I have to say one part of my job I don't exactly like is the amount of travel. In 2006, I was on the road for a total of 12 weeks and flow over 120,000 miles, enough to circle the Equator for more than five times. This year will be no different -- I already scheduled 8 week-long trips and there surely will be more to come. I confess I will be greatly satisfied if I can exchange 20% of my pay for one more day at home every week, and 20% less travel.
That being said, I won't be allowed to make this exchange any time soon. So what's the next best thing I can do? Probably it is to carve out my strategy of squeezing more value out of the frequent flier miles I will collect.
Here is my travel profile:
1) Half of my business trips are between Shanghai and the States (mostly West Coast cities), and the other half are within Asia Pacific (Japan, Singapore, Australia, India, etc.).
2) For my U.S. trips, I can choose between United Airlines and Northwest Airlines. For my Asia Pacific trips, I usually choose regional Airlines; Singapore Airlines do provide connection to most destinations I want to go with reasonable fare.
3) 80% of the time I fly business class, which give me some extra mileage bonus.
4) For our family vacations, we usually have one annual U.S. trip, a couple of regional trips in Asia Pacific and optionally one European trip.
So, what's my best strategy to maximize the value of my mileage program membership?