Your MR CPM Bite Range!
 

So I've been lurking around for some time and seeing the dynamics of MR throughout the years.

I don't think there was a thread like this around (and if there is, I must not have seen it :eek: )

So here it is:

Assuming that you don't need to reposition (or that the repositioning cost is already included) and an immediate turn-around is available (or otherwise, if you're the type to do mini-vacations of out MRs), what's the highest CPM you'll typically pay to do your MR?

Let me start off with my bite ranges:

SkyTeam / Delta - < 3.5CPM
OneWorld / AA - < 2.8 CPM

I'm based in US-East, if anyone is curious

Let's share your experiences over the years and talk about how stingy (or generous) we are to these airlines :D

if i can make something out of it by visiting friends/family or a cool place, i will take a trip i wouldn't normally take at 5cpm.

turn and burn is very subjective, last year i was 2500 miles short of gold at the end of the year and went PHL-DEN-PHL on december 14th to round it out and paid ~7.2cpm. i don't do strict MRs throughout the whole year, I get to Q3ish and then see where i think i will be at the years end. if its clear i am going to be short of requalification i target the sub 4.0cpm level and easy trips (nothing international, high segment count regionals preferred for me but everyone has their preferences).

wow, 7+cpm is high for my taste

It all depends on upgrades. 5-6 CPM was fine for me on AS with close to 100% upgrades.

Normally i go for 4CPM or under. 3.5CPM or less i have to book regardless if i really need the miles or not. I'm willing to go higher for long haul international, it can save me from flying the same domestic itin 4 weekends in a row. Nice to knock out close to an entire elite tier in one long weekend.

For a pure MR:

<4cpm and I will think about it if it suits my available dates (usually Saturday same-day turn) and i like the routing.

<3cpm I am definitely interested and will be a lot less picky.

<2cpm and I will bend over backwards to get in on the deal, mostly for personal satisfaction.

Equipment flown, likelihood of upgrades, lounge access, transit airport all come into play too.

As soon as it's a VR, all bets are off and I will happily pay 5cpm if it gets me to a place I want to go.

And I concur with ddrost1 that sometimes all bets are off. One year I miscalculated and needed 1000 miles for gold status. Paid 12cpm in late Dec for a quick turn but IMHO it was $120 well spent.

PHL-DEN-PHL at 7.2cpm was about $330ish if i remember right. especially in light of the changes to MP post merger, with E+ at booking only for gold and above, it was $$ well spent. equally important was the fact that i departed at 7:45am from PHL and was home in time for dinner with the mrs. on the ~1hr turn. i'm sure i could have found something cheaper to accomplish the same thing, but in mid-december it's kind of a matter of waving the white flag and just gettin' 'er done.

I've only done one pure MR in the past 4 years (SEA-ORD-MIA-ORD-SEA). it was under 4CPM but my ORD-MIA flight was CXL'd so I ended up on next flight back to SEA and with a trip-in-vain from AA. Got full EQM as well as full refund.

Now, I don't do MRs. I want to spend some time wherever I'm going. Now, I can go to just about anyplace and be entertained, so I'm open to options. I just target <6CPM avg across all my trips in a year and I'm good with that. Past 2 years with plenty of vouchers and other credits have reduced the CPM to make it ~4.25CPM each year

I don't think I've ever done a pure MR. I usually like to spend a few days on the ground wherever I go. I generally won't bite over 5cpm unless it's a place I really want to go. 3 or under (and it's a time I can go and a place I'm interested in) and I'm going to try very hard to make it happen.

I prefer international destinations (I've seen much of the continental US already, just not as interesting to me), which means I fly a lot of coach. I'm to the point now where I don't mind it very much (although my one successful op-up NRT->DTW was a very welcome one coming off of a 7 hour SIN transfer).

I aim to average out my whole year of travel for less than 6cpm (this includes personal vacations that are dictated by the family). I'd jump on anything less than 4cpm in the current environment if it fits my schedule, and change my schedule if its less than 3cpm.

I used to do pure MRs, but not that my wife has gotten a bit of the FF bug too, we try and make a little vacation of it. Unfortunately, that limits us to weekends because of our mutually exclusive work schedules.

I have yet to do a pure MR. I've taken to tacking on mileage runs to trips I'm already planning to take, and looking at what I've started calling the mCPM (marginal CPM).

For example, this December I'm flying to LAS from SBA. Cheapest roundtrip would have been $360 on US, for 1420 miles when credited to UA (no 500 mile minimum). Instead, I'm flying SBA-SFO-CLE-MCI-CLE-SFO-LAS on UA to get there, leaving a day earlier, and returning LAS-PHX-SBA on US for $461. Total mileage is 7422, or 6002 additional miles for $101 more. So my mCPM is 1.68.

I did something similar last year to reach silver, and this year it'll be to reach gold. Last year is was an mCPM of 2.8.

<2cpm now.

Anything under 4 CPM gets my attention, but this year I haven't been able to do better than 3.5 CPM. I'll consider other factors, though. If I can get 10k PQM in a weekend, I'll gladly pay 4.4 CPM (and have done). But at the lower end of 3 PQM and below I'll take it just to take it if I can fit it in my schedule.

I won't touch anything above 5 cpm, and will gladly bite at 3 cpm.

And I bought 11 of the LGA-PDX routes at $117 each (~2 cpm, depending on routing).

But to be fair, the math changes for MRs to places I wanted to go. For example, the PDX
fares were perfect - I get a whole day in PDX to wine/eat, and fly back on the red-eye.

I want an overnight in a real bed, so I'm willing to pay more to go to podunk-y cities with cheap hotel rates, combining a mileage run and mattress run all together.

Also, it must be a weekend, so I'm willing to pay more for that.

How much? Absolute terms would be a hotel + air cost of (ideally) $350 or less. I'd like to get the best application of miles out of that.

Where do you find the miles that a segment gets you?