Originally Posted by YEG USER

Apologies for the long post. Probably too late to be looking at this, but my planned travel for the rest of the year has been delayed until next year. I'm assuming that my travel for the year is pretty much done, and anything further will be a pleasant surprise. My current situation is:
Current status: SE
SQD: $16,800
SQS: 62
SQM: 51,000

At a minimum, I want to get 75k for next year. I've done searching and flights to attain E75k will likely earn $1k SQD. I am undecided about whether it is worth spending an additional $2200+ to earn SE. I've typically earned status by segments, and in the past, if I was short I could easily do a couple SRs, but with the reduction of flights in western Canada (such as elimination of early morning YEG-YYC) my ability to get lots of segments in 1 day has been greatly reduced. In the past, it was no issue to get 8 segments in a day, but now I'm struggling to find more than 5/day. Previously I could book a 4-segment one-way trip in western Canada (and reverse), but now the best I can hope for is something similar to YEG-YYC-YVR-YYJ-YVR-YEG. I've also looked at options to take red-eye flights out east, fly around the eastern triangle, possibly to NYC, and then back.

What I'm really looking for is any guidance/suggestions on getting as many segments in as possible within a couple day period (and then repeat a few times if I do decide to go for SE).

I've been looking at 3 scenarios. 1) Segment run for 75k, 2) segment runs for SE, or 3) mileage runs for SE (as I've already got enough SQD and need 24k miles for 75k, I don't think a MR for 75k is worth considering). The advantage of MR for SE would be contribution towards 1MM.

Scenario 1 - SR for 75k:
Departure Airport: YEG
Segments Needed (SQS): 13 (looking for segments so booking standard is acceptable as SQD not needed)
Dollars Needed (SQD): 0
Maximum Budget: $1000
Available Travel Dates: Most November/December - weekends preferred but not necessary - overnighting at a destination is acceptable
Required Metal or Codeshares Okay: Codeshares OK.
Route(s) You've Already Searched: Various western Canada routes, and routes to YUL, YQB, YHZ, NYC. I have also looked into buying the weekend flight pass for the west.

Scenario 2 - SRs for SE:
Departure Airport: YEG
Segments Needed (SQS): 38
Dollars Needed (SQD): 3200
Maximum Budget: $3500 (or as little as possible while still earning 3200 SQD)
Available Travel Dates: Most November/December - weekends preferred but not necessary - overnighting at a destination is acceptable
Required Metal or Codeshares Okay: Codeshares OK.
Route(s) You've Already Searched: Various western Canada routes, and routes to YUL, YQB, YHZ, NYC. I have also looked into buying the weekend flight pass for the west. It's doable within budget, just very time consuming, so would like to get more segments/day if possible.

Scenario 3 - MRs for SE:
Departure Airport: YEG
Miles Needed (SQS): 49,000
Dollars Needed (SQD): 3200
Maximum Budget: $3500 (or as little as possible while still earning 3200 SQD)
Available Travel Dates: Most November/December - weekends preferred - overnighting at a destination is acceptable
Required Metal or Codeshares Okay: Codeshares OK, AC metal preferred for 1MM earning.
Route(s) You've Already Searched: Lots of different locations using google flights, but this scenario seems to be much more expensive than Scenario 2.