To start, I apologize if this topic has been discussed.
I searched by "college" and was unable to find any discussions to pertained to my topic.

I'm a freshmen college undergrad' and have been flying WN home several times a semester and have quite a number of "credits".

I mainly fly between MCO - JFK/ISP/PHL on WN and would like to move up the food chain. Is it worth it for the average college student to make MR's (and hope for comp. upgrades) if they fly on their own dime, and only fly once or twice per month?

If there are any college students here to advise, thanks so much in advance!

since I don't fly many transcon's or international flights much, is it worth it to fly the MR's to fly F on a 1,000 mile flight usually serviced by 737's...?

I'm also looking getting comp'ed to a elite status by a rival airline (since I hold the WN CP)... I currently have 128 credits on WN that I've flown in the past 12 months.
I know there is a thread about status matches, but not many people are reporting success matching from WN...

The first thing to do is figure out what you want out of a rewards program:

free domestic flights
free international flights
upgrades to business/first class
lounge access


WN's rewards are great for short haul flyers as you get the same rapid rewards credit for flying 1000 miles vs. 5000 miles. Of course these credits can only be used for free flights, within the USA. If they still offer the companion pass, that could be useful. WN has no first class and has no lounge but you really don't need such a thing when flying such a short distance. A lot of business travelers fly WN for short-haul flights.

Of course if you're hoping to fly internationally, your flat a** out of luck since WN doesn't fly internationally. You're going to have to buy some random ticket with an airline that you are a "nobody" with and sit in coach.

Also, if you have earned 128 RR credits, does that mean you've flown over 100 segments? If so, you could get AA's highest elite status! With that you get eight one-way upgrades and they can be used on AA international flights. You also get unlimited space available first class upgrades for domestic flights. That to me, is the reason why I'm trying to reach AA's EXP status. AA might not, however, have a non-stop on the route you're flying. You could always stop in ORD or DFW and earn more miles/segments but that will likely double the travel time you're used to. AA's flights might even be serviced by a regional jet which lots of people hate for some reason (I like them.)

I could write a book about this but it all falls back to what kind of awards you want to earn from an airline.

I'm in a similar situation as you, I pay (mostly) for all of my flying and I'm in college. I've seen some pretty good deals that would bump up my elite level but since I can't justify paying even $100 to have a better chance of getting into first class I made a new rule regarding mileage runs for myself. If I see a good price to somewhere I want to go I will get it. But I won't do a pure mileage run anymore.

My two cents of advice.

First class upgrades are nice. Flying a good airline to a far away land is also very nice.

I went through undergrad and worked my arse off to avoid having school loans when I graduated. Successfully, I might add. I actually made money in school, which I used to travel for about a year and a half after I graduated.

Unfortunately, grad school changed that. I now have loans in excess of an average loan for a home in one of the flat states. I yearn for the days that I did not have to worry about making payments each month. Many people I went to school with have undergrad loans on top of the grad loans, and many of them now resent essentially pissing away the money on stupid things like cars and booze.

My point is that you are young (presumably) and if you have a desire to travel then you will have plenty of opportunity to do so. But you also have to seriously think about spending an extra two or three grand a year to fly around the country for no reason. Not to mention, it takes a significant amount of time to do so.

If it's on someone else's dime, maybe that changes things a little. But I would still recommend that you save your coin and take a better trip at the end of your schooling. The few months after you graduate from undergrad are basically yours. It is one of the few times in your life that you will probably be able to do whatever you want. Maybe save what you would have spent to fly on the mileage runs and do an RTW in J or F after you graduate. Assuming you want mid-tier by doing mileage runs, you're probably looking at $2000 to $2500 a year, or $8000 to $10,000 over four years. That is enough for a very nice trip.

Again, just one person's opinion.

This subject is more appropriate for FT's new Mileage Run Discussion Forum. I'll fly it over there....*


*Sorry, no mileage will be awarded ;)

I am also in college right now. I fly to out of the US every vacation from school (mostly to Israel) and have consolidated my miles to SkyTeam after years of always looking for the cheapest fare. I am considering the mileage run now because it helps me get more free tickets. Think about it, if you fly to Alaska for a mileage run for $300 (via Houston) from Newark and then get out of it a free ticket to Europe, I think that it is worth it.

I follow my favorite football (soccer) club around Europe and frequently am looking to see new places so I think that for me it is fine (though I do miss a lot of school doing this stuff). I also don't hear of many other people at school doing this.

If it's on someone else's dime, maybe that changes things a little. But I would still recommend that you save your coin and take a better trip at the end of your schooling. The few months after you graduate from undergrad are basically yours. It is one of the few times in your life that you will probably be able to do whatever you want. Maybe save what you would have spent to fly on the mileage runs and do an RTW in J or F after you graduate. Assuming you want mid-tier by doing mileage runs, you're probably looking at $2000 to $2500 a year, or $8000 to $10,000 over four years. That is enough for a very nice trip.

I'm also a student, not US college, but German university, anyway I totaly agree with Darren, save that money for a RTW after college, which then will give you status and miles. I don't keep a lot of money in the bank, mainly because I have some other hobbies that cost a lot of money, but in contrast to most US students you don't have to take a loan in Germany to study, and if it's usually only 10000€ (~13000$) by the time you graduate, that simplifies the time after university.

