Mileage Run Deals - Enjoyed first MR despite storm change -- bizarre?

Last weekend I had my first MR ever scheduled SJC-EWR on a redeye, to be followed immediately by EWR-FLL-IAH-SJC, in my run for platinum. I'd gotten upgraded on all legs ahead of time and was all set, then the storm in EWR messed everything up and I had to RS, flew SJC-IAH-FLL, stayed 7 hours in a cheap motel, then FLL-IAH-SJC, upgraded on 3/4 legs, had some anxious moments about getting enough miles credited.

After all this when I returned instead of feeling completely wasted and crazy for doing such a thing, or just plain bored, I felt oddly exhilarated and went out to see Cirque Du Soleil with plenty of energy the night of my return. During my restaurant-and-recliner-in-the-sky time, I'd read two books, three magazines, watched 2 DVDs, and caught up on stored e-mail informational messages I had not had time for (including jokes and other "optional" stuff in my "in" box). I also did a lot of fun people-watching. I had come equipped with BOSE headphones, iPOD, motrin, etc., so as to minimize annoyances, which I'm sure helped, and I'm also sure that being in F made a big difference.

People think I'm nuts, even when I explain the logic and rationale behind doing this now (one more run this weekend to LGW, then I'm finished with runs) so as to reap future benefits worth thousands of dollars (at least to me). I certainly wouldn't want to be doing runs every weekend, but they seem like a nice way to get/preserve status and catch up on things that otherwise might not happen.

Do most of you who do runs
1) detest them but do them because you want that status
2) tolerate them and are bored by them, or
3) ENJOY them?

It sounds like you made the MR into a retreat and got recharged. Happy it worked so well for you and hope your miles post promptly.

PS. I am too inexperienced at MRs to offer an opinion.

I take mr for status and I enjoy them I love going to the airport, hopping on the plane and in a few hours I am across the country. In a few more hours I am hom. Enjoy your runs!

If you had fun, you're ahead of the game. On Friday morning I went BKK-NRT-LAX-PHX, and then 24 hours later, I did PHX-IAH-LGW, with an immediate (2 hours) return.

I had no sleep for 48 hours, and was a bit over the edge on the last domestic portion. 20K miles in 3 days is a bit much.

Gatwick seemed rather run down. I didn't notice it when I went there last in '99.

I would not mention that you're on a MR if you're coming back right away. I told people I was there to have lunch and mail some Christmas cards. So they made me go through a special security check, and I had to go upstairs so they could check my carry on luggage. So much for lunch...

I'm doing several runs in the next month since I'll be losing Gold come February 29. So I registered for the Platinum Challenge on AA. Having seen the chaos that is the economy line(s) at LAX, I felt it was worth the money and time and (ugh) sitting in coach to maintain status. I have no electronic upgrades left in my account, unfortunately (and don't want to purchase them).

I really like the question you pose here. I'm interested to hear what people have to say about this.

I don't consider myself true Mileage Runner material. Flights tend to really drain me, and I could never just fly to the Far East and turn around and come back. I would always want to stay at the place I flew to for a little while. Then again, over the past couple of years, I've found myself increasingly tending towards taking less direct routes to add a few miles on to trips I'm taking. My trip coming up in a week to London is the furthest I've taken it, going LGA-BOS-ORD-LHR on the way out instead of the simple direct flight. But every time I book a flight, I find myself more able to accept a slight increase in fare, or inconvenience, and additionally find myself getting more and more excited about those extra flights. I think it's a strange sort of addiction that some people are just prone to. The true test will come if I ever get some extra disposable income. I could see myself easily doubling my yearly mileage for no reason but to fly and get status/miles.

[This message has been edited by bombayhog (edited Dec 08, 2003).]

I tend to enjoy all my trips. I flew to Amsterdam this weekend with a one night stay, and a Priceline room, and tried to pack in as much as I could. Although I stayed near the airport, I arranged bus/train into the City and set right off after check-in. I'm doing the same thing this weekend. The miles and elite perks, when all is said and done, make it quite worthwhile for me.

