Mileage Run Discussion - UA 100K ASAP, but cheaply

Has anyone any suggestions for super-long-haul UA MRs? I'd prefer A or D, but will go EC too. I am trying to figure out the fastest way to 100K miles (1K), as per this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/1368914-ideas-how-fast-track-top-tier-elite.html) and am hoping this is the right forum for it. I'm trying to search using Kayak, Farecompare, Farewatcher, Orbitz, and UA's site but no luck. (In fact, I'm not sure what their longest haul flight actually is, but see most MRs include a number of stops.) Thanks for any input.

IAD to JNB is around 16k miles RT. Its non-stop UA flight operated by SAA.

HKG, SIN, TYO, etc. Asia is one of your better bets given greater competition to that market. You could also try places in the Middle East/North Africa, including Accra, Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait City that don't exactly scream tourism.

IAD-SFO-HKG and back is 18,690 miles. IAD-KWI and back is 13,150. But even if you fly to HKG and back, you'd have to do that 6 times to get 1K. Not at all cheap if you are trying to squeeze this in at the last minute, and it's not clear from your other thread why you want/need 1K so badly. (If you're trying to get free upgrades to Hawaii, you'll have to connect in SFO, LAX, or DEN, and even then they are unreliable. No free upgrades at all from the East Coast.)

The best way is 20 or so trans con @ 200+ a pop, that is $4-5K for UA 1K.

I've done a number of MR's this summer at 5 cpm, but 3 cpm transcons are available for fall/winter. You can also book them all back to back to back. So do 2 MRs in 1 weekend.

I won't do international long hauls for this unless the $600-800 fare for NYC - SIN fare will comes back which averages out to $3-4K for 5 round trips and 1K status.

What do you consider cheaply?

And, what would you want 1K for? If you are having to rush to try and get 100K miles, that means you have no travel on UA so far this year... so what are your plans to use the status for?

And, what would you want 1K for?

Remember that you can get the large majority of the Premier benefits through some combination of paying for them or getting a UA credit card. If you're considering flying solely to achieve status - you should really evaluate these options first...

I'm embarrassed. I didn't realize 1K wouldn't get me upgrades from EWR or JFK.

This year I have flown Delta using miles I bought. I have only done two trips as I was in SE Asia on a 110-day bicycle trip, and thus didn't do as much commuting. But in 2013 I will be commuting more.

The way things seem to add up, I pay roughly about $2500 - $3000 for a FC seat either way (miles, miles n cash, cash) now. I read in one thread that UA might be the better of the main US airlines to invest in, with respect to getting an elite status, although there seems to also be a camp that feels (post-merger) like 1Ks are not getting on as well as in the past. So, that's the reason for my post.

I thought having the elite, and paying say $800 on average for a coach seat that could yield an upgrade, thus making the thing worth the $2500, that this would pay for itself if I kept the elite cost under $10K (6*1700).

So, I was hoping that if I had 1K status, I'd get upgrades to FC if they were available. I had been thinking of going the flight 15 route (EWR to HNL) as I prefer the long haul vs the stop. Now, it appears, I am wasting my (and your) time. Is this true?

To be honest: I worry about UA. My brother-in-law and his wife are both former Continental FAs, (they are now with UA) and they are miserable. I have always felt that the United Hawaii crews were pretty rough at times. (Sorry, if anyone here is very close with any of them, just my opinion.)

I always feel like I'm on a freighter. You'd think they'd put more into it. And Hawaiian is terrible. I have flown that airline for nearly 20 years and it has really gone downhill over the past few years.

Then I read stuff like this: http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thewanderingaramean/2012/05/the-new-united-a-trip-from-hell/

I have never actually gone on that flight, as I used to avoid HNL altogether. Scary.

So, I'm not sure about UA, or any other airline, for that matter. I just read (somewhere here on a sticky) that if I have a question regarding a particular airline, then post in that forum. So, here I am.



What do you consider cheaply?

And, what would you want 1K for? If you are having to rush to try and get 100K miles, that means you have no travel on UA so far this year... so what are your plans to use the status for?

