Mileage Run Discussion - Turning a SDC into a Milege Run

How to make SDCs into Mileage runs
I have searched and haven't found anything directly relating to this.

I will be a Delta Skymiles gold elite within a few weeks. I am based in MSP and I am hoping that on days I have flexibility to add additional miles to my scheduled flights via the free SDC feature. The goal is to hit at least PM if not DM.

My goal from this thread is for me to receive hints of how to best pull this off. I will start with a few of my assumptions:

Delta.com will provide a list of at least some of the routes
Matrix ITA can be to find potential routes
Expert Flyer (in paid mode) can be used to find officially how many hops and official connecting airports I am entitled to
Availability may be more limited since I am based in a hub
I assume that only hubs can be used between departure city and final destination.
Routing rules will apply (at least to the displayed the airline web site)


In case it matters (I don't think it does), I fly mostly on sLUT fares.
My basic question, what would be the best techniques to build a SDC that would hit the most airports or most total miles.

Lets say for example I have booked MSP to LGA through MEM (already extending the number of miles over the direct). Is there a way (assuming seat availability) to fly MSP-SEA (Alaska hub)-DTW-ATL-SLC-MEM-LGA.

I guess my questions are as follows:

How do I find routes that are not on the airline website?
Once found, is my assumption correct that I would need to use a phone agent to make this change?
What are my chances of success in using SDC in this manner?
Any chance to build stop overs into a SDC? If so, what are the limits?
Are there maximum number of stops that can be accomplished? If so, is this based on fare type?


Thank you very much for your help.

You can't SDC into Alaska operated flight

Thanks

You can't SDC into Alaska operated flight

Just quick report.

Had a direct flight scheduled SLC to MSP. The fare was limited to certain connections including I think ORD and CVC only. Direct was 700 miles. Called and did a same day change via IAH for 2200 miles and snagged an upgrade for good measure.

Even if Silver many would consider that worth while at $50 with a additional 1500 miles at 3.3 cents a mile.

Just quick report: Had a direct flight scheduled SLC to MSP. The fare was limited to certain connections including I think ORD and CVC only. Direct was 700 miles. Called and did a same day change via IAH for 2200 miles and snagged an upgrade for good measure.

Even if Silver many would consider that worth while at $50 with a additional 1500 miles at 3.3 cents a mile.

Not to quibble, but SLC-MSP is 990 -- so your delta was really around 1200 miles; still not bad....

An interesting question, and I've thought about this some: whether SDC can be beneficial as a MR boost. Unfortunately AA definitely and UA I think have raised their fee to $75, so at a conservative pricing of 4.0 cpm you would need to gain 1,875 miles to break even. You had the advantage of DL lower cost, and a good choice alternate routing. Just takes a bit more work on other carriers; and a good bit more flying time, say 3-4 hours when you factor in connection time, for a somewhat limited return of miles.

I have found SDC useful, however, for adjusting connection/arrival times that may be problematic, or for taking 6-8 hour breaks to visit an interesting city, or having lunch with a friend, where you might otherwise just be zipping through the airport.

You know you are right!

As a silver it would have been $.041

Never thought about it as a way to see a city! That is a great idea.

Tom

Not to quibble, but SLC-MSP is 990 -- so your delta was really around 1200 miles; still not bad....

An interesting question, and I've thought about this some: whether SDC can be beneficial as a MR boost. Unfortunately AA definitely and UA I think have raised their fee to $75, so at a conservative pricing of 4.0 cpm you would need to gain 1,875 miles to break even. You had the advantage of DL lower cost, and a good choice alternate routing. Just takes a bit more work on other carriers; and a good bit more flying time, say 3-4 hours when you factor in connection time, for a somewhat limited return of miles.

I have found SDC useful, however, for adjusting connection/arrival times that may be problematic, or for taking 6-8 hour breaks to visit an interesting city, or having lunch with a friend, where you might otherwise just be zipping through the airport.

In the old UA I did a same day change to my benefit in the RCC for 2010 qualifying year. I changed from iad-lax on a W fare to iad-las-sfo-lax on a y fare for I knew that the agent was going to rebook me into full Y which gave me the class of service bonus as well.

Now this ISN'T the way it is supposed to work but in the RCC you can get a nice agent that can give you an indirect routing in the old UA system.

Now I have tried this a couple times both on the phone and in person since 3/3 and have been unsuccessful every time. They only allow you to change to the same fare bucket and the same exact routing (although they do allow the 24 hour window whereas before it was 3-4 hours (I think 3) your originally scheduled flight. Thus on UA nowadays I would say this won't work, except in one off cases.