Mileage Run Deals - FlyerTalk Karma

Mileage Run LAX-TPA-LAX 12/2-12/3

I hadn’t planned to do a trip report for this one, but after the coincidence that took place, thought it would be worthy.

Flights were OK, though both legs were on brand new 767-400ER’s. I mentioned in another thread how I felt about this new plane. It is uncomfortable in FC, plain & simple. Even the FA’s find it a difficult plane to work, due to tight space in galleys and narrow aisles. I won’t bore you with more details, other then to say it was probably far better to be in F than Y on these segments. I’m very disappointed with DL about this… http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

The second leg, ATL-TPA, was delayed due to the inbound being late, so we took off about 40 minutes past original schedule. This is where the karma part comes in; you’ll understand in a minute.

I had decided to stay at the Marriott, which is attached to the terminal…you walk into the main terminal from the airside train, past TGI Friday’s and into the lobby of the Marriott. Pretty convenient. As I walked up to the check-in desk, I spot a familiar face just being handed a key. As I got closer I said hello to none other than TravelWeary (Paula), who we’ve spent time with at both of the annual SEA FT meetings and the PDX Dinner last fall.

She was kind of amazed to see me, and immediately said, "This is a mileage run for me. I just came in on NW from MSP." I replied, "Mileage run for me too, just came in from ATL on DL."

We both got rooms on the 6th floor (Club Level), but the Club is not open on weekends. Now, after we both stood there for a bit amazed at the coincidence, we decided to have dinner together at CK’s restaurant, the revolving rooftop place in the Marriott. We met up there at 7pm, and had a very nice dinner. Complimentary glass of wine (cert given to us at check-in), salad and nice entrée of Grouper.

Over the salad we started to compare notes about our trips. Paula flew out of SEA, I flew out of LAX, her connecting flight was delayed out of MSP, mine out of ATL. We both made ‘pit stops’ coming off the plane, then to the Marriott to check-in. We figured we had a window of about 2-3 minutes that this chance meeting could have happened! Otherwise, we both would have been there and not known it.

Think about the odds of this happening…it’s definitely FlyerTalk karma. We know each other through FT, unbeknownst to each other we both decide to do mileage runs to the same city, on the same weekend, to stay in the same hotel…and arrive at precisely the same time at that hotel after both having flight delays on different airlines. I guess it was destined to happen. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Ironically, I had posted here that I was going to be in TPA that weekend, but only heard from BizJet & essxjay that they couldn’t make it (essxjay was doing a mileage run to MUC the same weekend). We later agreed we both would have probably just ordered Room Service & watched a movie had we not run into each other.

I just want to say THANK YOU to TravelWeary for choosing TPA so neither of us had to spend the evening alone in our respective rooms. And thanks to FlyerTalk for being the catalyst for this perchance meeting…!

BTW, when I checked out on Sunday morning the same lady who checked us in was at the desk. She asked me how our dinner was & I told her it was quite good. She told me that CK’s is closing for about a month starting on Dec. 26th, then re-opening at the end of January with a new menu and a brand new SUSHI BAR. So to those of you in the TPA area, or travelling to, you’ll have a great new choice for sushi, without ever leaving the airport.

Sorry if this was a bit long, but I think it’s a neat story….


[This message has been edited by shadow (edited 12-04-2000).]

You were on that DL 764 leaving LAX last saturday about 1pm or so? I actually saw it line up for departure (I was in terminal 1 looking out to the runways), and let me tell ya...it drew lots of attention. There were five or six SWA rampers just hanging out watching it line up and take off - several of them even had cameras. Inside the terminal, I was even surprised to notice how many people came over to have a look.

It sure is a good-lookin' plane, and it's a little dissapointing to hear about all the bad reviews! Very dissapointing...

The other thing I forgot to mention about the 764...at LAX & TPA, entry and exit is through door #2. That means if you're in F, you pass through part of Y, then into F on entry.

The aisles in Y with 2-3-2 config are so narrow, many folks couldn't wheel their bags without jamming into the armrests.

Don't airlines test this stuff first?

Good karma all around!

Mileage Run – SEA-TPA-SEA (via MSP) 12/2-12/3 on NWA

This could be titled, It’s All Downhill from Here, All’s Well that End’s Well, or The Rest of the Story.

I chose this run to top off my AS miles this year. At $199, it was about as far as I could go for the money in just one overnight. It netted me 12,877 total miles, 7,465 of which were qualifying miles.

