some basic new to MR questions
 

if you guys are starting at 0MQM and are doing MR do you really go on 25K mile runs in coach 3-5 times a year?

is the goal to get as quick as possible to a status where you'd be upgraded on international legs or do you guys actually travel in coach all that much?

as appealing as it sounds i dread sitting in coach for 36hours, and for few times a year.

how do tall people do it? i'm not a giant, but do you have to be under 6ft to do these trips semi-comfortable in coach?

I'm 6 ft 6in and I've done three "true" MRs. BAH, SJU, and POA (on Copa) in the past year.

I don't really mind it, but for me it's all about seat selection, having entertainment, and getting just boozy enough in the UA Club before hand to pass out.

thank you for replying. so what's your end goal? do you do enough of these to build up status so then always be upgraded for the year or do you just do these for travel because it's cheap?

ha, that's a good one. "always be upgraded".

I wouldn't say get status for the sake of getting status. Travel how you'd normally travel and see if you can get higher-level status with an extra trip or two if you like the benefits.

Status will not get you upgraded on international legs. There is no such benefit for Medallions. You seem to have a very limited understanding of the Delta Medallion program. At Diamond level, you can choose 4 GUC's as a Choice Benefit which can be used for upgrades on international flights, but outside of those, you will not get upgraded other than rare operational upgrades where coach is oversold. A GUC is only good for a one-way upgrade (you need to burn 2 for a roundtrip). Few people mileage run for the majority of their miles as it's just not worth it. The majority simply mileage run a few times to reach the next status level with the bulk of their miles coming from normal work/leisure flying. This is even more the case now that DL has switched to a revenue formula for redeemable miles.

i knew about 4 GUCs, but i actually thought they were good for a round trip -- doesn't american offer 8 certificats (one way) so at least that's 4 round trips?

i don't travel much for work now so it would just be building up status from 0, which may seem like a long away to go for 2 round trips a year with a better half.

A little bit of both.. I used to travel between 50-75k for work, then I changed jobs and only do about 30k. So I supplement that with a few MRs or cheap weekends for fun to maintain Gold.

I'm based in DEN and my family is in EWR, most of my travel is in Economy on UA, so I need E+ being as tall as I am. I did one year as Silver and it was a painful. It's worth the $700 or so I pay in MRs to get the E+ membership, and I'm actually getting upgraded at a record clip per my signature below.. so that's an added bonus.

With 2 round-trips a year you're not getting elite... Not even the lowest 25k level. And keep in mind that for SWU's/GUP's you need to fly 100'000 miles a year. Spending extra money just for that status will NOT be worth it.

you misread what i wrote... i meant to say i'd to enough MR to get platinum so then i'd have 2 round trip "upgrades" to go somewhere with my wife.

your last sentence does somewhat answer that, but it still almost seems worth it -- considering i'll to do about 4-5 MRs at $1400 a piece that's $7K plus let's say another $2K min the coach "upgradable" fare, so i'm getting 4 round trip business tickets for $9K and i'll accumulate 150+k miles.

not the easiest but not horribly bad either. if i can do it on delta and supplement it with the reserve card i'd be starting @ 40K MQM which would only mean i have to do MRs for 85K miles.

are the certificates yearly or once per status period?

But with all this talk of what you're "saving" you're ignoring that you're still spending 9'000 dollars that you otherwise wouldnt have spent. Dont forget about that.

I hope you fly exit row, I'm doing doing flight longer than 10 hours in coach anymore. It's not fun.

Agreed. Any flight >4 hours has to be in Business for me. Yes, I'm spoiled.

Each 25k MR would cost you at least 2 days (50 hours to be exact, if you assume plane flies at 500 miles per hour), so you are spending up to 10 days of traveling in Y, there are additional stress outside of the flights, like overnight. For example, if you do immediate turnaround in SIN, you are looking at 7 hours in between arriving and departing flights, which is too short for a good night sleep. You could spend a day there, but that would drive up the cost of MR.

Also, for Skymiles, redeemable miles is based on dollar spent, so your 1400 MR would net you something like ~6000 miles after deducting 100-200 for taxes.

Each upgrade certificate is good for a single one way upgrade.

So overall, you are spending 9000 dollars, 10 stressful days, and you are getting 2 round trips upgraded long haul business flights and ~30k redeemable miles. When you could easily buy Business tickets to many destinations for about 4-5k each (or even less), but with no stress, and you would end up earning about 20-25k miles from the purchase.

Doing MR doesn't make sense from 0, especially these days where benefits are being reduced constantly. It only really make sense if you are close to achieving the next tier and is looking for a small top up that cost a few hundred dollars.

thank you -- you're right. there was an error in my calculations as i thought these were 4 round trip tickets. at 2 round trip tickets, you're right, i'm looking at overall cost of 4-6K out of pocket per ticket, at which point i may as well buy something through Amex Pt and get a companion ticket for free or buy a non-refundable ticket for cheaper myself.

never mind the time consumed -- i guess unless you're retired and have a bunch of free time it really doesn't make sense to start from 0.