Crunch time for frequent fliers seeking their miles [Star Tribune, Minneapolis]

Dec. 31--Some could argue that John Hanson went way too far this year to earn his frequent flier miles.

In November, the Cottage Grove resident thought he would fall short of qualifying for Delta Air Lines' Diamond Medallion status. So he set out on a journey that zigzagged the nation, making eight grueling stops in four days.

"This is what you got to do for the status if you travel all the time," said Hanson, 47, a lead system expert at Honeywell Building Solutions. "It's kind of nice when you got the bigger seats."

The end of the year is crunch time for frequent fliers like Hanson, who are willing to go to all sorts of far, weird and inconvenient places just to meet requirements for Delta's elite Medallion program. Many of these loyal fliers rushed to online forums like flyertalk.com, where they discussed strategies for racking up enough miles and bragged about their journeys. Others bought the extra miles to ensure their status.

About 1 million customers are enrolled in Delta's Medallion program, which has four tiers -- Diamond, Platinum, Gold and Silver -- and a 25,000-mile minimum. Some of the perks include priority boarding and seating, waived baggage fees and access to a faster security line.

"People are just hooked. It's not the miles they want to add on," said travel expert Terry Trippler. "They want to attain that elite status."

In the end, Hanson would have had enough miles to be Diamond Medallion based on his credit card purchases, but he didn't want to leave it to chance.

"I did it more for insurance to hit Diamond," said Hanson, who spent $450 on the flights and got 7,500 miles.

On Nov. 20, he left from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, made a connection in Detroit, then landed in Orlando, where he spent the night and golfed for a few hours with a friend the next day. That same day, he flew to Atlanta, then to Las Vegas, where he slept on the airport floor overnight because he was too tired to gamble. A few hours later, he headed to Atlanta, then on to Orlando. The next day, he returned to the Twin Cities, making a connection through Detroit.

Fred Haberman, another voracious flier from the Twin Cities, decided to move up a business trip to California from 2012 to December because he was 2,000 miles short of being Platinum Medallion.

"It's important for my lifestyle to have that Medallion status," said Haberman, 45. "It's not about need. It's about a lifestyle enhancement for someone who travels a lot."

Trippler, who runs a travel website, theplanerules.com, called the frequent flier programs "marketing genius," because they let airlines build loyalty with customers, track their flying habits and create excitement for the brand.

The fervor behind frequent flier programs was the story line for the 2009 movie "Up in the Air," which featured corporate downsizer Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), who racked up miles while flying around the country laying people off.

But booking trips just to get the miles is becoming less common because airlines often allow customers to purchase miles, said Randy Petersen, editor of InsideFlyer magazine. For instance, Delta offered a sale this month that let customers purchase up to 10,000 miles in increments of 2,500 miles, starting at .

"You can't buy Medallion status, but this will allow customers who are close to get over the threshold," Delta spokesman Paul Skrbec said.

The offer is a double bonus for Delta because it is able to sell the miles as well as the seats to other passengers.

But Twin Cities retail branding executive Tim Pearson said such moves only diminish Delta's Medallion program. He noted that it's already tough to get free upgrades in certain cities, and now he'll be competing with others who want to buy their way into carrier's elite program.

"They are making it too easy," Pearson said. "For us who have been earning it every single year, it's a punch in the stomach."

Already, Delta has discounted entry into its elite Sky Clubs, offering coupons on Groupon earlier this month for half off.

Wendy Lee --612-673-1712

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