Originally Posted by
gmt4
With 5.5 months left in the year I'd find a way to fly the PQM rather than buy. I'm of the belief that buying PQM should be an end-of-year last resort to save/make status when all other opportunities to fly it have been exhausted. 10k is easy to fly. A mileage run to Europe would likely do it, a TPAC run definitely would. All that is assuming you'll meet the PQD...should you be subject to it.
This may be a sacrilegious thing to say here, but the cost-benefit analysis of the mileage-run vs the purchase of PQM should (in most cases) include the opportunity cost of the time spent travelling on the MR, such as work obligations and family time. It will almost always be cheaper to accumulate PQM by flying, but not everyone has the luxury to go about it that way. Having said that, I personally usually take your approach and have "bought up" only as a last resort.