I got status matched to Priority Club Platinum from my Hilton Diamond Status a few weeks back. Tonight is my first stay in an IHG hotel, a Crowne Plaza in the UK.

All I can say is how can people be loyal to this program? What the hell do you get from being a Platinum? I’m currently top tier with Hilton and Hyatt; I have been top with Starwood in the past. So I have become used to great upgrades, free internet, Free Breakfast at Hilton and Hyatt, welcome amenities and ...

Mike might be a Yelp h8er, but i'm a Yelp l0ver. There have been a few "firsts" for me in 2011 like SPG Platinum Status and being a half million miler with United, but I'm proud to now have a new status: Yelp Elite!

Yelp status is a bit elusive both in terms of qualification as well as benefits. There are no rigid requirements for qualification, but the program is invitation only. The main way to get the invitation is by writing lots of Yelp ...

A lot of us have been speculating (praying?) that the other big airlines will match US Air's current double EQM promotion. UA and AA ran similar promotions for the past couple of years, and a lot of us (especially those of us who are unsure we'll be able to re-acquire top tier status) were hoping it might happen again.

Well, at least for those of us in the AA camp, it appears that a double EQM promotion isn't happening this quarter. Of course, there are all the common-sense reasons: ...

Alright, so it's 9:45 PM Pacific Time and I'm anxiously awaiting the CO site to update with Star Alliance news. I'm waiting for my new CO Gold Elite card to come in the mail with the *G logo on it. I made a simple mockup of what I expect it to look like for those who may be interested. 

And now it's 10:10 PM and the CO site has been updated, my status shows as *G and everything is set. Now to hear about elite upgrades or E+ access on UA!

Excited? Yes!

(Note: Hunter helped with this post. I might even venture to say that this is a "co-post" by both of us. Enjoy.)

Scott Carmichael is an idiot.

He's a writer at Gadling.com, and he usually writes about travel tech. (This gives him the opportunity to try and convince the masses to use the Zune. Like we said... he's an idiot.)

Today he posted a blog entry called Airline elite status - does it still have any value left? In it, he spreads a bunch of misinformation ...

Let this be a lesson to you.

Start a spreadsheet right now. On the top row, put in the amount of EQMs you have right now. Then, in subsequent rows, list flights you plan to take (broken up into segments), along with the mileage you'll earn for each segment. Include mileage from double EQM promos and class-of-service bonuses.

What happens if you don't do that? You end up 134 miles short.

I flew a ton in the last month or so, during which time AA was running a double-EQM ...