I like my domestic mileage runs to be done as quickly as possible (of course I'd feel differently if I were actually getting a hotel at the other end). So last year's SJC-CMH runs were better than this year's SJC-JAX runs in that respect, since I could get confirmed seats on flights that got me back well within 24 hours. To get home earlier, I plan to standby on some different return flights than those scheduled. On my first SJC-JAX run, I was able to get back to SJC within 21 hours of departure (2 hours earlier than scheduled). I was hoping for a standby itinerary that would have gotten me even more miles, but unfortunately a confirmed seat was not available on the second flight of that itinerary.

The type of equipment matters somewhat, but only as a secondary consideration for me. I don't have so many upgrades that I can burn them on mileage runs, so I find myself in coach; differentiations in the spaciousness and number of seats in the first class cabin therefore don't matter to me. If I'm lucky, the reason that the low fares were available was that the airline has lots of availability anyway, so at least there's a good chance of an empty middle seat. (On the other hand, this is a mixed blessing, because then there is little chance of getting voluntary denied boarding compensation.) The Airbus 320 fly-by-wire system seems to be working quite reliably, so I don't worry so much about it any more, and they're at least as comfortable as the competing Boeing products. If one of my alternative routings included a Boeing 777, that'd probably sway me strongly in its favor. I have been looking at what food service is available on my flights, but most airports now have good enough concessions that "decent, not too expensive airport food" isn't oxymoronic. I try to bring my own supply -- lots of bottled water to drink before the first beverage service, some dried fruit, snack bars, etc.

As for airports charging $4.50 PFCs, maybe that would add up when trying for segment runs, but I've mostly been looking at gross-mileage runs, and even transiting twice through the same airport charging $4.50 PFCs vs. one charging a more reasonable PFC doesn't make that much difference in the fare as far as I'm concerned. That might just roll into the cents-per-mile calculation anyway. If going through an airport with $4.50 PFCs gets me an extra thousand gross miles, it's probably well worth it.