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Trying to figure out a good US MR

Trying to figure out a good US MR

Old Dec 30, 2006, 1:32 pm
  #1  
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Trying to figure out a good US MR

Please bear with me, I'm new at this. I've been trying to figure out a good MR on US, day of the week not that important. I think I've read that you cannot go through the same airport twice on the MR Primer, although I've read through many successful itineraries posted here that prove otherwise. The one itinerary I've come up with so far that can be done in a 16 hour period is PHL-PHX-LAX-LAS-PHL, $295 all-in for 5740 miles. I know this could be much better. Would it be legal (or worthwhile, miles-wise) to bump around the PHX-LAX-LAS loop a couple times for $39-49 to and from each of these airports? Any advice would be appreciated, and, although not optimal, an overnight stay wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Thanks!
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Old Dec 30, 2006, 2:26 pm
  #2  
 
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You are talking about buying some combination of PHX-LAX-LAS flights nested within the cross-country flight, i.e., flying some of these during your stop-over in PHX or LAS? That would be legal, and might be an OK deal at the prices that you're showing. I don't know whether US Airways grants status for segments anymore, but these types of short, cheap flights might be more effective in helping you qualify that way.
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Old Dec 30, 2006, 3:30 pm
  #3  
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mecabq,

That is exactly what I was talking about. I have also found another route, PHL-LAS-LAX-LAS-PHL for $294.20 all-in, for 6342 miles, which could also be done in 16 hours. However, this would require me to buy one RT fare from PHL-LAS and another one LAS-LAX. I don't think this should be a problem, although I am concerned about the layover in LAS going back to PHL -- it's only 51 minutes; I've read of shorter here on FT. Also, as I plan to use OLCI, once I arrive in LAS, I don't need to leave the terminal to go through check-in again, do I? I am only asking this because I am planning on booking this as two separate RT's. Thanks!
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Old Dec 30, 2006, 3:44 pm
  #4  
 
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That's right, you can check in and print all of your boarding passes in Philadelphia. That connection is probably OK -- I would imagine that, even though US Airways has a large presence at LAS, it's all in the same terminal, and you won't need to take the train from one US gate to another, but someone else with more experience with that station should answer.
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Old Dec 31, 2006, 10:09 am
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Hello US/HP uses concourses A & B so 51 minutes is plenty I have connected thru LAS with 15 minutes from A1 to B13
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Old Dec 31, 2006, 12:09 pm
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Isn't "Good US MR" an oxymoron?
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Old Dec 31, 2006, 11:30 pm
  #7  
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You can do a PHL-PHX nonstop RT for $179 all in (a little over 4,000 mi) easily in one day. Adding segments here really ups the price.
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 12:30 pm
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I have been tinkering with some east coast MR involving LAS - try LAS-FRA nested in your route - a Saturday night stay trip to FRA is cheap from almost any US city - no matter how many connections. It's a long trip - but i think the miles/dollar works out pretty well...
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 2:18 pm
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I can do a little better maybe.

Tuesday, January 30
US #1191 PHL PHX 7:00a 10:16a
US #621 PHX OAK 10:55a 11:50a
US #206 OAK 12:25p PHX 3:15p
US #1194 PHX 4:00p PHL 10:22p

$239.60 all in (U fare), 4.41 cents per mile

That's not a great cpm, though, by MR standards. Maybe someone else can do even better.
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 6:05 pm
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Does the mileage run have to be on US metal? On a US fare? Here's a sample UA itinerary:

Tuesday, January 30
UA2473 PHL 7:00a PHX 10:16a (op US)
UA1593 PHX 11:26a SFO 12:30p
UA1418 SFO 1:15p LAS 2:46p
UA2495 LAS 4:00p PHL 11:40p (op US)

$199.10 all in, about 3.75 cpm

If you can tolerate a redeye you could return via LAX to pick up a better deal ($199.60 at 3.66 cpm). The cpm figures may be a little lower due to minimum mileage accrual per segment.

If you want a bunch of segments, and if you can stand an overnight, then I found this one for $266.40 (but cpm isn't quite so good):

January 30
UA: PHL-DEN-GEG
January 31
UA: GEG-DEN-DSM-ORD-PHL
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 8:37 pm
  #11  
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sipples,
Wow, thanks for the tips! That PHL-PHX-SFO-LAS-PHL route on UA looks great! How do I go about asking for US miles credit by flying UA? I know they're both *A partners, but I don't have a Milage Plus account. Can I earn US miles even by booking through the UA website? Thanks again!
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 9:23 pm
  #12  
 
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Getting US DM miles while on UA is easy. When buy the ticket you simply use the menu to select the US DM number and enter it.

I dropped UA's ff program due to my prefered home airport (well airports) but spend some months were I fly UA much more than US, or end up on BMI or LH flights. Anyway I buy the tickets, adding my US number is easy as pie.


Besides, if you enter a UA number your miles count towards UA not US!
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Old Jan 1, 2007, 10:32 pm
  #13  
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sefrischling,
Thanks for your help, and Happy New Year. I was wondering if this were a legal routing: PHL-LAS-(CLT)-RDU-(CLT)-LAS-PHX-LAS-PHL. This one only requires 3 separate RT's to be purchased: (1) PHL-LAS, (2) LAS-RDU (hence CLT in parentheses), and (3) LAS-PHX. I know there are some rules regarding flying out of the same airport so many times (in this case LAS). Thanks!
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Old Jan 7, 2007, 10:32 am
  #14  
 
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Originally Posted by nottooshabby
sipples,
Wow, thanks for the tips! That PHL-PHX-SFO-LAS-PHL route on UA looks great! How do I go about asking for US miles credit by flying UA? I know they're both *A partners, but I don't have a Milage Plus account. Can I earn US miles even by booking through the UA website? Thanks again!
Save your ticket receipts - sometimes people have reported long delays or even non-reporting by UA to US. I'm sure its rare - but I've read my fare share of reports on the US forum about this happening.
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Old Jan 7, 2007, 10:44 am
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by fzwinter
You can do a PHL-PHX nonstop RT for $179 all in (a little over 4,000 mi) easily in one day. Adding segments here really ups the price.
If you do the PHL-PHX-PHL run before 1/31 you can get double EQM miles. I'm doing a couple and at $178.60 for 8820 miles - i'll be in good shape for the rest of the year.

There's a link to the promo in the US forum to the double EQM promo. I'd sign up and do a couple of these.
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