A-Train

Live near IAH. Seeing some amazing deals on AA. $100 RT for a long weekend at the beach on either coast. Cpm without an AA credit card, no status with the airline, or any particular perks, is like $0.033

That's good, but not good enough to run with.

Give me the two minute drill on what things I could incorporate (add ons for more points, upgrades, status improvement, small perks I want to pick up on, etc...) if I wanted to do the next ten weekends in MIA, and lower the cpm to as close to $0.01 as possible.

Also I think I read AA is about to devalue again?

Smiley90

... 3.3cpm is already fantastic, I don't even think I've seen 1cpm deals outside of fuel dumps or error fares. Don't get too greedy and just enjoy. Not much you can add on outside of checking google flights or itamatrix for more segments.

A-Train

Good word, but I'm not burning the time and expending the effort for the privilege of paying 3 cents a mile. The trip is just a mileage run, I won't likely "enjoy" my time. I need a little more from the deal to make it worth my time and hassle alone and I know there are ways to do it, I'm just asking for a SHORT crash course from an AA master.

Smiley90

you're not "just" paying 3 cent per mile, you also get to spend time... well, wherever you're flying and you get EQM which you can't get by just "buying". Many of us would be glad to get 3cpm MR's - there's a reason the general consensus is <5 = good.

And I told you - ITAmatrix is your friend since you have origin, destination and dates already it's just a matter of plotting it into ITAmatrix and sorting by cpm.
if you like convenience, use 500-mile stickers to upgrade.

Tblack15

I think you're missing the point... Sure you pay 3 cpm for the RDM, but you're also paying 3cpm for the EQM as well.

If you're just looking for RDM and don't like flying, then just buy the RDM. If you continually do it, you'll go up in status and get more RDM for your trips, but that's really the only increase in value..

A-Train

Good point and one I should have mentioned earlier. I care about RDM not EQM. I will not fly with AA enough to get any status improvements. Even if I did, my reason for flying this year is to build RDM for a single flight for four to Europe next year.

I am only looking for bonuses/ideas to build my RDM and any peripheral EQM will not gain me much as a truly infrequent flyer with AA. The only value I see, is if it became advantageous to bump my status by doing MRs just to get more RDM from my MRs, well, and flying in a business or first class for the lone Europe trip next year.

Smiley90

If you only care about RDM, then flying for getting them is terribly ineffective - only fly if you actually also WANT to get to somewhere and see places, as just outright buying RDM will be around 2cpm (or sometimes lower) and there's BARELY any deals that go below that. Outside of fuel dumps and error fares. So... just look out for those, but those are the exception, not the norm.

steviewire

If you are not too concerned about flying or gaining status with AA why bother with a mile run and just check for the cheapest fares to Europe nearer the time.

When you say a 'single flight' do you mean one way or return? If you are after 4 single business seats for next year with AA, on the current awards scheme that will be at least 200k miles and double for return, not sure on the new scheme. So that will be a lot of flying to reach 200k or 400k RDM for an award.

jbeckett

Look to buy miles directly from AA, or go the credit card bonus route. You won't find it worthwhile to earn RDM with a mileage run, especially if you have no status.

Madone59

You want EQM at 1cpm? Not going to happen on domestic MR's.

A-Train

Great info. Thanks everyone! I was just seeing these $90 RT IAH to MIA and asking myself if it was worth the run. At $0.03 to $0.035 it isn't unless I have some time at the beach.

Thanks!

SingaporeDon

Yes. You would be better of buying miles at 1.8 cents under the current promo.

dadamn

Heck, if you're just after the RDM, don't even buy the miles! Just churn some of the AAdvantage credit cards and do some MS.

tomasdev

I would suggest you do a Platinum challenge, do the HKG MR for less $600, total expense would be $800, you'd have about 17k miles, and starting from there, all the MRs to get RDMs will be 100% more, let's say you do the US-HKG MR + HKG-US MR inner

That would get you 50000+ RDMs, Platinum status, four 500-mile upgrades, for about $1200, that is 2.4cpm.

Probably you can sneak another HKG-US MR inner for an extra 30-38k RDM, but you'll need to take some PTO and your back will be sore.

US-HKG MR: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...9-rt-less.html
HKG-US "inner" MR: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...c-387-all.html

Plat challenge $200
IAH-positioning $XXX
XXX-HKG $600 r/t (let's say 15k)
19k $430 HKG-PVG-DFW-EWR r/t (two times, + 100% bonus Plat, total 76k RDM)
Total: less than $2000, 100k RDM.

NOT WORTH IT BRO! Just churn cards if you have a good credit score and get all the bonuses. Make your wife fly BA with one kid, you fly BA with another kid... less effort and stress.

Madone59

Get some Cuban food at La Casita - short taxi ride from the airport - makes any MIA MR worth twice the price