I was 17 years old when I flew my first AA MR. This was in February, 2003 and I booked LGA-DCA-DFW-STL-LGW-RDU-LGA for $394. I was Gold but AA had a promo where if you flew 10,000 miles by March 1st you became Platinum. I'd actually forgotten about it and when I came home and checked my account and saw my status had been boosted it was an incredible, incredible feeling.

The MR itself was fun too. LGA-DCA was new for AA and as they were competing with the DL/US Shuttles, we got snack boxes. DCA-DFW was empty and I got two seats to myself. On DFW-STL I had my first ever elite upgrade. I thought it was the greatest thing ever, a domestic First seat I was in because of MY status, not anyone else. STL-LGW I also had two seats to myself and the crew thought my MR story was really funny. LGW-RDU again was two seats though I was getting really tired by then. The only bad flight was RDU-LGA which was delayed due to New York weather. By then despite my love of airplanes and airports and the prospect of miles, I just wanted to get home.