December, a few years ago, while living in Miami, I had just over 49,500 elite qualifying miles in my account and NO travel planned until after the 1st of the year. Not willing to take the chance of not reaching the 2nd tier of the elite program at the 50,000 mile level, I booked a $49 one way flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa. Yes, there were plenty of direct flights but I booked one that connected in Miami (only about 20 miles away). That morning, I drove to MIA, parked my car, took the shuttle van to FLL and caught my flight to TPA. We took off, landed 10 minutes later in Miami, I got off the plane and was back home in time to play golf at noon. 500 status miles, 500 bonus. Do I need therapy? Perhaps. But as a good friend says: "It's an obsession, but it's pleasing."