fdbowie

I'm currently at 30.5 segments for the year on UA and am new to the whole milage run game. With that said, I'd like to begin planning a few segment runs before 12/31 to see if I can qualify for gold for 2013.

As it turns out, segments might be a better approach for me to hit gold, as I am in Cleveland (RJ "hub") and have more segments than miles. After researching this and playing around with routings using ITA, I am finding more in-direct routes and lower prices from CMH (Columbus, OH) or CAK (CANTON/AKRON, OH). I am willing to fly from any of these places and am also good with taking time from work and dont care where I fly.

If you have ever done a segment run from this area or have any advice for a newbie to this game, I would greatly appreciate it.

My questions:

1) Do you think that I am biting off more than I can chew re: 30 segments in 2.5 months?

2) Do you have any advice on which destinations I ought to start with from CLE/CMH/CAK? I am looking for the 2/3 stop flights for a quick return and am striking out (I found something to SEA from CAK with 2 stops and some nice miles and was proud of myself, although I was coming in at .10 per mile.

3) I dig the last-minute deals for weekend travel, although these normally are direct or 1 stop flights and require a 2 night stay. Is there a better approach to take (I like the $160 fares, although a $250 fare with a direct turnaround (0 nights) and 2 stops is a lot more attractive.

4) Is there anything else I should be doing to find these crazy routings from this area?

Thanks for any help you can provide,
FD

clacko

look at cost/seg for seg runs....what $/seg are you getting on the ones you mention?

clacko

cle-phl-cle 10/16 $203 4 segs us & ua flights.....this isn't bad inho....

you may want to try the matrix software....some mrers use it....

i brute force using orbitz....it will show us & ua itins....

edit to add....why not read thru a bunch of pages of this forum & read the seg run requests....

fdbowie

Thanks for the feedback. I am coming in right around $50 per segment, which is consistent with what you found above (which is encouraging).

I'll looked into the CLE to PHL route and am getting ~500 fares on 10/16. How do you have this routed through united? (sorry for the stupid questions).
Thanks again for your help,
Fred

fdbowie

Here's a possible 6 segment run for $310. Do you think I can do better from Cleveland? The only issue is that I'll need to crash the night before in Columbus by the airport. I wonder if I can get my wife to drive me down there


Wed., Oct. 31, 2012 | Columbus, OH (CMH) to Cleveland, OH (CLE)
Depart:
5:56 a.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
Columbus, OH (CMH)
Arrive:
6:52 a.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
Cleveland, OH (CLE)
Travel Time:
56 mn
Award Miles/
Premier Qualifying*:
112 /100%
Flight:UA4739
Operated by CHAUTAUQUA AIRLINES DBA UNITED EXPRESS.
Aircraft: Embraer RJ145
Fare Class: United Economy (Q)
Meal: None
No Special Meal Offered.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012 | Cleveland, OH (CLE) to New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Depart:
8:20 a.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
Cleveland, OH (CLE)
Arrive:
9:10 a.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
Pittsburgh, PA (PIT)
Flight Time:
50 mn
Award Miles/
Premier Qualifying*:
105 /100%
Flight:UA4849
Operated by COMMUTAIR DBA UNITED EXPRESS.
Aircraft: Bombardier Q300
Fare Class: United Economy (Q)
Meal: None
No Special Meal Offered.
Change Planes. Connect time in Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) is 1 hour 14 minutes.
Depart:
10:24 a.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
Pittsburgh, PA (PIT)
Arrive:
12:00 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Flight Time:
1 hr 36 mn

Travel Time:
3 hr 40 mn
Award Miles/
Premier Qualifying*:
319 /100%
Total Award Miles:
424
Flight: UA4422
Operated by EXPRESSJET AIRLINES DBA UNITED EXPRESS.
Aircraft: Embraer RJ145
Fare Class: United Economy (G)
Meal: None
No Special Meal Offered.
Note: Flight 4849 is serviced by a non-jet equipment type.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012 | New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty) to Baltimore, MD (BWI)
Depart:
1:20 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Arrive:
2:36 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
Baltimore, MD (BWI)
Travel Time:
1 hr 16 mn
Award Miles/
Premier Qualifying*:
169 /100%
Flight:UA4811
Operated by COMMUTAIR DBA UNITED EXPRESS.
Aircraft: Bombardier Q200
Fare Class: United Economy (G)
Meal: None
No Special Meal Offered.
Note: Flight 4811 is serviced by a non-jet equipment type.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012 | Baltimore, MD (BWI) to New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Depart:
5:15 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
Baltimore, MD (BWI)
Arrive:
6:30 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Travel Time:
1 hr 15 mn
Award Miles/
Premier Qualifying*:
169 /100%
Flight:UA4249
Operated by EXPRESSJET AIRLINES DBA UNITED EXPRESS.
Aircraft: Embraer RJ145
Fare Class: United Economy (G)
Meal: None
No Special Meal Offered.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012 | New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty) to Cleveland, OH (CLE)
Depart:
8:20 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Arrive:
10:00 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 31, 2012
Cleveland, OH (CLE)
Travel Time:
1 hr 40 mn
Award Miles/
Premier Qualifying*:
404 /100%
Flight:UA1493
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Fare Class: United Economy (G)
Meal: None
No Special Meal Offered.
Note: You are departing Columbus, OH (CMH) and arriving Cleveland, OH (CLE).

andol469

Keep an eye on this page for routings out of CLE: this is the "Fabulous Fall Fares from Cleveland" link on United.com

There have been some cheap CLE - EWR - BWI round trips recently, as low as $130 on UA with 1 night in Baltimore. Right now I'm seeing it at $161 though.

15cats

Couple the above with a return BWI-CLE same day and you'd get 4 segs a day for ~$200 each day.

Look at CLE-EWR-BWI BWI-ORD-CLE (sleep at home) CLE-ORD-BWI BWI-EWR-CLE with the bold meaning one RT booked and the non-bold as a seperate return rt. Looked at the schedules and definitely doable each half in a single day. Plus you might get a bump to offset some cost. Roughly $400 ai or about $50 per seg

n3st0r

You can do CMH-IAD-SFO/LAX-LAS RT for $249 (~3.6-3.8cpm) w/ redeye. 6 segs + 6576 mi on the low end (LAX) or 6838 mi on the high end (SFO) after 500 mi mins. A lot of availability through EOY, even on weekends like 10/27, 11/3, 12/1, 12/8.

You fly from CMH ~6am on a Saturday, get to Vegas the same day in the afternoon, then you fly back that same afternoon/evening with a redeye, arriving at CMH around 10am Sunday. I'm doing one of these similar trips from IND (same price, miles) later this month and got a trip with a 4 hr LAS layover (might meet up with a friend there). You might even try to get a decent layover in SFO/LAX if you want to.