ibrandsguest

How do people respond to you if they find out that you did a mileage run: are they confused, turned off or nonchalant?

A few years back, I was running short of elite-qualifying miles needed to requalify for my level of elite status on my preferred airline. The airline had a very inexpensive cross-country fare, so I booked a one-day trip across the US, was upgraded on the whole trip, was wined and dined on board and had a short layover in the lounge between the outbound and return trips, and overall had a very nice experience. I did some work on the trip, and it was very productive.

I was discussing changes to frequent flyer programs with a co-worker who is a frequent flyer, and I mentioned that I had done the mileage run a while back but wouldn't be able to do such things in order to keep my elite status in the future.

My co-worker's response? He burst out laughing and thought that doing a mileage run (for a large number of elite-qualifying miles at a very low price) was the funniest thing that he ever heard.

I don't see the humor; it was a very inexpensive and pleasant way to get enough miles to requalify for elite status, making my travels much more pleasant than they would be otherwise.

So: what types of responses have you gotten for your mileage runs?

Madone59

My In laws hate it, my father, boss and friends loves it, and my co-workers laugh when they see my 36,000ft out-of office message. My wife.....just loves spending the miles with me on vacation, and I think likes having the bed to herself

jrl767

most everyone who I have ever talked with about this knows that I'm a long-time airline and air travel aficionado, and knows that I've been playing the airline and air travel (read "miles and status") games for a loooooooong time ... so it comes as no surprise to them, and in fact many have often asked me (esp toward the end of the year) if I will need to go MRing to help reach some goal or milestone or to acquire enough miles for a particular trip with my wife (usually vacation in conjunction with overseas conference) ...

FirstInFlight

I think it depends on what you say and how you explain it. If someone knows that you fly a lot for work and that you are taking a mileage run to cross a threshold so that you will receive benefits that you value next year that will sound rational and reasonable.

If someone knows that you are a 20 year old on an adventure to hop around the world and that you have found a clever way to game the system and take advantage of your youth and lack of commitments that will also sound reasonable and many might even be envious.

On the other hand I once sat in the seat behind a blogger who was on a mileage run and insisted on telling everyone around him what he was doing. I suspect that he hoped to gain readers for his blog. But he sounded like a bit of an idiot and as we left the plane in Atlanta I overhead many passengers comment about what kind of man leaves his family to fly around for no reason and write a blog about how he flew around for no reason as if there was a world of people who wanted to do the same.

Of course there is such a world - but I guess that in every group there are those who are less self-aware.

toomanybooks

I am 56 y.o. I long ago gave up giving a cr@p about what people who are way less intelligent than I think of my spending choices, the way I run my life, the clothes I wear, my investments, the house I choose to live in, whether I shaved that morning, the beer I prefer, etc.

Like those Red Hat women. Quite liberating.

jrl767

^ sounds like a variant of "those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter"

Efrem

My first mileage run came when I realized in mid-December that I was about to end the year with around 49,900 Delta Medallion qualifying miles. Royal Medallion required 50K. (This was that far back, before SkyMiles; RM was at the time the highest elite level.) I asked my travel agent (everyone used them back then) to find me the cheapest round trip on DL from BOS or MHT to anywhere. It turned out to be a $106 MHT-LGA round trip on, IIRC, 19-passenger Fairchild turboprops. The same crew and aircraft turned around. When I boarded for the return, the FA said "Didn't you just fly down here?" That led to my first experience explaining a mileage run. She got it, and added that I had just introduced her to a side of Delta that she had no exposure to.

Ten or so years later I went for (and ultimately got) an AA 100,000-mile bonus for flying to all six continents on oneWorld airlines within a designated period. This involved filling out a paper landing card for Australia. Time in Australia? 2 1/2 hours. Address in Australia? None. (I supposed I could have written in "Perth airport.") Reason for visit: at the end of a long list of possibilities, "Other." The immigration officer found my answers a bit unusual, so once again I found myself explaining mileage runs. He got it too, figured that I may be nuts but not a security threat, so he let me in. An hour later, as I was going through in the other direction, the same agent saw me from the far end of the hall. He stood on his chair, waved a newspaper in the air, and shouted "Come on down here so you don't have to explain it to anyone else again!"