As a college student a few years back, I designed MRs that reduced the total travel cost of mine and my family. Unless you get good enough to do that, I don't recomend MRing as a college student.

I'm an undergrad freshman as well. :D

I was able to attain NW SE since I was a HS student in an international school in Japan (spending vacation time back in the US), my family trips to the Philippines once every 1-3 years, and consolidation to a single FF program and alliance (I'm also w/ Skyteam).

However, whenever I do pure MRs, it's out of my pocket which also explains why I don't do it so frequently. At best, I only expect to see myself going up to Gold status at most in my college years as (unfortunately) I most likely cannot afford to go further up the ladder and maintain higher status but I'm content in being just a lowly Silver Elite. When the time comes to requalify at around 2008-9, I'm willing to save and shell out out of my own pocket to maintain my status.

But as for the question as to why I do it. To start off, I'm an aviation enthusiast which makes doing MRs more appealing for me. Being able to fly to places across the country at the lowest price is definitely a nice excuse for me to get out and up in the air. I'm able to take quick weekend trips to be away from it all and check out places I haven't been to before. Besides, MRs also act as an expensive study hall esp. when flying in IFE-less NW. ;)

I admit that I'll have a bias due to my background as an enthusiast and a wannabe world traveller but I believe it is worth it. I've been able to visit places that I haven't been to before, I get to fly more often, and do some fun stuff like participating in the NW Final DC-10 Revenue Flight DO.

Of course, I get curious looks from classmates whenever I (nowadays rarely) mention that I fly for miles but then again, who hasn't? ;)

As the reasoning behind why I'm a SPG Platinum. Well, due to the requirement of weekly partial hospital stays for an ailment and the fact at the hospital was rather far from my home, I decided to spend my nights at a 4 Points at around the same price as Tiverton House (http://www.tivertonhouse.ucla.edu/). :D

I started MRing when I was a senior undergraduate student. I was lucky enough to have my parents pay my tuition while I MR'ed. I work now but made 1K back in December. A couple of school conferences upped my mileage then my usual SFO-HKG helps a lot. In the end I paid the $599 and 3 x $400 fares from here to Munich and London. I was 1P beforehand and had the 100% RDM bonus too.

I amassed a large amount of miles and actually booked me and parents on a nice award trip that depleted my account, but wll probably continue to do MRs for AT LEAST 1P for the rest of my life (barring something happening) and eventually make MM.

I do it because sometimes I need an adventure, even though its sat-sun turnaround. I buy one book going in and one book coming back and enjoy myself (usually in economy) as I tarde away all my SWUs.

Fun stuff and every Friday one coworker asks me if I'm going anywhere :).

Waiting on the winter fare sales to europe

Save your money for good trips, don't waste it on MRs that ultimately get you nothing more than a better seat the few times you fly. Why spend $300 to fly nowhere, when that's a decent fraction of a quality vacation. I was and still am regularly leaving the country during breaks, but that's because I gave up on the weekend MRs and had money to spare. But that's just me.
As a side note, for tons of free miles (depending on your tuition I guess) put school on the MP visa and sign up for college plus. Of course, for this to be a good deal you need to pay it off immediately.

I highly disagree with that statement but honestly, I guess its to each his/her own. I earn enough every year for an equivalent of 360,000 miles and you can use that however you wish but affords my family business class tickets to Asia once a year.

It works, you just have to make 1K first :)

im a graduating senior have just started churning cards. it is great for college students because you aren't going to be buying a car or house anytime soon. you can easily get 100k a year that way. you don't get elite status but who needs elite when you can get business/first awards without copays?

I earned my status while studying. My trips were all paid for with money I earned working the night shift at a hotel. What was excellent doing MRs while studying was all the free time I had. Nowadays I have to use vacation days to go travelling, not at all as pleasant.

I am a grad student. Each year I'll take 2-3 transcons for conferences and many small segment flights back home, but I'm usually a little short of 2P on United. After the first time I flew in E+ I was hooked, so I spend no more on MR's than it would cost to buy E+ access, $300. I do like day trips to locations at very low fares (< 3cpm) and it helped that United had the $75ecert/5000 mi.

In your case though, I would suggest just sticking with WN. You should be getting 2x credits as a college student, so that's one free trip per 4 RT; pretty sweet return. IIRC, with 2RT awards, you can get out to Hawaii. Of course all this is subject to availablity of course.

Since you are planning to do a lot of transcon or interational travel, I'm not sure it would be worth it. I can't speak for other airlines, but F on UA's 737's aren't worth it unless you have the stupid Chase cert :p because that's even more useless.

Thats my $0.02, but the case is different for everyone. I do have to admit, I love flying just to get away and I love planes and airports, but I probably love being able to have enough $$ for the lunch the next day just a bit more ;)

I am a junior undergradute student and would probably describe my travel as for neccesity only in that I have never taken a pure mileage run. I concentrated all my flying to Northwest and now have amassed a pretty good amount of miles between a few trips to the west coast (I am from the east) to see friends out there and my trips to Europe.

Since I fly so infrequently compared to those on this board who MR for the status, my flying and participation in a frequent flyer program is pretty much just for the miles to be later redeemed for free flights. Just a bonus for doing what I would be doing anyway kind of deal.

Perhaps sometime in the future if I am in a job that requires plane travel, I would hope to achieve some kind of status for the upgrades and the like, but right now I am just a normal base member in my program with miles in the bank.

