my account name on the fly!!  With everything else where I had to change my name, I had to fax in a copy of my marriage certificate and write a letter requesting the change.  Here I was able to do it over the phone.  Very convenient!!

We also had to change my 8 year old address.  No wonder I haven’t been bombarded with credit card offers and other junk from AA – they were sending it all to my ex-husband.  This too was a very simple change over the phone.

Another thing the agent informed me of was that I had lost 28,000 miles from my account a few months prior.  I bet my ex-husband knew that, but I didn’t.  So she offered me a program to reclaim those miles and get them back into my account – and it was only going to cost me the price of an airline ticket for flights over 750 miles each way.  Well I jumped on that program in a heartbeat!  The flight my client booked is 783 miles each way, and my client already paid for it, so YEAH!!  I will be getting my 28,000 miles back very soon!!

Finally I got to my status match question.  Much to my chagrin I was informed that AA does not do status matching, but they do have a program where I can pay $80 and earn 5000 points by flying within a certain amount of time, and I could earn gold status the quick way.   I thought – wow, gold status would be great!  But I wasn’t planning on flying AA ever again.  (I would have to be smarter about my travel requests next time so that they could only be filled by United.)

So after I declined to participate in this acceleration program, the agent thanked me for being a Gold member.  WHAT???  When did I become a Gold member?  Like I said, it had been many years since I had flown AA, so I certainly didn’t earn Gold status.  My ex probably knows all about this, but I must have been offered Gold status due to my status in other programs and I didn’t even know it.  I don’t know how long it will last, but having it now certainly alleviated much of my nervousness about this trip.

So I get to the airport and check in, but I notice that my boarding pass shows the Gold status, but yet it has me boarding in Group 3.  I went to the gate agent to ask and she was able to fix it so that I had priority boarding.  Then I asked about a seat change.  I am flying on a puddle-jumper jet with 1 seat (A) on the left side, and 2 (B,C) on the right.  My computer bag is somewhat large and doesn’t usually fit under the A seats so I asked to be moved to a B or C.  She had to wait until 15 minutes before departure, but she was able to get me a B with and open C – best seat in the house!!!  And I am not even a real Gold member.  I guess I am what you call False Gold!!!

So as I sit on the plane, I am wildly ecstatic about how events worked out to calm all my nervous fears, but I desperately miss that complementary upgrade to first class, or at the very least I miss economy plus seating with 5 extra inches of leg room.  One thing I am still nervous about……will my False Gold status run out at the end of this month (today), or will I have it for my return trip home 5 days from now.  Wish me luck!!!