Originally Posted by
raydog9379
These guys were amateur's.
Back in the couple years post-9/11 I used to fly JFK-LHR for <$250 rt to grab lunch with friends and catch a flight back. Did it weekly, sometimes would stay a night and hit clubs. Always flew business class and told them when booking I had paper VIPOWs to use for class upgrade. Knew ticket and gate agents at both airports after a while so they almost never took my paper certs. It was great and an easy way to get/keep EXP status.
I also did a mile run once with a buddy to solidify my orig PLT challenge by going BDL-DFW-ANC and back. We checked out a county/state fair in Anchorage.
Those were the days
My only regret was not cashing miles in for the BA Concorde trip from LHR to Barbados when I could have.
I started long-haul runs in 2007 and would regularly fly to Europe for $300-$400. That was back when you got double miles for being a platinum, so the miles really added up. I would fly out on Friday, land on Saturday to spend the day exploring the city, fly back on Sunday, and then back to work on Monday.
Good times.