I'm considering booking a mileage run on Christmas Day, having nothing better to do (a change of pace from Chinese food and a movie could be fun) and being 2606 miles away from Silver status on USAirways (and thus Star Alliance Silver).

I found a ticket from SJC-DEN-MCI-PHX-SJC for $264. Looks like that would get me 3146 miles at 8.39 cents per mile.

Is this a horrible value? Is silver status really going to be worth the extra money now, or will I find myself rarely getting upgraded or getting any benefits?

As far as how much I fly next year, I will do at least 6 round trips for sure, but it could be more. I know that's nothing compared to some of the people on here, but the status still might be nice.

One other question - the SJC-DEN flight currently has no seats available (but I can still buy a ticket) - would this make you more or less likely to book, thinking that you could get compensation for being bumped? Would the airline be sympathetic and still give me the miles for the planned trip, even if I got bumped?

Also - with the weather the way it is and it being the holidays, should I even be trying to go to these airports? I'm just trying to get the miles any way I can for as little as possible from the Bay Area

Sorry for all the questions - I'm a newbie at this. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Happy holidays and welcome to FT. I'm sorry you aren't around family during xmas. I know what you mean as I'm 10k miles away here in the middle east.

FYI the cents per mile or cpm as we call it is what you need to consider and you did do the calculation. Double Elite Qualifying miles is over now thus you have to be willing to accept a higher cpm whem making runs.

When DEQM's are in effect I like to at least look for 2.5 cpm or less. I did a bos-sin run for 1.3 cpm even.

Those are tough to come by with DEQM even. However in normal times most people shoot for 3 cpm but I personally would accept anything under 4 cpm. There are factors (such as 1 week until year end) that would cause me to inflate my acceptable cpm and buy a ticket that are different for everyone.

I bank on there being at lest 1 DEQM quarter and go for the jugular then. This year was odd having 2 DEQM periods or 1/2 the year, which was great. Enjoy your holiday travel and may you travel safe first and foremost. God bless.

If you're flexible on the date, you can do SFO-BOS-SFO on UA for $219 on 12/31.

On 12/25, SJC-DEN-MCI-PHX-SJC is down to $234.

dont fly on the 31st!!!! you get bad weather, you get screwed.

Given the close proximity to flight day, you could just watch the weather reports and make an educated guess as to if it is worthwhile.

What flight is the SJC-DEN flight #. Look at seatcounter.com it might help you get an idea of what seat class is available for the flight if any. The website seatmaps are not always accurate

Fly safe and Merry Xmas

Thanks for all of your replies.

I ended up making the trip yesterday. I did SFO-DEN-MCI-PHX-SFO for less than what I had posted (and for a few more miles).

Aside from a brief scare when there was a mechanical problem before boarding in DEN, it went well. And I got to have some Kansas City BBQ from Arthur Bryant's, so it's not like I went for nothing

I did ask US Airways if I could get bumped up to first class on that last leg, but they were unable to because the miles weren't in the system yet. I had figured it was a long shot, but it didn't hurt to ask.

Of course, given the idiot who lit his groin on fire, who knows what flying will be like next year....

Trust me, idiots like him weren't using their groins for anything productive anyway.

Let's hope that TSA doesn't over-react (ala BA). Personally you would think they would give up, they've tried this stunt twice now (Richard Reid had it in his heel) and it hasn't worked.

Michael

That's funny I'm still searching for deals as we speak, need 10,616 to United 1K and considering a trip to Europe but fares are high of course mid-week and this close to travel date.