Thank you for your advice. Yes, I was looking at the Explorer card. My wife and I already have the Chase Mileage Plus card now. We spend about $100K a year on it.

Remember that you can get the large majority of the Premier benefits through some combination of paying for them or getting a UA credit card. If you're considering flying solely to achieve status - you should really evaluate these options first...

Twenty, huh? Talk about blog clot city. But, it might be the cheapest way....


The best way is 20 or so trans con @ 200+ a pop, that is $4-5K for UA 1K.

I've done a number of MR's this summer at 5 cpm, but 3 cpm transcons are available for fall/winter. You can also book them all back to back to back. So do 2 MRs in 1 weekend.

I won't do international long hauls for this unless the $600-800 fare for NYC - SIN fare will comes back which averages out to $3-4K for 5 round trips and 1K status.

I'll do some searches and see what I come up with, if I decide to pull the trigger on UA.


HKG, SIN, TYO, etc. Asia is one of your better bets given greater competition to that market. You could also try places in the Middle East/North Africa, including Accra, Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait City that don't exactly scream tourism.

IAD-SFO-HKG and back is 18,690 miles. IAD-KWI and back is 13,150. But even if you fly to HKG and back, you'd have to do that 6 times to get 1K. Not at all cheap if you are trying to squeeze this in at the last minute, and it's not clear from your other thread why you want/need 1K so badly. (If you're trying to get free upgrades to Hawaii, you'll have to connect in SFO, LAX, or DEN, and even then they are unreliable. No free upgrades at all from the East Coast.)

First of all, UA EWR-HNL-EWR it is possible to upgrade using RPU or GPU (75K EQM/100k EQM level eliets , using RPU/GPU instruments). Keep in mind its based on space available and you'd be competing with other high level elites on the chance. On this route you might also get a chance to buy a same day buy-up upgrade (e.g. I once bought the upgrade at airport check-in on day of travel), price varies from $325 to $5xx each way).

If you are willing to add a connect stop in West Coast, then you'd get a chance for CPU (free upgrade based on elite status, not using instrument) - it could work if you are 1K and you travel during non-peak times.

Its hard for me to imaging someone doing MR from 0 to 100K EQM. If you usually pay for FC between Hawaii and East Cost, and truly "feel like I'm on a freighter" then you'd probably have a worse time during MR trips especially if you are going long haul MR. One possible compromise would be to wait until next year (or any subsequent year) where you've already accumulated some EQMs on UA, say at least 25K EQM or higher then you can consider the cost/benefit of MR to achieve a higher elite level.

The elite maximizer rate (its the term to buy elite miles) on UA is expensive, its usually used by people to top off existing EQMs in order to meet the next elite level. In terms of RDM, if you are able to put $100K spend on credit card (as you mentioned in another post), you might want take a look at the UA Club card that earns 1.5 miles per $ spend, and it comes with UA lounge membership, no forex, 2 free bags on domestic travel and no closed-in award booking fee.

I'm embarrassed. I didn't realize 1K wouldn't get me upgrades from EWR or JFK.

This year I have flown Delta using miles I bought. I have only done two trips as I was in SE Asia on a 110-day bicycle trip, and thus didn't do as much commuting. But in 2013 I will be commuting more.

The way things seem to add up, I pay roughly about $2500 - $3000 for a FC seat either way (miles, miles n cash, cash) now. I read in one thread that UA might be the better of the main US airlines to invest in, with respect to getting an elite status, although there seems to also be a camp that feels (post-merger) like 1Ks are not getting on as well as in the past. So, that's the reason for my post.

I thought having the elite, and paying say $800 on average for a coach seat that could yield an upgrade, thus making the thing worth the $2500, that this would pay for itself if I kept the elite cost under $10K (6*1700).

So, I was hoping that if I had 1K status, I'd get upgrades to FC if they were available. I had been thinking of going the flight 15 route (EWR to HNL) as I prefer the long haul vs the stop. Now, it appears, I am wasting my (and your) time. Is this true?

To be honest: I worry about UA. My brother-in-law and his wife are both former Continental FAs, (they are now with UA) and they are miserable. I have always felt that the United Hawaii crews were pretty rough at times. (Sorry, if anyone here is very close with any of them, just my opinion.)

