first, i will not not do it, unless i have 1 month to spend to travle for pleasure.
i suppose many people here who did the run with their own money also do some sightseeing/etc.

then the miles.
it is 3x100k=300k miles. so worth about 3kUSD
(for AAdv...it is 3x miles for elite tier FFP). so the only time i was thinking about spending my own money for AONE5 was wehn the fare was just over 4kUSD ex-JNB.

now, let's come back to FFP tier. i think the only reason for any 'mileage run' should be motivated by maintaining the FFP tier, not the miles. because the whole point of getting miles is to make your travel more comfy (or less uncomfy), it defeats the purpose if you have to suffer now to secure comfy in the future.

as for the benefits of FFP, it is a LOT for frequent travellers. e.g. lounge access, occasioanl upgrade, guaranteed reservation, no worry at flight disruption, etc.

[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 09-17-2002).]