You've reached out asking about booking flights to maintain status or reach that next tier. I appreciate the trust, and I want to be completely transparent with you: we book your flights directly with the airline using your frequent flyer information, so you earn miles and status credits normally.
But that's not really what you're asking about, is it?
What you're really wondering is: Should I spend my time optimizing airline miles and points, or should I focus on what generates my income?
Here's what you need to know to make smart strategic decisions about your miles, status, and how to manage business travel efficiently.
The Reality of Airline Miles for Business Travelers
For consultants traveling 20+ days annually—our Jet-Set Jada clients—airline miles and elite status aren't just perks. They're operational necessities:
- Priority boarding gets you on before overhead space disappears
- Complimentary upgrades mean arriving at client meetings fresh, not cramped
- Lounge access provides workspace and meals during lengthy connections
- Waived change fees offer flexibility when client demands shift
- Elite phone lines connect you to agents who can actually fix problems
These benefits directly impact your professional performance. When you're billing $500-$1,000 per hour, the difference between arriving composed versus frazzled affects your bottom line.
Understanding How Miles Actually Work (The Nuance Nobody Explains)
Here's what the points experts like The Points Guy would tell you: not all airline programs work the same way, and the landscape shifts constantly.
Revenue-Based vs. Distance-Based Programs
Revenue-based programs (Delta, United, JetBlue) award miles based on ticket price and your elite status tier. A $600 flight earns more miles than a $300 flight on the same route.
Distance-based programs (fewer now, but some international carriers) award miles based on how far you fly. A 5,000-mile journey earns 5,000 miles, regardless of ticket price.
Why this matters: If you're a high-performing consultant booking last-minute business travel, you're often paying premium fares. Revenue-based programs work in your favor because your expensive ticket purchases earn outsized miles.
Elite Status: What It Actually Takes
Elite status increasingly requires strategic spending, not just flying frequently:
American AAdvantage: 40,000-200,000 Loyalty Points
Delta SkyMiles: $5,000-$28,000 in spending
United MileagePlus: 4,000-18,000 Premier Qualifying Points
These thresholds change annually, sometimes mid-year. What qualified you last year might not qualify you this year.
Where We Add Value (And Where We Don't)
What we excel at:
- Managing complex, multi-city business itineraries
- Monitoring your flights and proactively rebooking during disruptions
- Coordinating ground transportation, hotels, and meetings into seamless trips
- Handling the 47 moving pieces of group travel for your team
- Creating custom leisure itineraries that reflect your actual interests, not generic tourist traps
What we're not:
- Points optimization strategists
- Credit card churning consultants
- Airline status hackers
There are brilliant people who live and breathe airline loyalty programs. We're not those people. Our expertise is in the orchestration of travel, not the maximization of rewards currencies.
What You Should Actually Do Right Now
- Get One Premium Travel Credit Card
Choose one card with transferable points:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve: 3X on travel/dining
- American Express Platinum: 5X on flights, Centurion Lounge access
- Capital One Venture X: 2X on everything, $300 travel credit
- Pick Your Home Airline
Based on your hub airport, not marketing. Fly this carrier consistently to build status.
- Where We Add Value
Multi-city itinerary optimization, international trip complexity, group travel coordination, and proactive disruption monitoring. We book directly with airlines using your frequent flyer number—you keep your miles while saving 3-5 hours per trip.
If Elite Status Doesn't Matter to You:
Then honestly? Neither should miles accumulation.
Redeeming miles for business class international flights requires:
- Significant accumulation (often 70,000-150,000 miles per ticket)
- Advance planning (award seats get snatched up 300+ days out)
- Flexibility on dates and routes
- Understanding of complex award charts
If that sounds like work, you're right. It is.
For consultants whose time is their primary asset, sometimes paying for the flight and preserving your energy for billable work is the smarter financial decision. In that case, a simple 2% cashback card or a general travel card means you're still accumulating value on every purchase without the mental overhead of alliance strategies and transfer partners.
The Complexity You're Actually Dealing With
Here's something most people don't realize: airline miles and loyalty programs are constantly changing. Rules that worked last year might not work this year. Partnerships shift. Award charts get devalued. Elite status requirements increase—sometimes without warning.
Each airline has different policies for:
- How miles are earned (distance-based vs. revenue-based)
- How long miles last before expiring
- Whether you can transfer miles between programs
- How many miles you need for award flights
- Which partners honor your elite status benefits
And airlines change these rules regularly—often giving minimal notice to members.
The Smart Money Strategy: Flexible Points Over Airline Miles
Here's what travel rewards experts have figured out: the real power isn't in hoarding airline miles—it's in earning transferable points.
