This is my first time participating in the mileathon and so I ran through the potential benefit for me from the program. Let me note all my travel is personal and funded by me. I saw that the discounted fare classes are not included in this promotion. I did some research to see if there was a benefit to buying up to a fare class within the promotion to earn points.

My example:
I am flying PHL-IAH-AUS roundtrip the last weekend in September (Fri-Mon) at $220 ai (fare class L, not included in the promo).

As a Gold elite I will earn ~6,000 RDM's for the trip. I priced a few options if I were to buy up to another class to also earn mileathon points (not sure about the change fee, but I am going to disregard it at this point)

Granted it is closer to the travel date but the lowest fare I found within the promotion is $437 ai on a U fare, a difference of $217. Let's say I buy up to earn points...if I am correct I will earn 8 for the ticket, 2 for booking on co.com, and 2 for checking in online for a total of 12 points.

If that was the extent of my travel during the promo I would gain 6,000 RDM's from my trip and 1,000 bonus RDM's from the promo.

However, lets say I decide to use the $217 and fly a second trip PHL-IAH-DFW in the middle of October. I priced the trip at $277 ai on a T fare, so I would have to pay an additional $60. But in doing so I would earn ~6,200 RDMs.

If I participate in the mileathon I will net ~7,000 RDMs
If I do not participate I will net ~12,200 RDMs

Sorry CO I understand the reasoning behind not including deeply discounted fare classes, but I don't think I will participating this time around. Yes, I am sure for the people who travel far more than me and will potentially gain 25,000+ bonus RDM's this promo makes perfect sense, but for someone like me, not so much.