requalifying for top tier status on american airlines

File this one under "additional completions" since I've already qualified for top tier status last year. I flew home from Yurp, today, and somewhere over the Atlantic, I passed 100,000 points in the American Airlines AAdvantage program, which means I've earned the top tier status in the frequent flyer program for all of 2012--and we're not even halfway through 2011, yet!

I said "points" rather than "miles" for a reason.  There are actually three different ways that you can qualify for status in the American Airlines program: points, miles or segments.  You get top tier when you have either 100,000 points, 100,000 miles, or 100 segments.  Miles are just that--miles where you've got your butt in an airplane seat and fly somewhere.  Segments are the number of flights you've taken--and if you connect, a one way trip can be two or more segments.  So, if you fly from New York to Portland, Oregon, but you connect in Chicago, you'd get two segments.  If you connected in Chicago, and then San Francisco, and then flew to Portland, that'd be three segments--even though it's one one-way routing and it's all on the same ticket.

Points are more difficult to understand.  Points are kind of a function of miles, plus the cost of your ticket.  If you're on an expensive last minute fare, or if you're paying for business class or first class, you get more points than you do miles--maybe 1.5 points for each mile on the trip.  If you're on a super cheap discount fare, you may only get a half a point, per mile.

I'm pretty close to qualifying based on miles, but it just so happens that I've made a lot of expensive last minute trips for work, so I hit it on points, and in record time.  Any other year, I'd be lucky to hit the top tier at all.  This year, I got it in less than six months.  And, frankly, I'm exhausted, and not just because of the travel.  Work has been stressful of late, the bathroom renovation has taken a fair amount of energy, and now I've got a wedding to plan.

So, on my flight home from Brussels, I tried to relax a little bit.  I actually watched a couple of movies, which puts me a bit closer to my 'small screen movie item.'  I started with Cedar Rapids, which I really liked a lot.  It's a comedy with real heart, and if I were to watch it a second time, I'm pretty sure that I'd laugh out loud all over again.

The second movie was not nearly as interesting.  The Adjustment Bureau seemed to aspire to be some sort of knock-off of The Matrix.  I normally like this sort of movie--suspense mixed with a little bit of science fiction.  But this movie was boring.  I didn't care about the characters.  I didn't care about the story.  The sci-fi elements were underwhelming.  It was a real disappointment.

I tried to watch a third movie, since I had the time, but, instead, I took a nap.  Because I'm exhausted, remember?

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