All of my travel I pay for myself, however, I have worked summers since I was a kid and have had a regular job (the same one I might add) for almost five years now working in retail.

I think at our age, unless you fly as much as the OP does, frequent flyer programs are best used to just save up the miles for later, at least in my case, to be spent after school for that one crazy trip, possibly a RTW as suggested by other posters in this thread.

[QUOTE=myfrogger;7538169]The first thing to do is figure out what you want out of a rewards program:

free domestic flights
free international flights
upgrades to business/first class
lounge access


I agree wholeheartedly. With WN you get free domestic flights. Upgrades to F or J are relatively rare, ymmv. The one thing I might look into, if I were you, would be whether it might make sense to save up money you would have spent on MRs to purchase a lifetime Presidents Club or World Clubs membership. I bought my PC membership on my 21st birthday and quite frankly feel that it is similar to being upgraded on every flight. (Free wifi, free booze, a quiet environment, etc.)

I've never had to do MRs but I do mileage boosters every now and then to places I actually want to go to anyway. But if it becomes absolutely vital to do an MR, I would. For me there are quite a few perks of elite status that I'd consider as necessities when flying in Y nowadays - lounge access, priority check in, seat selection (particularly on BA :rolleyes:), priority boarding. The last one is especially crucial in Y in the race for overhead locker space.

It's a combination of circumstances that have allowed me to fly so much:
- Education is paid for.
- Parents help with living expenses - I save a fair bit on the spare cash I have and spend them on holidays.
- Parents live overseas - they pay for tickets (or part of tickets if bought as part of a bigger holiday) that involve visiting them. Scanning fare rules for permitted routings and MPM is fun. ;)
- I work part time, and work involves flying to CBR at least once a month. Cash also comes in handy for overseas holidays
- With the money and miles saved up I can afford a trip away or 2 every semester break. :)

First, I'll echo wannaflyforless's sentiments: Kids, be very careful if you try this at home. ;)

I started taking mileage-type trips at age 17, before the term Mileage Run existed, as far as I know. To me, they were just trips. ;) My friends called them "Mo trips" per the nickname they gave me, Mo. And that's what they were.

My case was a ltitle different than many: my family lives 4 miles from MSP, a NW hub. Coming from Iowa, I found that many times fares from DSM--somewhere were cheaper than DSM--Home. As a further benchmark, the bus fare was $98 round trip. So, for a weekend Sat. to Sun. trip, my cost threshhold was fairly low as $100 would be sunk cost regardless, and I had the flexibility to use any NW fare to any destination worldwide and hit MSP on the way.

For your purposes, I think the easiest path may be to go for AA/US/UA status by segments--- between FL and Long Island, you can easily fly 4 segments up and 4 segments down on a $100ish round trip fare. If you would fly for, say, Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Spring Break, and at the start and end of the semester, that alone would nail low level status for the same price as flying Southwest. You have the luxury of being in a fairly low priced market where 1-way fares for $50ish are not uncommon-- meaning that you won't be gouged for a multi-month round trip fare like many students face.

As far as airline choice, Southwest is not your best bet for MR purposes as 1. they require many more segments than you will realistically fly, and 2. the companion pass, I'm guessing, will be of little value to you.

Between UA, US, and AA, I might suggest US as they give free upgrades for the lowest level elites--- an occasional seat up front in addition to your FC check in and bonus miles will give you a nice start to elite life.

Final note: regarding the price gouging on multimonth stays, you ro others reading can consider this: if you fly between 2 relatively close cities, consider booking an open jaw via the opposite coast. For a MCO student studying in, say, BNA, try MCO to LAX to MSN with a 1 night stay (or immediate return if you use redeyes) at the start and end of the semester. If fares are $170 round trip from MCO to LAX and $190 round trip LAX to MSN, then your MCO-LAX-MSN will average the round trip fares and cost $180 for the journey. Of course, if you live on a route with low fare carrier fares and $100ish or less one way fares, that may not be as important, but if the alternative is a MCO to MSN ticket for a 4 or 8 month stay, then the open jaw strategy works well.

Good luck!

I am an undergrad
I had one massive milage run a while back on amtrak, ended up getting close to 200,000 amtrak points for about $500 (convert to CO miles 1=1 with a 50k a year cap) but other that no. I may take an extra segment on a trip but thats it. Other than that i was a big user of the Independence Air GLiDE pass back when they were flying.

it might make sense to save up money you would have spent on MRs to purchase a lifetime Presidents Club or World Clubs membership. I bought my PC membership on my 21st birthday and quite frankly feel that it is similar to being upgraded on every flight. (Free wifi, free booze, a quiet environment, etc.)
My $0.02: Before purchasing a lifetime club membership, I'd do MR's to get to at least mid-tier status. Use the Jan/Feb period to earn it for two years. The discount for purchasing club membership as an elite should make up for a bunch of the MR costs (a gold at CO gets over $1000 discount), yet provides you with both status and the redeemable miles. Don't forget to buy the membership on your mileage credit card.

Maybe save what you would have spent to fly on the mileage runs and do an RTW in J or F after you graduate. Assuming you want mid-tier by doing mileage runs, you're probably looking at $2000 to $2500 a year, or $8000 to $10,000 over four years. That is enough for a very nice trip.


Depending on the home airport, $2500 is way more than enough to get top tier on just about any airline for a college student with a flexible schedule. Over 5 years, that should get them close to a million miles for the kind of spend you are talking about.

