Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
Ironically, this year is one of the few years I treated myself to full F on AS: SEA-PVR. It will be the capstone to MVPG requalification just after Christmas, though I would get it if I was flying in Y.
But buying P fares consistently to the point of nailing 75K would be blowing my expenses way up. Even MVPG that way would likely blow them up. Again... why not just buy the RDM? Even paying a change fee on an award I might come out ahead.
Mileage/status runs made a lot more sense at 2-3 CPM than at 9. Which I guess is the point.
I was thinking more about partner business.
Now, admittedly this is a contrived example, but it's actually not too far from where I expect to be next year.
Let's say that your "normal" flying gets you 45k miles, all domestic. Say you do it all on AS. So you are gold.
Let's say you can fly 2 round trips on partner business at 11,250 miles each for $2000 each, earning 100% base miles, 100% CoS, 100% "additional", and 100% status (since you are gold)
So.. that's another 45k EQM (90k total, meaning, you are 75k status) and 140k RDM (including the 50k bonus for hitting 75k). You spent $4k.
The next year, in your annual 45k "regular" flying, you will earn an extra 11k RDM (since you will be 75k instead of gold). So, we are talking about approx 150k RDM.
If you could buy the 150k RDM at 2c each (and think that this is a good deal) then they would cost you $3000. So you spent an extra $1000 to get 75k status.
I think that if you get any enjoyment out of the trips, it's a great deal. You are flying in relative comfort (discount carrier business -- not exactly luxury, but not too bad either). If you are doing a 1-night turnaround, but visiting a cool place.. that's not too bad of a weekend IMO.
If you didn't enjoy the trips, then it's a waste of 2 weekends, (which is a much bigger cost than $1000 IMO) and almost certainly not worth it.
I'd probably never do the type of "mileage run" where you never leave the airport, unless if I was just topping up at the end of the year on a very short flight. My time is too valuable to me. But if I can combine it with a mini-vacation.... that's a little different.
This isn't a perfect analysis. You are paying something for airport transportation. You are paying for a hotel if you are doing overnights, like I'm talking about. The true cost is probably closer to $2k than $1k. Still.. it doesn't seem too bad to me.
By the way -- can you still buy AS miles at 2c? I've gotten offers to buy miles when buying tickets before (I think that the rate was 1.9c) but apparently those are discontinued. I'd happily buy miles for 2c.