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One Last Chance To Go Platinum

Your office may be empty this week, but at least some of your well-traveled colleagues may not be chilling at home. The end of the year is serious business for frequent fliers, who'll stop at nothing to secure their status for the coming year. And now that we live in the age of the airline fee, clocking silver, gold or platinum is more important than ever: Most card-carrying road dogs are exempt from checked baggage charges. (They also sometimes get a special security checkpoint lane, free upgrades and other niceties.)

The LA Times attempted to illuminate the sometimes shadowy world of mileage runners this weekend, with an article by an airline geek who has:

Flown from Charlotte to Amsterdam and stayed just long enough to visit a coffee shop and see some Van Goghs.

Included is the mandatory mention of FlyerTalk.com, which maintains a lively forum on mileage running deals riddled with airline lingo even we need a cheat sheet to decode. But isn't it a little ridiculous to spend hundreds of dollars and dozens of hours flying just to get a gold star from your preferred carrier? It goes way beyond just saving on some baggage fees, says the Times:

I am upgraded to first class about half the time I fly.

Related Stories:
· Hi, I'm a Frequent-flier Addict [LAT, via]
· Running for Miles [Jaunted]

[Photo: Caveman 92223]