I always feel like I'm on a freighter. You'd think they'd put more into it. And Hawaiian is terrible. I have flown that airline for nearly 20 years and it has really gone downhill over the past few years.

Then I read stuff like this: http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thewanderingaramean/2012/05/the-new-united-a-trip-from-hell/

I have never actually gone on that flight, as I used to avoid HNL altogether. Scary.

So, I'm not sure about UA, or any other airline, for that matter. I just read (somewhere here on a sticky) that if I have a question regarding a particular airline, then post in that forum. So, here I am.

I've been online looking at airfares all day. Talk about addicting. I may have to suck it up and buy my tix to and from Maui next year. If I do six trips@about 8-9k miles each, and then maybe one big trip to SE Asia, then a MR plan may be justifiable. I am not fit enough to handle 20 RTs over the pond, that's for darn sure.

I hate using that term to describe some of my experiences on UA (or any airline). I love to fly and travel in general.

Even the commute to Maui or vice versa is somehow fun, in an odd way.

Thanks for your advice.

First of all, UA EWR-HNL-EWR it is possible to upgrade using RPU or GPU (75K EQM/100k EQM level eliets , using RPU/GPU instruments). Keep in mind its based on space available and you'd be competing with other high level elites on the chance. On this route you might also get a chance to buy a same day buy-up upgrade (e.g. I once bought the upgrade at airport check-in on day of travel), price varies from $325 to $5xx each way).

If you are willing to add a connect stop in West Coast, then you'd get a chance for CPU (free upgrade based on elite status, not using instrument) - it could work if you are 1K and you travel during non-peak times.

Its hard for me to imaging someone doing MR from 0 to 100K EQM. If you usually pay for FC between Hawaii and East Cost, and truly "feel like I'm on a freighter" then you'd probably have a worse time during MR trips especially if you are going long haul MR. One possible compromise would be to wait until next year (or any subsequent year) where you've already accumulated some EQMs on UA, say at least 25K EQM or higher then you can consider the cost/benefit of MR to achieve a higher elite level.

The elite maximizer rate (its the term to buy elite miles) on UA is expensive, its usually used by people to top off existing EQMs in order to meet the next elite level. In terms of RDM, if you are able to put $100K spend on credit card (as you mentioned in another post), you might want take a look at the UA Club card that earns 1.5 miles per $ spend, and it comes with UA lounge membership, no forex, 2 free bags on domestic travel and no closed-in award booking fee.

I don't really understand the logic of trying to MR 100K just to have status for future travel...

Yes, then your future travel might be "better" because you get free upgrades and elite status benefits, but you have to go through 100k miles of pain this year to get that. Why not just save yourself the money and the pain of flying 100k miles this year, and just do the travel you have to do next year? Sure, then your travel next year might not be as pleasant compared to if you had elite status, but it'll still be much less pain than the pain you'll go through this year to fly 100k and you won't be spending any extra money and time.

this thread hurts my head

:confused:

I don't really understand the logic of trying to MR 100K just to have status for future travel...

Yes, then your future travel might be "better" because you get free upgrades and elite status benefits, but you have to go through 100k miles of pain this year to get that. Why not just save yourself the money and the pain of flying 100k miles this year, and just do the travel you have to do next year? Sure, then your travel next year might not be as pleasant compared to if you had elite status, but it'll still be much less pain than the pain you'll go through this year to fly 100k and you won't be spending any extra money and time.

I second this statement/line of thought.

Very ambitious goal

If money is not really a big issue, you can try this route:

OGG-SFO/LAX-EWR-HKG-SIN

It will be about 29K RT. With 3 of them, you will almost make 90%. And a small MR (like OGG-EWR) will do the rest.

Also - buying premium fare helps.

The $3-7k you spend achieving 1K this year could pay for many of the domestic benefits of 1k, next year...without flying 100k in 6 months.

What about try Platinum challenge first?