Today the only person I have to explain mileage runs to is my wife. She sees it as a harmless hobby with real benefits to her. I've also turned some of the MRs into short opportunities to see parts of the world I never would have seen otherwise. A win-win.

krlcomm

Going to do my first MR on 12/5 and I think I'm a bit daft myself, lol...

outoftown

I am also doing a MQD run on 12/5, RDU to DTW, but I am a veteran of this stuff, having done MRs back to 2001. I have a second MQD on 12/11, RDU to PDX. Combined with some business reimbursable trips, I should be able to get 14 segments and the $1697 MQDs needed by year end to reach Diamond. I think it was easier in the past, as I could normally count on upgrades and meals. I would tell the wife on Saturday morning that I was off to someplace like TPA, MCO or MSY and I would be back after lunch. Only embarrassing thing that happens is sometimes it's the same flight crew on the return trip, sometimes the same plane. Worst embarassment is when they held the plane at the next gate for me to fly back to the same airport I just came in from.

-outoftown, posting from HI Express, Dublin, Ireland

xSTRIKEx6864

I know people who have done it because the incremental status increase (ie. Delta Platinum to Diamond, American Platinum to Executive Platinum) is worthwhile due to increased upgrade potential and with AA the Systemwide Upgrades.

toomanybooks

My favorite runs were when AA was offering triple EQM and $79-99 fares one-way ORD-SFO at the bottom of its fortunes in, I think, late 2009 to early 2010. Absolute no-brainer to do a slew of those for EXP.

Once our flight to SFO was late arriving. Walked off the plane with about 10 people doing the same thing as I and a rep was standing there pointing to the left saying, "Chicago flight is right over there."

I spent about 15 seconds at SFO that RT. You could do 3 RTs in about 22-23 hours if I recall right. One guy I met went from zero to EXP in 6 days.

jrl767

I totally doubt that any regular/serious MR-ers would be embarrassed by either of these

Tblack15

I'm certainly not. If I've chatted with a FA on the way out.. I'll often drop a "See you soon" on the way out.. in hopes that they'll be on the return/next leg.

My friends that don't travel often don't get it, and they make fun of me for it. Last month I had a wedding in Baltimore. My friend picking me up said, "So are you doing a stopover in Singapore first on your flight in or what?"

In the end, everything is about value, and value is subjective. People who say "how can he leave his family.." the answer is because he believes what he's doing will return more value in the end. It may or may not in their eyes, but that's just an opinion. You do you.

mrswirl

My last MR to SJU back in Sept had same plane & crew for return to IAH. I was in F on the way down and got a battlefield upgrade to F (exact same seat) for the return which made both FAs notice and remark about how they had just seen me deplane a few minutes before. They were joking about how I must have gotten deported.

For the most part, people who don't fly just think I'm crazy so I don't usually talk about it unless asked. I made the mistake of telling my poker buddies about my 2 hour visit to Hawaii and they still tease me about it.

My favorite MRs now are to NRT and SIN. Can do the 5 hour turnaround in Singapore, stop to visit my brother in Japan on the way back and get a huge chunk of miles towards status taken care of in 2 days.


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michaelpop

Just did my first two MRs recently. Three weeks ago a quick day trip LAX-MIA and then two weeks ago a 24 hour door-to-door from LAX-SJU. Technically I still have another MR to BOS in Dec to get me to EXP but on that one I'm going with my wife and we're spending a night so not sure it technically counts!

Most of my friends at first thought it was strange to pay money to fly nowhere but once I explained it they got it and thought it was kind of cool! Some of my friends teased me about it but for the most part they get it. My wife is supportive because she wants those SWUs! And honestly I think having a supportive spouse might be the most important thing at the end of the day!