Best Miliage Run Ever
 

I am wondering what the heapest/best miliage run was? Surely, there must be stories of the mythical $10 trans-con or something similiar.

Surely, the Alialia Toronto-Cyprus BIZ flights at around $37++ value high above the best mileage runs...
I had no time... but was in time to had some of these booked... thanks to FT ;D

The $2 LEB/ART fares were pretty good last year.

As far as elegant routings, I liked the SFO-HNL fare for ~$350 that CO had a few years back that had an open routing. People ran that one through EWR, ANC, IAH, etc.

I always read about them but have never had the good firtune to get one. One of these days......

The SEA-LHR WT+ fares were pretty good, sadly that predates my time here.

AA Paid Me $1k -- Is That a Good Enough Run?
 

My personal best was an under $200 DCA-SAN via JFK & LAX not-quite mileage run on AA (I had an overnight stay) several Februaries ago that turned out to be the day after a snowstorm had snarled traffic. I wound up collecting $1200 in bump vouchers -- $800 westbound, $400 eastbound -- that made up for losing my afternoon and evening on-the-ground time in San Diego, even if the weather there was appreciably better than back in DC.

And the winner is
 

Nice Gregg. Getting paid to fly is the only way to go, but it happens so rarely these days (Although it might happen more often if the loads keep increasing and capacity decreasing).

In spirit, I think the $2 fare or the toronto-cyprus would win the face-off between best milage run, since the trip can be planned for.Bump vouchers can't be anticipated.
Still, I think the paid-for wins on technical grounds. If the name of the game is to fly as many miles for as cheap as possible, getting paid for each mile is the hands-down victor.

I think there was an AC bonus a looong time ago called the Mexican Hat Dance which involved flying from any airport in Canada to Mexico and then on to the intended destination for a boat load of miles.

I'll do a search to see if I can find it.

This is the best description I can find..

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...95&postcount=3

$0.01 Clt-las

Great fare, but not a legendary MR or anything: YYZ-FCO, MXP-YYZ is 12,800 EQM for me on NW. At ~$212 after taxes, that's about $0.0165/EQM which is still very good, but not quite legendary. I know some got routings out of the East Coast, but that can't improve the ratio that much...

I don't think I remember that one. Not my cities, I guess.

The YYZ-LCA deal isn't all that great for many, once you factor in getting to YYZ. For best deal ever, I'd vote for the New Year's "Canada" fares, when booked through Opodo.

By no means was this the best deal, but this was definitely my favorite in terms experience.

The fare was something like $499 + tax on Cathay Pacific from JFK to HKG round trip in H class in early 2002. I got double AAdvantage miles, and an op-up to business class on the return. It was also my first experience in the Wing and the Pier.

The best MR is quite subjective; what makes it best?

- Should obvious mistake fares even count?
- Should difficulty of getting to start point count?
- Taxes/fees?
- Class of service?
- Lower cost per mile/eqm because of promos?
- Bump runs?
- # of people who were able to take advantage?
- Dificulty/Ease of ticketing?

I see flying as an art and would like to define the best MR as the lowest CPM (distance flown only; no bonuses of any kind) calcualated based on entire trip cost (fare + taxes + food + lodging + misc) booked without using an abvious mistake fare or routing.

The amount paid to fly and the number of miles earned both should be factored. The four of us were ticketed for DCA-MSP-PDX-HNL-SEA-AMS-ARN-AMS-SEA-LAX-MEM-DCA for 256340 or so EQM miles, at $437. The SEA-AMS leg was oversold. We volunteered two seats. Two of us flew SEA-AMS as scheduled, but in WBC, the other two flew SEA-MSP-AMS (ended up with 26320 or so EQMs) in FC and WBC, and recieved $750 each in bump vouchers. Upon return we were bumped upto FC SEA to HNL due to a screwup. It's my best so far.

My best from flying activities is c. 48,900 - 53,000 miles for $185.00 total cost.