I second this statement/line of thought.

well you know some people are crazy aobut status and getting the serivces all the big boys get. so i don't see anything wrong with 100K MR only if OP is willing to sending the time seating in the long haul flights and spend the time to travel.

plus all he is asking is to help if you guys have any good route that has a good CPM that he can take advantage of..... well why question his insanity over it :p hehe

let's just help instead....

this thread hurts my head

:confused:

Then you should try the Trick / Negotaite thread.....drive you to drink !!!!!:D

I don't really understand the logic of trying to MR 100K just to have status for future travel...

Yes, then your future travel might be "better" because you get free upgrades and elite status benefits, but you have to go through 100k miles of pain this year to get that. Why not just save yourself the money and the pain of flying 100k miles this year, and just do the travel you have to do next year? Sure, then your travel next year might not be as pleasant compared to if you had elite status, but it'll still be much less pain than the pain you'll go through this year to fly 100k and you won't be spending any extra money and time.

I hear you....but last Jan , (having retired awile ago, lost status all around) i JOINED 200 OTHERS (ORD) WHEN aa WAS GIVING TRIPLE MILES on ORD LAX etc. Tickets OW were a low of $ 87 and up. There were people doing 3 RT s in a week end. I did 10 in 13 days. Got EXP.
My motivation ? EXP at AA gets 8 one way systemwide upgrades on any AA metal. I was hoping to do a lot of ORD DEL in J ( cash price $ 5000 + RT). Unfortunately they canceled the flight ! Still it cost me leass than 2300 to earn EXP....and I will make some trips to China etc.

Having said that I am looking for a UA MR for around $ 1000 that gives me the max miles. Hopefully UA has a challenge to match my EXP ? HELP PLEASE !

Having said that I am looking for a UA MR for around $ 1000 that gives me the max miles. Hopefully UA has a challenge to match my EXP ? HELP PLEASE !

UA will match EXP to their Premier Platinum (75k mile level), they will not match to 1K nor provide any SWUs.

UA will match EXP to their Premier Platinum (75k mile level), they will not match to 1K nor provide any SWUs.

Thanks......now to look for that MR !

Wish I could give you my 1k status.
Flew this year several trips across the U.S and Transpacific and was NOT upgraded even once.Oddly enough in May we flew all four of us (2 silver,1 gold and 1k) and guess who was not EVEN on the upgrade list at the gate:))
With that said-been getting a ton of drink coupons which I can't use since I am allergic to alcohol but makes my husband happy.

What do you consider cheaply?

And, what would you want 1K for? If you are having to rush to try and get 100K miles, that means you have no travel on UA so far this year... so what are your plans to use the status for?

The OP might want the 100K to improve his/her chances for future upgrades or want the SWU for international Y to C or C to F upgrade. Everyone has their vices and what makes them "Tick"

:(:(:(

Its hard for me to imaging someone doing MR from 0 to 100K EQM. .

I have. TWICE to be exact. I used to fly Continental exclusively in the 90's until I found out about SWUs on United and EVIPs on American from FT (thank you FT). I had to fly from scratch on both airlines to get Top-Tier status and I have never looked back since.

There are plenty of folks who have done this.................we all have to start from ZERO sometime.

If money is not really a big issue, you can try this route:

OGG-SFO/LAX-EWR-HKG-SIN

It will be about 29K RT. With 3 of them, you will almost make 90%. And a small MR (like OGG-EWR) will do the rest.

Also - buying premium fare helps.

Hmmmm....I never thought of this. I might just do this routing so I can be through with getting to 100k on UA this year. Most of my trips this year have been on One World Airlines (CX to Asia..., BA to Europe....AA to Brazil)

Wish I could give you my 1k status.
Flew this year several trips across the U.S and Transpacific and was NOT upgraded even once.Oddly enough in May we flew all four of us (2 silver,1 gold and 1k) and guess who was not EVEN on the upgrade list at the gate:))
With that said-been getting a ton of drink coupons which I can't use since I am allergic to alcohol but makes my husband happy.

What routes are you flying? How far in advance on which fares do you book? I'm surprised that a 1k is batting 0.0000 on upgrades. Have you attempted to use any of your system-wide ugprades(sorry, not up on UA terms) on the transpac flights and just not had them clear?