I'm a junior in college as well. based in BOS but my family lives in HKG.
I fly 3 times a year back home thus making me a 1P with UA which is fine.
I would love to climb up the ladder to 1K but since I only fly 3 times a year barely making 1P I cant fish out the extra $3000 to fly around to make 1K.

If I wasn't so far away from 1K I would do 1 or 2 extra MR to bump myself up

I am an undergrad
I had one massive milage run a while back on amtrak, ended up getting close to 200,000 amtrak points for about $500 (convert to CO miles 1=1 with a 50k a year cap) but other that no. I may take an extra segment on a trip but thats it. Other than that i was a big user of the Independence Air GLiDE pass back when they were flying.

Care to elaborate? Is this (or anything resembling it) replicable currently?

Thx.

-B

I am a college freshman and always read about everyone heading off on MRs. I personally dont do them, but would love to since I like the idea of just getting on an airplane and flying to a random place. The only problem is that I do not fly enough per year to get near attaining status since the University I attend is in the same state as hometown, so mainting status would be costly and not very worthwhile. For the most part I pay for my own travel, and the 2006/2007 year I had set aside essentially a $1000 travel budget not including trips going home. However, thanks to my car I saw that money fly out the window quickly into the school year. Pending earnings from summer employment and no more car surprises, I hope to be able to set aside at least another $1000 or so for trips, and actually be able to use it for that purpose.

As others have said to save up for RTW ticket after college, thats actually one of my goals. May not be J/F (I need to do some research on prices), but it is something I would really like to do.

Since no one really comps people from WN status, I offer you this tidbit of advice. Create a US Airways Dividend Miles account. Book a flight on them and then call the dividend miles service center and ask for the Silver Elite Trial. They will give you Silver status automatically over the phone on a trial basis, meaning that you get 90 days to qualify for Silver, Gold or Preferred through Feb of the following calendar year. Its 6 segments/6000 miles to keep silver, etc. You can search the US forum for more information.

Do an AA PLT challenge in the lastter half of this year, and you will earn AA mid-tier through Feb 09.

One properly routed AA W fare to Dublin for $500 or less would do it.

AA PLT vs US Silver
US silver = more free domestic upgrades
AA PLT = 100% mileage bonus on most fares throughout worldworld and fee lounge access whenever flying a Oneworld carrier internationally.

I too am a Freshman at college, and achieved MVPG on AS. I am contemplating several MR's but never "bit" yet. I was really tempted on the YYJ-MCO fare, but I couldn't make the schedule work. I do manipulate my flights to maximize value, but nothing "just for miles yet". I fly home from PUW-ANC at each break, and do a fair amount of travel for Boy Scouts. One trip last year went from ANC-DTW, but for 20 dollars less routed through ATL. Now I am "hooked" and am plotting out my trips for this year to maintain status, either 40K on AS or 50K on AS+partners. I think I might be 4-6K short right now... but will find a way. Love the occasional UG, and Exit Row seating. Have a school trip to FAI on Wed, so psyched about that.

I'm finishing my undergrad this semester. I don't do MRs. I do do weekend trips to the east coast if the fare is reasonable (usu. 200 bucks). I've gone to London and Germany the past two Spring Breaks and saved up enough miles for a European Trip over the summer. While I do have status, it's not too important, as flying through ATL on DL will not get you upgrades as a FO.

I fly exclusively on WN inside CA and on short hops and have a couple of free tix (all the recent promos also helped).

Personally, I dont think MR's in college are a great idea, however your view may vary...the reason is that I think there are much better things to spend money on than MR's, especially in college...(I am currently a senior)

My college traveling is pretty limited to going back and forth between home on the East Coast (Pennsylvania or Florida, depending on season) and Colorado, where I go to school, for scheduled breaks and summer vacation...aside from that I also took a few trips, usually using previously earned miles to cover airfare, to follow my school's football team to important road games...

Aside from that I feel no compelling need to spend money to step on an airliner for the sole purpose of earning miles...you only get college once (in most cases ;)), so spend wisely!

My college traveling is pretty limited to going back and forth between home on the East Coast (Pennsylvania or Florida, depending on season) and Colorado, where I go to school, for scheduled breaks and summer vacation..

You've just gotta watch the fares and route your flight home from college via FRA or MUC or some other far away place that adds <100 to the fare. ;) The LH codeshares on UA via DEN and SFO were quite good during the slow winter season this year.

You've just gotta watch the fares and route your flight home from college via FRA or MUC or some other far away place that adds <100 to the fare. ;) The LH codeshares on UA via DEN and SFO were quite good during the slow winter season this year.


That made my decision to go for 1K... SFO-ORD-MUC-LHR-SFO for $370 all in

Flying a good airline to a far away land is also very nice.

A good airline in the US? I thought all good airlines were extinct in North America. Except maybe Jetblue and Southwest in their very own way, but they don't really go to far away islands.

During my undergrad years, I was known to do a MR every now and again (esp. since I was in school during the first months after 9/11, when airlines had crazy-low fares and 3x EQMs to entice people back to the skies). I made it cost effective by burning the miles for Business Class tickets for Spring Break to far-flung destinations across the Pacific.

Except maybe Jetblue and Southwest in their very own way, but they don't really go to far away islands.

