Supreme Court Overturns Employer Mask Mandate

Yesterday the Supreme Court overturned the employer mask mandate. It was a rule written by the Department of Labor about 9 weeks ago (link to previous blog) requiring employers of 100+ people in the U.S. to require employees get vaccinated or take weekly tests. Virtually right away it was challenged in court. A 3-judge panel of the 5th District put an immediate stay on it, 60 days before it would even take effect. Curiously this was the same 3-judge panel that heard initial challenges to Texas's abortion-bounty-hunter law and decided, "Oh tHiS iS ToO wEiRd tO uNdErStAnD!!" and let it begin taking effect immediately. And yesterday, by a 6-3 vote, the extreme Supremes struck the vaccine mandate down.

I've been trying to find a principled basis in this decision but can't. There's no historical or legal grounding, no established standard of law or precedent, no guiding principle that can be used to shape or decide future cases. The majority opinion boils down to just, "The law didn't say how many people you're allowed to impact with your decisions, and we think 87 million [roughly 25% of the US] is too many."

The Status Chase, 2022

Years ago when I was a truly frequent flyer, like 150,000+ miles a year in flights and 120-150 nights a year in hotels, the start of the new year was always a bittersweet time. All those frequent flyer statuses I'd earned as of Dec. 31 were still in effect but the counters to renew them reset to zero on Jan. 1. It was back onto the treadmill all over again to chase status for the next year.

The status chase is different for me in 2022 than it was several years ago— and not just because of the lingering Coronavirus pandemic/endemic, though that's certainly part of it. One big factor is that my work travel is way down from what it used to be. Without that component to my travel I don't have the miles or nights to pursue status with multiple airlines and hotels. The other factor is that I have lifetime elite status with United Airlines and Marriott Hotels, and credit card-based status with Hilton and IHG. That leaves only one airline it makes sense to pursue status with each year, Southwest.

Earning status with Southwest last year came down close to the wire. Late in the year a few paths emerged to cinch A-List Preferred. I was able to snag it in October with the help of two promotions. Renewing Companion Pass came down closer to the wire; I only managed that on Dec. 15 even after getting a boost from a promo early in the year. So renewing status with Southwest really is a chase.

Will I be able to do it again in 2022? And, if so, how?

The answer to these questions involves answering another question: how to split my travel between cash and points. When I pay cash to travel I earn points— and Southwest's A-List Preferred and Companion Pass status require a lot of points. When I spend Southwest points to travel I don't earn points. So, I should travel on cash to earn points and thus status, right? It's not that simple.

Right now I have a lot of points racked up: 277,000 at the start of the year. That's already a bigger balance than I want to carry, as the value of points only ever gets watered down over time. Pursuing these statuses means earning over 120,000 points this year if I cinch them both. So what I'm trying to do is a balance: redeem as many points as I can to get their value while earning just enough to get at least some level of status.

It took me a while to work this out today, but at the moment I think the strategy to strike this balance is:

1. Hit my Southwest affiliated credit card hard to earn lots of points from it.
2. Early in the year, book leisure travel on points when the points rate is well discounted from the cash rate that earns lots of points.
3. Book leisure travel with cash when the lowest points rate is not a big discount; say, only 10-15% less.
4. Work travel, whatever I manage to catch, is on cash because reimbursement.
5. Adjust rules 2-3 later in the year if I need to tilt toward earning more points.

I'll see how it goes.