Next month I have 4 MSP trips, with stays averaging about 2 hours, and then head back. Those are my more traditional mileage runs, and I'm typically back in about 18 hours. Hardly know you've been gone. Along the way I catch up with other FT'ers, stop in a lounge here or there, check FT and e-mail via laptop, and bring along something to read. I generally try to stay occupied when I'm out flying, and it's pretty rare to get caught up in a weather delay (though MSP might challenge that...will be my first time there).

When all is said and done, the miles and accrued upgrades let me fly anywhere in the world in business class, something I'd never be able to do if I had to pay for a ticket with hard cash http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I too had my first ever MR this past weekend, EWR-LAS, Friday to Saturday. The bizarre part for me was that my Sat flight back to blizzardy EWR actually left almost on schedule (delayed not by weather but a late crew) and we landed without incident at desolate EWR.

A theory - do they preferentially cancel flights so as to preserve ones with full fare FC passengers (as LAS might have with high rollers that have their FC tix paid for them)? By the same token, all the Intl BF flights seemed to be on the board, along with a few cross country and Hawaii trips (but none to, say, Chicago or Cleveland).

Any thoughts?

I've done 4 domestic-only runs in the past 18 months.

On two of them I had dinner with other FTers (one in BNA and 4 FTers on LAS).

I use them to catch up on my reading and to unwind.

So far this year I have done two sole mileage runs where I took two trips of six segments each.
The First was LGA-DCA-DFW-STL-LGW-RDU-LGA in February. I only flew F on DFW-STL but I still really enjoyed the trip, even after getting delayed in RDU.
The Second was LGA-BOS-JFK-LAX-DFW-SCA-LGA in late May and it expanded into June. That was equally enjoyable, especially because I flew JFK-LAX in Business Class.
I've also taken what I can day trips, where I fly somewhere and leave the airport to go eat lunch.
In March I went LGA-DCA-LGA
In July I went LGA-DFW-ICT-STL-LGA
Both of those were extremly fun for me too.
Also, I stretch trips I have to take for maximum miles.
Instead of going LGA-STL-PHX I turned it into LGA-MSY-STL-PHX
Instead of going PHX-DFW-LGA, I'm going to fly PHX-ORD-MCI-DFW-SNA-JFK. We'll see how that one pans out.
All in all I really enjoy flying, even back in coach and I love going on these mileage runs. I plan on more next year!

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DC-10's Forever!
"This is the weirdest Routing I've seen in all my 16 years"
-LGA Check in Agent upon seeing LGA-BOS-JFK-LAX

I did my first "real" mileage run last month, but I've done several other pseudo-runs where the visit was basically an excuse to collect some miles. I just got back from one late last night, I went to Atlanta for a day to have dinner with friends and pick up something from my storage unit.

Several parts of it were an experiment: how well I handle sleeping on an overnight (not great,) can my now-shrinking backside get in an RJ seat (sorta,) dealing with irregular ops (!) and the general adventure of the thing. This was my first trip as an elite on my own, and that was nice.

I would have had a better time if I hadn't started out feeling poorly -- I was ill earlier in the week and with little sleep I didn't have much patience with yesterday's traffic mess in ORD. I ended up getting back to OAK hours late and my ride unable to pick me up. (An important detail given I had a large cardboard box.)

Fortunately I didn't have to deal with packed planes on top of all of it, I had selected flights hoping they would be fairly empty and I wasn't far off even with the problems.

Probably the best part of the entire trip was dropping in unexpected in my old neighborhood, I hadn't been back for nearly two years.

I have another planned next month, I got a really cheap fare SJC-LGA. I expect to do them occasionally, I intend to maintain at least some kind of status and I'm typically about one trip short. It is worth it for me to maintain my own status for when I'm not with Jet'Dillo.