Need help with 3000 miles short for Platinum
 

I need to know what is the cheapest way from EWR to anywhere Continental flies, to earn 3000 miles. Help !! :)

Welcome to FT!

There is no magic bullet. You know how to add miles and you know how much you're willing to spend. Unfortunately EWR-IAH at 1415 won't do it (barely) for you. I'd look at some short hops from EWR-IAH-somewhere within 500 miles of IAH and back. Try Xmas day, but we're within 7 days now so there may not be deals.

Bottom line is that no one here has the magic answer for you. Get on CO.com with your calendar and your credit card. You know when you can go and what you can spend and time is running out fast.

You might also look at this thread in the Mileage Run forum:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=481656

mileage run forum
and good luck, all the decent fares won't let you fly until jan 1st.

Do a quick run ewr - pbi in H Class.

ex. EWR-PBI on 12/28 in H class $475.50 total and earns 3,072 EQM's.

It gets you to plat and you have a shot of being upgraded on the 752 with BF configuration.

You need to figure your personal thradeoff between discomfort and cost. At times, CO will charge about $85 for a round trip EWR-IAD. It's usually on a Saturday or some such, but the schedule should allow 3 round trips which I believe would be sufficient. I'm not sure I could do 3 round trips in an ERJ on the same day, but you should get to know the FA pretty well.

Also check the weekly specials. I have them mailed to me and they often have flights for the weekend from EWR to various places. Usually the cheap places are weather unfavorable, but if you're only going to be in the town long enough to check in for the return flight, that can work.

In my case, to tip to gold, I visited Mom in PHX. I figured I'd rather fly a bit further than I needed for a bit more cost to do something I'd enjoy rather than doing a mileage run style turn around to absolutely minimize the $$ / needed EQM ratio.

As someone else noted, also check more expensive fares (at 150% EQM) to nearer places in comparison to cheap fares to more distant places.

Finally, check the MR forum and look at the tools they suggest. Travelocity Dream Maps is nice for finding the cheapest fares to places that you may not want to go, but happen to be at the right distance.