I've read over numerous threads in this forum and researched and the best I can seem to come up with on ita so far is OAK-DEN-TPA-IAD-LAX-OAK. None of these routes appear to have any bonuses associated with them nor can I seem to find any routes for travel in May which do. Do any seasoned Milage runners have any advice for a new runner?

Also I'd like to book this on united.com so that I can get the bonus miles, but I have no idea how to do this. (I can only see non-stop and 1-stop flights on united.com) Any ideas?

Thanks in advance :)

Try to grab the OAK-ATL fare for $128+ that's out there now.

you have to hit multi cities on united's web site. if you go to the "sticky's" on the united forum it explains it.

Basically though it works like this.

1. set your profile on the united site to display booking codes.
2. sign into the united site
3. book like oak to somewhere then the rest.

there are some odd routing from california. for instance you may be able to fly sfo-sna-lax or like sfo or oak to ont to lax to sfo to ewr to iad

Not sure if this is helpful (I'm still pretty new to the boards) but I think you could use one of these promotions on that routing for bonus miles:

3,000 bonus miles one time, or earn double miles up to three timeshttp://www.united.com/chooseone

Choose your reward (upgrades or bonus miles.. I didn't qualify for this offer but you might)
https://www.chooseandfly.com/

Thanks everyone! I'm now looking at OAK-DEN-LNK-ORD-DCA-ORD-STL-DEN-OAK

ITA shows a fare of $308.
Mileage calc says 5734 (5100) cpm 5.4 cents

with my elite status bonus 1434 mile cpm 4.3 cents

from reading other posts it seems like mileage runs should try and stay in the 3 cpm range.. so I'm wondering if this is worth it.

Thanks everyone! I'm now looking at OAK-DEN-LNK-ORD-DCA-ORD-STL-DEN-OAK

ITA shows a fare of $308.
Mileage calc says 5734 (5100) cpm 5.4 cents

with my elite status bonus 1434 mile cpm 4.3 cents

from reading other posts it seems like mileage runs should try and stay in the 3 cpm range.. so I'm wondering if this is worth it.Since you mention "cents per mile", I guess your concern is EQM/RDM. If so, your itinerary includes unnecessary connections, especially on outbound.

OAK-DEN-LNK-ORD-DCA (2569 miles)
v.s.
OAK-ORD-DCA (2448 miles) or
OAK-IAD (2409 miles)

DEN/LNK connection give you only 100-150 EQM or so.

Ideal routing is, some CA hopping, long-haul, then destination (or adding some short hopping again around the destination). If you are targeting 3 cents per EQM, the all-in fare needs to be under $240 or so. I have no idea which base fare you picked, but it sounds a little pricy.
.

Thanks everyone! I'm now looking at OAK-DEN-LNK-ORD-DCA-ORD-STL-DEN-OAK

ITA shows a fare of $308.
Mileage calc says 5734 (5100) cpm 5.4 cents

with my elite status bonus 1434 mile cpm 4.3 cents

from reading other posts it seems like mileage runs should try and stay in the 3 cpm range.. so I'm wondering if this is worth it.
If "the 3 cpm range" means anything from 3.00 through 3.99 cents per mile of EQM, and you are not going to hold your breath waiting for a 3.00 opportunity, then this is a not unreasonable goal. But what works for some doesn't work for others, so you need to ask what status and miles are worth to you. If you are not going to be redeeming RDM for more value than what you paid to earn the RDM, what is the point?

And while elite status (except 3P) brings RDM bonuses, unless you are going to be flying in much more expensive seats, the EQM is unaffected by elite status. So the cost per mile of RDM will go down when calculated taking into account an elite status bonus, the cost per mile of EQM should not. (I don't understand what you mean by "5734 [5100]." Do the actual miles come out to a perfectly round 5100, but with 500 miles minimum for each segment flown it comes out to 5734?)

again as i and someone else mentioned above, the one you are talking about is a poor run. it's too much money for not many miles.

to do it right, you pick up miles by traveling in a direction you wouldnt normally go. so oak-den-ord-iad is no better than oak-iad, but oak-lax-sna-sfo-iad-ewr-lax-oak is far better because it adds to the cross country travel
oak-lax 500 miles
lax-sna 500 miles
sna-sfo 500 miles
iad-ewr 500 miles
lax-oak (or sfo)) 500 miles

net pickup 2,500 miles. but to do it, you have to do the research to determine.
1. if the connections work
2. if you can get the cheap l or t fares doing that routing

again as i and someone else mentioned above, the one you are talking about is a poor run. it's too much money for not many miles.

to do it right, you pick up miles by traveling in a direction you wouldnt normally go. so oak-den-ord-iad is no better than oak-iad, but oak-lax-sna-sfo-iad-ewr-lax-oak is far better because it adds to the cross country travel
oak-lax 500 miles
lax-sna 500 miles
sna-sfo 500 miles
iad-ewr 500 miles
lax-oak (or sfo)) 500 miles

net pickup 2,500 miles. but to do it, you have to do the research to determine.
1. if the connections work
2. if you can get the cheap l or t fares doing that routing
To those 2 "to do it"s I would add:
3. it helps to start with a reasonable cpm (<5 cpm for me) based on miles flying direct A-B-A, before seeing what A-C-B-D-A or more segmented itineraries will get the cpm down to. (It may be possible to start with a >5 cpm and get it down to <3.99 cpm or lower with a more complicated itinerary, but generally harder to arrange.)
4. more segments generally mean (for me at least) more fatigue and more chance of an MR going awry because of missed connections or other misadventures.