I just managed to squeeze in a booking for a weekend trip to Las Vegas with my husband, which will earn me 3038 miles, so I'm "down" to needing 16,120 more.

I travel United/Lufthansa every year to Nigeria and India at least once each, plus domestic trips and miscellaneous Europe destinations.

I've never been 1K so I haven't experienced the benefits. And I never thought of trying to get AA to match that status!

The idea of sitting on planes for four days to Narita and Singapore is daunting - though perhaps a series of Europe trips and/or transcon flights (from the center of the country, as one poster pointed out) would work now, for those Dec. 27-31 dates?

This board was incredibly helpful to me when I did a mileage run a couple of Decembers ago - I couldn't believe the actual map and routing I got, which sent me around the country and got me what I needed for Premier Exec with about 20 miles to spare!

I just read the thread about whether mileage runs are no longer worthwhile; very thought provoking. I'd really welcome more insights into the cost-benefit analysis of getting to 1K next year by sacrificing four days of my life traveling at the end of the year, for a likely cost of thousands of dollars.

I truly appreciate the great input from all of you on this board! Judy