The big four transferable points programs (American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Points) each transfer to 10-15+ airline partners at a 1:1 ratio.
Why this matters: Instead of locking miles into one airline, you maintain flexibility. When American Airlines has no award availability, you transfer points to British Airways (same Oneworld alliance) and book the same seat.
The Alliance Strategy That Actually Works
Focus on one major airline in each alliance:
Star Alliance (United, Lufthansa, Air Canada) - Strongest in Europe and Asia
Oneworld (American, British Airways, Qatar Airways) - Best for premium cabin access
SkyTeam (Delta, Air France-KLM, Virgin Atlantic) - Strong European and Middle East network
Why alliances matter: Book through Delta, fly Virgin Atlantic, earn Delta miles. Use American miles to book Qatar Airways. The metal you fly doesn't have to match the miles you earn.
This flexibility matters when your preferred airline doesn't fly to your client's location, or when award availability is better on a partner airline.
But Here's the Critical Calculation
Keeping up with three (or more) airline loyalty programs, their constantly changing rules, alliance partnerships, credit card earning rates, transfer bonuses, award chart sweet spots, and status match opportunities is essentially a part-time job.
Travel rewards experts like Ronnie Dunston teach entire courses on this system. The Points Guy publishes daily updates on program changes. There are subreddits dedicated to dissecting award availability.
If you're a consultant billing $500-$1,000+ per hour, you need to make a decision: Is learning and managing this system a valuable use of your time, or would you rather focus on what actually generates your income?
Some of our clients genuinely enjoy the optimization game. It becomes their hobby. They track devaluations, hunt for sweet spots, and derive satisfaction from booking $15,000 business class tickets for 70,000 points.
But for many high-performing consultants, the math doesn't work. Spending 5-10 hours per month managing points strategies to save $3,000-$5,000 annually doesn't make economic sense when those same hours generate $5,000-$10,000 in billable work.
Expert Resources We Actually Recommend
Since optimizing points and miles isn't our core expertise, here are the experts who dedicate themselves to this full-time:
For Comprehensive Program Analysis:
- The Points Guy (thepointsguy.com) - Daily updates on loyalty programs, card offers, and redemption strategies
- Frequent Miler (frequentmiler.com) - Deep technical analysis of earning and redemption opportunities
For Practical Travel Hacking:
- Ronnie Dunston / Road to 100 Countries (roadto100countries.com) - Proven system for maximizing points with minimal complexity
- Doctor of Credit - Credit card offers and application strategies
For Community Wisdom:
- Reddit's r/awardtravel - Community expertise on using points for premium travel
- Reddit's r/churning - Advanced strategies for accumulating points through credit cards
- FlyerTalk Forums - Detailed discussions on airline programs, status strategies, and alliance intricacies
For Direct Support:
- Your airline's elite status desk - They're incentivized to help you reach the next tier; use them
These resources stay current on the constant changes—new credit card offers, program devaluations, transfer bonuses, and award availability—so you don't have to.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I lose my airline miles if I use a travel advisor?
A: Not with us. We typically book directly with airlines using your frequent flyer number, so miles post normally. Exception: vacation packages through wholesalers may vary.
Q: What's better: airline miles or transferable credit card points?
A: Transferable points (Chase, Amex, Capital One) are more flexible. You can move them to multiple airline programs versus locking into one carrier.
Q: How do I choose which airline to focus on?
A: Pick based on your home airport hub. Atlanta? Delta. Chicago/Houston? United. Dallas/Miami? American.
Q: Is chasing airline status worth it?
A: If you're traveling 20+ days annually and billing $500+/hour, status benefits (upgrades, lounge access) often justify the effort. Spending 10+ hours monthly optimizing points instead of billing? Probably not.
Q: Can I use American miles on other airlines?
A: Yes, within alliances. American (Oneworld) miles work on British Airways, Qatar Airways, Qantas. Same for United (Star Alliance) and Delta (SkyTeam).
If you genuinely enjoy travel planning and optimization—if it serves as productive downtime from client work—then by all means, manage it yourself. Join the Facebook groups, read The Points Guy daily, optimize your alliance strategy.
But if you'd rather focus on what generates your income—closing deals, delivering exceptional client work, building strategic relationships—then professional travel management makes sense precisely because you keep your miles while reclaiming your time.
You're not choosing between miles and support. You're choosing between doing it yourself and letting someone else handle the complexity while you work.
Jenita Lawal is the founder of Lawal Travel Services, specializing in business travel management for high-performing consultants and executives, fractional travel coordination for growing firms, and curated luxury travel experiences. Schedule a call to get started!