Sure they do: Long Island. A world upon itself. Beaches and all. ;)

A word on lifetime club access: for a different perspective, ask Trans World One about the value of his lifetime TWA Club membership. :rolleyes: Anyways, I think many clubs require that you be 21 to buy a membership-- but they may not always check. If you're looking for a haven for underage drinking, though, the Club is likely your ticket.

As with any Mileage Running, for students or otherwise, be careful to always watch your bottom line and don't get caught in the trap of throwing cash after status for its own sake. Really understand why you want status, and how the tangible benefits will help you. I mentioned earlier that a Southwest Companion Pass may not be the best value for an undergrad, especially if one is switching significant others every month or two. ;)

beckoa, it's considered poor form to upgrade and leave your teacher in coach. Now, if you take the upgrade and swap boarding passes with your teacher, that may work out well for you. ;) If you want to do it undercover, the gate agent will hopefully be accommodating.

When I was an international student studying first in the UK and then in Belgium a few years back, what was very important to me was being able to bring four pieces of checked luggage on AC (70 lbs x 4 = lots of weight). I had worked out that given the cost of living in the UK when I was there (2.5 CAD:1GBP), and then BE (1.6 CAD:1EUR) it was more cheaper for me to carry as much as I could over there so that I could use that money to do other things, like travel... or be able to eat.

While I did not specifically go out and spend money for the sake of getting status miles, what I did do was try to maximize the points accumulated on each trip that I needed to take (ie when I went home for Christmas, Easter, etc). For example, AC's YOW-LHR fares allowed for four segments each way. So, I routed myself YOW-YUL-YYZ-LHR during the winter season and when YYZ-MAN operated in the summer, I did YOW-YUL-YYZ-MAN-LHR. Other times, I looked at other options such as LHR-IAD-LGA and then LGA-YOW, which was cheaper than a full LHR-YOW-LHR.

Also, back in late 2002, BD had a really sweet seat sale, so I was able to pick up LHR-CDG for 30GBP, all-in (regret having got only one and not three or four -- who doesn't want to spend weekends in CDG? :D) -- it was cheaper than going for the Eurostar. And when I lived in the UK, I just flew everywhere. Being in Brighton and getting to Central London to catch the train to the Continent took about the same amount of time as to get to LHR. And I avoided the RYN and EZY flights because travel time to STN or LTN would just take too long. So for me, this strategy worked out well.

I guess all to say is that I looked for creative routings to maximize points on trips that I needed to take and, as a general rule, the cheapest fare possible. This landed me Prestige status for the first part of my stay in the UK, and then Elite for the last part of my UK stay -- and the baggage allowance saved me on every occasion when I did my MA in BE (bloody paper)!

The other thing is to do your MR's, but only to places you actually want to go. You will not be wasting the extra 2-5k that way, and at your age you can just stay with friends rather than spending money on hotels.

I started taking seriously the whole MR/elite/FT thing seriously at the start of this year so my thoughts are hardly the words of wisdom other FT'ers can offer but nonetheless, heres what I've got thus far...

I've found family members to be reliable financial partners as far as gunning for status is concerned. Assuming you have someone in your family flying somewhere on a regular basis with no concern for EQM's, there is always the possibility they would be willing to "subsidize" your MR expenditures for some award tickets.

My dad does HNL-NRT twice a year and my mom once a year. They rather keep the money "in the family", if you will. I find this helps offset the cost considerably since my I am focused on EQM's not RDM 's (for the time being). But don't be eliciting sponsorships on E-Bay!!:td: :td: :td: Your hard earned status will be bye-bye!

Since domestic upgrades can be covered by e-500's on United (and ALL my MR's have been domestic thus far), I don't tap into my miles all that much and surprisingly, even as a low-tier elite, these u/g's seem to clear to/from HNL, so it's all good.^ ^ ^

In some ways MR's are a bit of trap. MR's (for me) are getting easier the more I do them in First or business, but the first few MR's for me were horrendous because I had to do 'em in Economy. As I move up the elite ranks the u/g's will clear more (and the MR's will become easier) but so too will the flying required to maintain he newly acquired status. I think doing MR's just to have the status expire on you the next year is a waste. I consider what I could reasonably maintain rather than what I could do in a single year.

I figure after I graduate, I'd sill have a good chunk of miles to use on myself for some stylin' flyin'! (Not to mention the status to get my dang meal choices!)

Also, to save on lodging expenses, as much as I can, I try to book myself on red-eyes, essentially spending the night on a plane. (Also heps with min. stay requirements on some fares.)

Are there better things my money could go to? I suppose, but really, isn't that a relative thing? I'm happy.:cool:

I will say that as a student, the one thing that really sucks is the difficulty (as far as classes are concerned) of a tue/wed MR. Flying out of HNL also does NOT help. But thats a bit off-topic.

I do it because sometimes I need an adventure, even though its sat-sun turnaround. I buy one book going in and one book coming back and enjoy myself (usually in economy) as I tarde away all my SWUs.

Pretty much nailed it. Minus the SWU part. That's comming...

beckoa, it's considered poor form to upgrade and leave your teacher in coach. Now, if you take the upgrade and swap boarding passes with your teacher, that may work out well for you. ;) If you want to do it undercover, the gate agent will hopefully be accommodating.

