Membership has its privileges

I am sitting here at the BMI Diamond Lounge (see picture below) at Terminal ant London Heathrow Airport and am loving my gold status on United and the Star Alliance. Essentialy I continue to support United and its partner carriers when I fly since it is so easy to gain mileage. That is not to say I only suggest that people fly United - it means you should always look to gain loyalty to one airline or group, whichever is good for your area. Since United has a hub at Washington Dulles and US Airways, a fellow Star Alliance member, has a hub at Washington National - it's a win-win for me (and now karyn who is hooked as well). Although, I do prefer Southwest for flights to the mid-atlantic and northeast.

And the benefits are great as well:

• Credit card that gives me even more miles
• Priority Boarding in Zone 1 on every flight
• Complimentary upgrade coupons
• Higher status than common folk when wanting to stanby on earlier flights
• Lounge access on international flights
• And of course free flights! Who doesn't love that - Karyn and I have cashed in tickets in the last 3 years to Italy for our honeymoon, Chicago for weddings, Phoenix for a reunion trip with SAS, our new years 2007/2008 trip to Argentina, San Francisco, San Diego, etc.

Now I will say something about the lounnges, ironically in the Star Alliance family, United has the worst lounges. I have been in Lufthansa's, Swiss, Air Canada and now bmi. This BMI Lounge has breakfast food, newspapers, clean bathrooms, silence, computer workstations that are complimentary, etc. Still not as nice as the Maple Leaf Lounge at Toronto Pearson's new terminal but hey, it works.

And the best reason to go to the lounge is that it has the best view of the airplanes! And who doesn't love that.

Off to relax for another 30 minutes before my connecitng flight to Dublin

Side Note: a.) I love Ambien, got a nice 3.5 hours of sleep on a short 6.5 hr flight. and b.) I already finished my book Not Me by Michael Lavigne on the flight over here. Everyone should check this one out! Great Book.