Calling at 10 p.m. PST the night before for my same day upgrade using an AS NW Partner cert, I got the upgrade for SEA-MSP but not MSP-TPA losing out on 654 (qualifying) miles, but I was happy to be up front for the DC-10 portion. Pretty uneventful, but MSP was sure hopping. Could it be all those Mall of the America shoppers? I was happy to hang out at the World Club.

When I stood at the reception desk at the Airport Marriott and Pete called my name, I was astounded. As he said, another minute either way and we would have missed each other. My flight was delayed slightly because we actually dropped out of the take-off line in MSP to return to the terminal to drop off 4 small boxes of mail. But, due to this delay, I had the pleasure of having dinner with Pete where we caught up on a lot of what was going on on FlyerTalk which I hadn’t read much lately.

I was unable to get upgraded for either return segment missing out on another 1,354 (qualifying) miles, but I was still feeling pretty smug the next morning—good flight down and great dinner. I checked in at the gate and asked about upgrade availability and was told brusquely, “There’s nothing—this flight is full!” He did give me an exit row seat at least. I had a very nice couple next to me who told me they were waitlisted for First and still hoped to be moved. I mentioned that I also had tried but was just flat out told there was nothing. Sure enough, here comes the FA to move this couple up. However, the seats weren’t together so they declined. The man nicely said, “How about her?” and I explained I was looking for an upgrade also. She said, “I was told to look for two and that’s all” and she left. So….NWA will leave two empty seats in first while I spend 3+ hours in coach composing my nasty letter and think about my other options for next year (AA, UA, CO).

About 10 minutes later, the pilot announces they are having problems with an engine gauge. They keep restarting the engines and finally announce they have called in maintenance. This is my chance! I grab the FA again as she goes by and say, “Can we see about my upgrade now?” She points me the the gate agent who had now boarded the plane. I grab my cert and head to the front. First she tells me it is only good on Y fares until I point out not for same-day travel. She radios out to the desk and tells me they called my name and I didn’t answer and proceeds to lecture me that if I want an upgrade I should not board the plane. I politely respond that the other agent in no way indicated he had waitlisted me. (I resisted pointing out my two seatmates who had also boarded.) Anyway, I grabbed my stuff and seated myself in front.

OK, I’ll try to make this short now. After failing to correct the problem in a timely fashion, everyone with connections was told to exit the plane for rebooking. So much for my upgrade battle, except that I was one of the first off the plane and second in line. To my horror they tried to put me on another airline and I had to shamefacedly explain about the mileage run and the necessity of staying on NWA if possible. I could see my mileage run all going for naught. The gate agent shook her head at a crazy person and booked me on a 2:45 p.m. flight through MEM. Remember this is 8:30 a.m., so I am looking at a long wait, so I kept my booking on the original flight in case the problem was corrected. Anyway, almost four hours and three rebookings later, I reboarded the original flight for MSP. The FAs were in a surprising good mood considering the long delay, and I must commend the gate agents who kept their cool throughout the long, arduous process of rebooking upset passengers.

The downside—I ended up at my destination, SEA, six hours later than scheduled and I had a long layover in MSP. The upside was the fact that I got upgraded all the way home and earned over 1,200 (Q) miles I might not have otherwise. By the way, my compensation for this delay was a 6-minute phone card, $5 for breakfast, and discount cert for future NWA travel.

Very http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cool.gif you guys.

TravelWeary, if you get rebooked onto another airline, you should put in for miles for the flights you were scheduled to take as well as the ones you actually did take. The original airline will give you your miles pretty gracefully - at least, that's what UA has done: I've received UA credit for itineraries covered by other airlines and even taxicabs.

TravelWeary, Confirming what violist said about UA, AA has given me miles for flights as booked when I've been involuntarily rerouted on another airline. I don't see why NW would be different. So, next time you should feel OK about the switch.

Violist and Efrem thank you for your concern but believe me I am aware of this and have done it in the past. At issue was the qualifying bonus miles for first class upgrades. I was still trying to get upgraded all the way home and on CO or UA or whatever, that would very likely not have happened using the complimentary NWA upgrades AS gives me. And even if by some miracle I did, I would truly have to fight to get a 50% qualifying bonus for them. No way I wanted to deal with all of this. That was behind my reluctance to fly anything but NWA. I needed every mile I could get that day.