Well, my UG just cleared, and I've been contemplating this situation, but figured out that I'll probably keep it, and try to keep it on the DL, since F is much better on AS than Y. Call me greedy, but I am a big dude, and fit a bit better in F then Y, thus, my seatmates will thank me for being up front, wheras the teacher is a bit smaller, and wouldn't utilize F as much. Besides, a free movie player, and quasi-free food is always a plus.

Thanks for the insight though... may be a different situation on the return. We'll see...

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Most college profs at a university (one that does research) tend to fly enough that they're elite on one or two airlines (i'm at UW, and I'd take the opportunity to pick on wazzu but I'll let it slide in this case) so if your prof does any sort of research most likely he/she will travel quite a bit for it and may get the upgrade as well. If not, well, they shouldn't complain about it.

But I can tell you that your classmates will probably give you a hard time as mine tend to when I get upgraded... but that's probably to be expected.



Well, my UG just cleared, and I've been contemplating this situation, but figured out that I'll probably keep it, and try to keep it on the DL, since F is much better on AS than Y. Call me greedy, but I am a big dude, and fit a bit better in F then Y, thus, my seatmates will thank me for being up front, wheras the teacher is a bit smaller, and wouldn't utilize F as much. Besides, a free movie player, and quasi-free food is always a plus.

Thanks for the insight though... may be a different situation on the return. We'll see...

Mileage Runs on Southwest Airlines can be very nice when you are a college student. First of all, if you are enrolled in college, WN give you 4 credits just for the hell of it. Then you earn 2 credits each one-way.

That's just 4 roundtrips per 1 reward ticket. (Opposed to the standard 8 roundtrips needed for a reward ticket when you do not have the college promotion).

They take the promotion off your Rapid Rewards accout when you turn 23 years old.

MRs (if you can call them that on WN) are great if you have downloaded the DING program and catch a $29.00 one-way fare somewhere.

A good airline in the US? I thought all good airlines were extinct in North America. Except maybe Jetblue and Southwest in their very own way, but they don't really go to far away islands.

Without giving an opinion on US based airlines, most on which you would do a mileage run have international partners that will go to far away islands.

And while Long Island is not a far away island, it's sure another world.

I mentioned earlier that a Southwest Companion Pass may not be the best value for an undergrad, especially if one is switching significant others every month or two. ;)
I don't/won't fly WN but I still like the idea of a companion pass. I'd love to be able to take girlfriends and friends along with me on my random trips for free. My trips are quite a topic for my friends to talk about but none of them have the money to travel (or at least that is always their excuse). They don't get it that my first class style trips are really done on an economy budget.

Depending on the home airport, $2500 is way more than enough to get top tier on just about any airline for a college student with a flexible schedule.
To be fair you said "depending on the airport" but I think $2500 is a very conservative budget unless you happen to be in maybe a half dozen US cities. I would say that if your home airport is serviced by AA the low end budget (basically all MRs and no actual trips) would be $3200 and if serviced by AE $3700.
Maybe save what you would have spent to fly on the mileage runs and do an RTW in J or F after you graduate.
I don't really like the idea of doing a RTW trip for leisure traveling. That is far too long to be away at one time. I guess that I have a business to run and if you've just graduated college you're less likely to have daily responsibilities. You're likely going to only be able to afford to do the trip in economy plus all that travel is going to net you status that you'd never use. If you take a bunch of trips for nearly the same price, you'll earn status, be able to use it, and hopefully take your long trips in business or first class.

Different strokes for different folks. Happy travels :)

I'd love to be able to take girlfriends and friends along with me on my random trips for free.

Beware that Southwest companion passes are issued to a specific person, and you can only change the name like 3 times during the year.

As far as budget, one can get lower tier status for around $500ish from a major airport---- but much depends on the airline you want, etc. US is a good option for a Northeast segment flyer; AA and NW for a midwest based segment flier, AS for a west coast segment flier, and like that. Now, if you are looking to specifically get top tier status and/or fly a specific airline, then your price will go up. But, mileage running is all about flexibility and finding the best bang for your buck even if it may not be 100% according to your preferences.

I am a third year Undergrad at Penn - I began MR'ing my Freshman year. Never once looked back - love it :)

Beware that Southwest companion passes are issued to a specific person, and you can only change the name like 3 times during the year.
Ahh...it looks like the one thing that I liked about Southwest over the other airlines is this companion pass but it isn't nearly as useful as I thought. Maybe if you were married, however.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Most college profs at a university (one that does research) tend to fly enough that they're elite on one or two airlines (i'm at UW, and I'd take the opportunity to pick on wazzu but I'll let it slide in this case) so if your prof does any sort of research most likely he/she will travel quite a bit for it and may get the upgrade as well. If not, well, they shouldn't complain about it.

But I can tell you that your classmates will probably give you a hard time as mine tend to when I get upgraded... but that's probably to be expected.

This worked out really quite well actually, since I pre-cleared U, (at 72 hrs), and upon arrival at the airport, one "U" was there, so I snagged it for my professor. He ended up sitting next to a rival professor from Boise in F, quite funny actually. And amazingly he has no AS account yet... hopefully he'll open one soon...

Thanks for the insight. WSU sent 10 people to the competition, while UW only 1, but he's a cool dude.

And amazingly he has no AS account yet... hopefully he'll open one soon...

.... or you could go to office hours and open one up for him.

