For MileMaxer:

That's a nice trick, but the lady who wrote the original post is clearly looking for the shortest distance between two points, not the longest or the one that will put the miles engine into overdrive.

As for me, I enjoy collecting and using miles in the normal course of living--my wife and I still have nearly a million between us and we've probably used at least that many over the years. But intentionally cramming myself into four more crowded airplanes to go someplace via an itinerary invented by the Marat de Sade ain't my idea of a fun weekend.

But, to each his own. Glad you came up to these parts and hope you enjoyed DC.