How many miles?

The Hong Kong/Singapore trip is booked. The travel division eventually agreed to a series of non-stop flights.

Disclaimer: Nothing that I said had any impact on the division. However, Marieke, administrative assistant par excellence, told them that the non-stop flights had been authorized by an Executive Vice President one hemisphere, several time zones and multiple management levels removed.

Now that I was on the right flight, I moved into Upgrade mode. “After all,” I thought, “I have the miles and I’m worth it.”

“Do you have the miles?” Nazy asked.

“Of course,” I replied. “But we may need to delay our trip to Australia.”

Swiss International Airlines was less positive.

“Business Class is sold out on Saturday,” the clerk informed me.

“What about Sunday?”

“There are no business class seats to Hong Kong on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I can put you on the waiting list.”

“Hmm,” I replied. “How many miles does it take to upgrade?”

“65,000”

“Round trip?”

“One way.”

“That’s absurd,” I thought. “It only takes 150,000 for a round trip, open jaw business class ticket to Asia.”

“You might try bringing cash to the airport.” The clerk had the final word.