Flopgut,
I know that about 90% of Hilton Honors Diamond members are Netjets pilots. We stay in hotels more than we airline but most NJ pilots have Elite status in multiple FF programs ... so according to the airlines ... we are Elite.I do most of my airlines on SWA, Continental, and American.
We are paying plenty of money on Full Fare one-way tickets purchased day before and day of travel.... thus leading to the SSSS TSA strip search.
Good point, gunfyter. Full fare, in the FAA pilot certification and the TSA Part 135 pilot database (over 12,500 pounds), U.S. Passport, active professional pilot for a Berkshire Hathaway company, yet an SSSS. I never had any problems with airline cabin crew (in fact, they were often nice to me), but I did have ongoing problems with the TSA recent high school grads working the screening and with some airline ticket personnel who saw the "SSSS" as deserving of bad treatment at the counter. In fact, I left NJA on account of the airlining---the very bad treatment by TSA and by some airline ticket counter personnel (but not cabin or flight deck crew). I never insisted on any special treatment, only wanted to not always or almost always be an SSSS. At NJA. the money was not enough to be treated like a suspected terrorist by TSA and by some airline ticket personnel. (The airlining can be bad enough and a stark contrast to the private jet experience without adding pat-downs and such.) And the last thing I'd want to do on my time off is get on an airliner if I'm already doing that day in day out as a frac pilot. So, to me, the airline FF miles/points meant nothing. In my opinion, crew pass should have been on the company "to do" list a long time ago. Good luck.