^ ^ ^

You learn from the professor..... he can learn from you. :cool:

I graduated almost a year ago. I was president of a national student organization for about 20 months during my college years, requiring a good amount of travel domestically and to Canada. I was racking up 60K BIS/year those years, and had 1P on UA, with some AA, WN a random CO F flight mixed in. It was pretty easy to get some MR help, consolidate my travel and push myself up to 1K. I used my miles to fly myself and my girlfriend to Japan for spring break last year in C, and this past Christmas on ps C.

Since I already had to be away a lot and was spending the money, it made a lot of sense for me to make the push. I would say that 1K on UA is very important to have, because the elite ranks are really swelling, and there's also UGS members to compete against. If I wasn't traveling so much as it was, it would have been much harder to justify to myself why I was doing it.

I also recommend, if you can afford it, to collect those hotel points. Having SPG gold status was nice for the bonus points and helped me to bulk up before even starting work.

Now that I work for a consulting firm, it has paid off immensely. I get upgraded, so I can work on my flights, I'm very familiar with the UA system and network, and I'm prepared for things that can come up. For the other associates that just started, they're having to learn all of this now-and the rigors of travel and consulting, combined with the stress of traveling is sometimes too much.

If you are thinking about a job where travel is a big part, and you have to travel as it is, then having status is a good idea. If its just something you are thinking of doing for the heck of it, it may be an awfully expensive hobby.

Hey,

Since you are still in college, I thought the following two ideas might be worth noting:

1. Traveling abroad Junior Year? If so, then it may make sense to switch to some airline/alliance that flies there now, as opposed to staying with SouthWest; this way you can concentrate your miles in one account. In other words, you may want to be proactive or strategic with re: to this "year" in mind. When I did my junior year abroad in London, the flight from Los Angeles to London was about 6,000 miles each way. And as you can guess, it was pretty easy to get elite status...esp. when the winter fares became ridiculously cheap.

2. United Airlines offers 10,000 miles for free, just for graduating from college. Moreover, I even got this when I graduated law school last year. So, even if you don't fly UA, this is a pretty easy and cheap deal to keep in mind; just don't forget to register before you graduate.

Hey,

Since you are still in college, I thought the following two ideas might be worth noting:

1. Traveling abroad Junior Year? If so, then it may make sense to switch to some airline/alliance that flies there now, as opposed to staying with SouthWest; this way you can concentrate your miles in one account. In other words, you may want to be proactive or strategic with re: to this "year" in mind. When I did my junior year abroad in London, the flight from Los Angeles to London was about 6,000 miles each way. And as you can guess, it was pretty easy to get elite status...esp. when the winter fares became ridiculously cheap.

2. United Airlines offers 10,000 miles for free, just for graduating from college. Moreover, I even got this when I graduated law school last year. So, even if you don't fly UA, this is a pretty easy and cheap deal to keep in mind; just don't forget to register before you graduate.


And don't forget to claim the miles too!! I had so much going on, between moving, trip to Asia, and starting a new job, I completely forgot until a few weeks ago:(

"college students" come in different sorts and shapes and the answer is really "it depends". The general factors to consider are probably
-time (including partners/family issues)
-money (current/ability to borrow/expectations about future income)
-aspirations wrt/ travel comfort/ability to sleep on the plane etc.
-amount and nature of "job" related travel
-concern about climate change
Students may differ from non-students wrt these and other dimensions and they may differ from each other. And these dimensions affect the attractiveness of status and/or MR to get that status.

I am a grad student and schools pays for quite a few trips to conferences etc - which makes up most of my AA plt status. Once the virtuous cycle gets going, however, traveling is even more fun and becomes "cheaper" (bc of additional bonus miles, knowing tricks to get better cheaper tickets, etc), so I also do lots of private travel. But never a pure mileage run. In my opinion, the biggest plus of being a student in this context is the amount and flexibility in time we can spend in the air(port).

Don't forget that you can use 32 RR credits to get to Hawaii, so that's an option for those credits if you want to go there. If you were instead on FL, they allow you to use their credits to book tickets on any airline to go anywhere. As they have some decent service out of MCO, you may want to look at that.

When I was finishing up school, US kept having great sales from RDU to a variety of European airports. I kept taking advantage of those to visit some interesting European destination for a few days at a time, and pretty quickly I got up to Silver status with them and started getting bonus miles and upgrade certs (they did 800 mile certs then). While they weren't mileage runs for status, some of them were excessive trips for a combination of fun and miles. With some of the promos that went on in 2002/2003, I would get 20-30K miles for a single trip to Europe that might cost $300. I'd get to go and see Europe and also acquire a large number of miles at the same time. There was at least one instance where I left right after class on Thursday and flew back in time to get to my next class on Tuesday.

I would never have done a pure MR for status or miles, but I did make a number of trips for "cheap" vacations that also happened to acquire a lot of miles.

My first year as an undergrad, I became an AC member and started MRs, made PLT, and I haven't looked back! I took advantage of some AMAZING fares out of DSM and CID, to places like RNO, SJC, MIA, etc. (try $89 all-in!)

Now, in a Ph.D. program, I take advantage of my flexible schedule (especially during the summer) to fly each year to SCL/EZE, HNL, and LAX/SFO. I have no problem making my 50k q-mile quota each year.

