BNA or RDU are good starting points. In addition to Europe, Hawaii is another option. You can fly out Sat and back Sat night and be home Sunday afternoon. I got just over 29,000 MQM for a run earlier this month.

Bna/dtw/hkg/dtw/bna
 

I'm doing BNA / HKG / BNA on Nov 5 (Friday) to Nov 8 (Monday). I am driving to BNA and back (2.5 hours) so your thoughts of driving ATL to BNA is doable but a bit longer.

I will get 33,400 MQM (16,700 X 2). Well worth the $1,225 all in price ($0.036 per MQM mile). :)

Also, spendable miles will be 16,700 + 16,700 (PM bonus of 100%) + 25,000 ("hub city double MQM" program bonus) = 58,400 ($0.021 per mile).

"I'd get yourself up to BNA and do two BNA-ATL-SFO same-day turns back to back. At $219 each, each one would get you 10,556 MQM and 4 segments, plus 16,598 RDMs. Looks like it would get you to Gold by MQMs or segments either way. I prefer not to do quick-turn MRs overseas, as the last thing I want is to be stuck on the wrong side of the Atlantic on Sunday when I have to be at work on Monday... but I guess if you're looking for a vacation anyway it's not too bad. And there's always the chance of an upgrade if you stay domestic, which makes the experience a little more tolerable."


Its amazing to me that the BNA-SFO trip is cheaper than the ATL-SFO trip.

Don't forget, airlines aren't generally supposed to make sense. ;)

That said, it's kind of obvious in that ATL is hub, and fares ex-hubs on about any airline are going to be pricey.