I'm intrigued by the poster who claims that I could be EXP for $2500. I'm based out of RDU during the academic year. Does anybody else concur that this would be possible? It sure would be great to get EXP and be able to stop buying more expensive tickets on international trips to avoid the copay! (those 8 eVIPs would more than cover my int'l trips)

Any ideas? I've often considered a few weekend RDU-LGW trips, but I can't justify all of the *#$& taxes to fly to/from Britain!

"college students" come in different sorts and shapes and the answer is really "it depends". [...]

Students may differ from non-students wrt these and other dimensions and they may differ from each other. And these dimensions affect the attractiveness of status and/or MR to get that status.

Excellent post.

Let's put it this way, as a grad student in my 40s, my reasons for (and what I'll put up with while) doing a mileage run are quite a bit different (I suspect) than someone in their teens/20s. Assuming that status-seeking is the common denominator for any mileage runner, then the reasons any given student to seek status is probably as wildly variable for that population as any other.

-30-

I first made 2P during my sophomore year (during freshmen year, I had three trips to Korea but all were on mileage with KE that my parents had stacked up) but I moved fairly quickly into 1P the year after. This was because I made at least two trips to Korea per year and one trip to Europe during spring break. I usually ended up about 55K eqm. During the year between my senior year and first year at grad school, I found a great fare to SIN from JFK that was still cheaper than JFK-ICN even after I had SIN-ICN ticket. So that was really my first ever mileage run of sorts where I went JFK-NRT-SIN-BKK-ICN to go home to Korea. I only did it because it was cheaper and didn't mind "stopover" in SIN for a day or two. That put me closer to 1K mark... but again didn't reach 1K with 75K eqm. The year following, I had an internship at WHO that took me to Kathmandu, Nepal on a duty travel from the US. I routed it through SIN and had 70K eqm by the end of June. After a trip to home, Korea, and a thanksgiving vacation in London, I was all set for my first year membership with 1K. :) Since then I have been 1K and this year, it looks like I will be closer to 200K mark!

You'd be very surprised how productive I can be on a flight--there are NO distractions at all, most importantly no internet!

When I do MRs and have to get a paper written during them, I intentionally choose flights with equipment that do not have IFE. I've had some very productive days while jaunting around the country!

I think it's great that there are at least some college students on here that take advantage of what opportunities they have, and also use MR. I've been accumulating miles since a young age (i guess my dad signed me up for programs when we traveled when I was little), and now am able to take advantage of some of them to travel whenever there's a need. And of course I'm able to save some for future travel. Same with hotel programs (Starwood mostly), and same with credit card programs. I use a Platinum Amex, which, while the not the best card for college students, it's proven to be well worth the yearly fee when you take advantage of everything it has offer (dollar for dollar, as a college student, the benefits are extremely valuable). Good to know i'm not the only youngin' here on FT :)

My two cents of advice.

First class upgrades are nice. Flying a good airline to a far away land is also very nice.

I went through undergrad and worked my arse off to avoid having school loans when I graduated. Successfully, I might add. I actually made money in school, which I used to travel for about a year and a half after I graduated.

Unfortunately, grad school changed that. I now have loans in excess of an average loan for a home in one of the flat states. I yearn for the days that I did not have to worry about making payments each month. Many people I went to school with have undergrad loans on top of the grad loans, and many of them now resent essentially pissing away the money on stupid things like cars and booze.

My point is that you are young (presumably) and if you have a desire to travel then you will have plenty of opportunity to do so. But you also have to seriously think about spending an extra two or three grand a year to fly around the country for no reason. Not to mention, it takes a significant amount of time to do so.

If it's on someone else's dime, maybe that changes things a little. But I would still recommend that you save your coin and take a better trip at the end of your schooling. The few months after you graduate from undergrad are basically yours. It is one of the few times in your life that you will probably be able to do whatever you want. Maybe save what you would have spent to fly on the mileage runs and do an RTW in J or F after you graduate. Assuming you want mid-tier by doing mileage runs, you're probably looking at $2000 to $2500 a year, or $8000 to $10,000 over four years. That is enough for a very nice trip.

Again, just one person's opinion.

Really great advice here - couldn't have conveyed my feelings any differently.

I will add this - while I was in college there was no way in hell I would have missed a weekend (valuable time to work on keg-stand technique) on campus (and due to scheduling traveling during the week wasn't an option). Enjoy your time on campus (it goes TOO QUICKLY) and then spend your boring weekends doing MRs. OR, get a nice job that pays you to fly all over the country/world. Little extra work now, can pay HUGE dividends in the future.

For your purposes, I think the easiest path may be to go for AA/US/UA status by segments--- between FL and Long Island, you can easily fly 4 segments up and 4 segments down on a $100ish round trip fare. If you would fly for, say, Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Spring Break, and at the start and end of the semester, that alone would nail low level status for the same price as flying Southwest.
Good luck!

I appreciate you sharing all your MR knowledge and i'm new to bothstatus & MR biz so perhaps you could take pity on me and expound on this a little bit more?

Using your AA example wouldn't it take 15 r/ts in a year to achieve Gold Status by segments (30)?

If I'm reading your post correctly, it seems that Gold status would only require 8 r/ts (16 segments)?

thanks from a non college student leisure traveller who is easily seduced by MRs but like the OP is afraid that I don't fly often enough so that any status earned really will end up being less useful than the FC award tix earned from those miles.

What you're missing is that that poster specified making lots of stops on the way. 4 segments each direction, so 8 segments per RT. 4 RT and you're got the 30.

-B