bhatnasx

Welcome to Mileage Running, landrew!

To answer your second question - you can't purchase status unless you're willing to spend an arm & a leg for it from United ($10k for Premier or something?)

To answer you first question, see this thread - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=276409 - also note that there's no one final answer - there's only opinions - the only "correct" answer is whatever you're comfortable with.

To make a mileage run economically sound in terms of redeemable mileage earned, one must determine what the value of mile is. It used to be that a mile was worth about 2 cents - therefore, 25K miles = $500, 50K = $1000, 75K = $1500, and 100K = $2000, and so on...

With the increase in overall awards (i.e. the amount it takes to earn an award) in relation to the overall decrease in fares (domestically anyways - don't worry, these costs are sure to go up in the future), the 2 cent valuation has changed a little bit, IMHO. I, personally, wouldn't cash out 25K for a domestic ticket that's below 300 bucks (that's assuming you can find availability) - but others differ in their opinions. Most people, I think, use their miles to a) Upgrade - say buying a $1000 RT UA H-class fare to Asia from the east coast & using 30K each way to upgrade to Business Class or B) using them for international or premium cabin award travel.

Although I try to earn redeemable miles below 2 cents each (ideally at 0.8-1.5 at the worst, some times below that), I believe that each person's valuation of miles is a personal thing - it all depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to fly in business or first to Asia or Africa, then the cost of tickets is generally pretty expensive out of pocket - however, if you use your miles, it's generally cheaper - and, you can spread your earning/spending out over time - sure, you're paying maybe 2 cents/mile, but it's not all at once - it's over a few years maybe and you get to experience new things in the mean time. I originally found MR's to be a good idea because I wanted to fly in C or F to Australia - now I've got a ton of miles that I could use for that at less than a paid ticket would cost.

Then, you have to take into account the fact that a lot of people on this board are doing MR's to supplement their already rich mileage earning because of their work travel (I imagine that most people that are gold or above travel for work and are doing MR's to fill the void that work doesn't take into account - so their personal cost per mile in a calendar year is much less than those of use who are primarily leisure travelers since their companies pick up the tab) - so their MR's don't necessarily need to be as economically viable (although it's just a waste of money if you don't make it as economically-sound as possible - of course, that also depends on how many connections, how far, how much time you want to spend, etc, etc...)

This is just the tip of the iceberg - I'm sure someone could write an essay on the value of miles - there are a lot of factors at play as to what makes it a good value. Most people aren't earning their miles soley off of air travel - a lot of people earn from credit cards, phone service, shopping, etc, so the actual mileage run is generally a small piece of the pie of their overall mileage earning method (although the MR can contribute more than the CC's & shopping can).

bhatnasx

It appears that Smiley67's availability tool is currently down - not sure whether it's for good or just for a little while.

It was good while it lasted - thanks, Mathais!

bhatnasx

Greetings All,

Below is a listing of the fare codes for the US airlines that the majority of people in this forum seem to do mileage runs on. These include: NW, CO, UA, US, DL, AA, and AS. I will create a link to this post in the Mileage Run tools forum so it's found easily. If you so desire, please feel free to add to this thread for other airlines that people do runs on - I chose these airlines because it seems that the majority of people on FT that do runs are US-based & these are the airlines they use the most.

Northwest
A FIRST CLASS
AN FIRST CLASS
B ECONOMY
BN ECONOMY
C BUSINESS
CN BUSINESS
D BUSINESS
DN DELUXE NIGHT
E SHUTTLE SERVICE
F FIRST CLASS
FN DELUXE NIGHT
H ECONOMY
HN ECONOMY
I DISCOUNT BUSINESS
J BUSINESS
K ECONOMY
KN ECONOMY
L ECONOMY
M ECONOMY
N ECONOMY
P FIRST CLASS
Q ECONOMY
R SUPERCOACH
S STANDARD
T ECONOMY
U SHUTTLE SERVICE
V ECONOMY
W ECONOMY
X ECONOMY
Y ECONOMY
YN ECONOMY
Z BUSINESS

Continental
A FIRST CLASS
AN FIRST CLASS
B COACH
BN ECONOMY
C BUSINESS
CN BUSINESS
D BUSINESS
DN DELUXE NIGHT
E SHUTTLE SERVICE
F FIRST CLASS
FN DELUXE NIGHT
H COACH
HN ECONOMY
I COACH
J BUSINESSFIRST
K COACH
KN ECONOMY
L COACH
M ECONOMY
N COACH
O COACH
P FIRST CLASS
Q COACH
R BUSINESSFIRST
S COACH
T COACH
U COACH
V COACH
W COACH
X COACH
Y COACH
YN ECONOMY
Z BUSINESS CLASS

United
A FIRST CLASS
AN FIRST CLASS
B ECONOMY
BN ECONOMY
C BUSINESS
CN BUSINESS
D BUSINESS
DN DELUXE NIGHT
E ECONOMY
F FIRST CLASS
FN DELUXE NIGHT
H ECONOMY
HN ECONOMY
I BUSINESS
J BUSINESS
K ECONOMY
KN ECONOMY
L ECONOMY
M ECONOMY
N ECONOMY
NC BUSINESS
NF F/C UPGRADE
NS COACH
O FIRST CLASS
P FIRST CLASS
Q ECONOMY
R ECONOMY
S STANDARD
T ECONOMY
U ECONOMY
V ECONOMY
W ECONOMY
X COACH
Y ECONOMY
YN ECONOMY
Z BUSINESS

US Airways
A FIRST CLASS
AN FIRST CLASS
B COACH CLASS
BN ECONOMY
C ENVOY CLASS
CN BUSINESS
D BUSINESS
DN DELUXE NIGHT
E FIRST CLASS
F FIRST CLASS
FN DELUXE NIGHT
G COACH CLASS
H COACH CLASS
HN ECONOMY
I ENVOY CLASS
J ENVOY CLASS
K COACH CLASS
KN ECONOMY
L COACH CLASS
M COACH CLASS
N ECONOMY
O FIRST CLASS
P FIRST CLASS
Q COACH CLASS
R ENVOY CLASS
S COACH CLASS
T ECONOMY
U COACH CLASS
V COACH CLASS
W COACH CLASS
X COACH CLASS
Y COACH CLASS
YN ECONOMY
Z BUSINESS

Delta
A FIRST CLASS
AN FIRST CLASS
B COACH
BN ECONOMY
C BUSINESS CLASS
CN BUSINESS
D BUSINESS CLASS
DN DELUXE NIGHT
E SHUTTLE SERVICE
F FIRST CLASS
FN DELUXE NIGHT
G FIRST CLASS
H COACH
HN ECONOMY
I BUSINESS
J BUSINESS
K COACH
KN ECONOMY
L COACH
M COACH
N COACH
O BUSINESS CLASS
P FIRST CLASS
Q COACH
R FIRST CLASS
S COACH
T ECONOMY
U ECONOMY
V FIRST CLASS
W PREM ECONOMY CLASS
X BUSINESS CLASS
Y COACH
YN ECONOMY
Z BUSINESS CLASS

American Airlines
A FIRST CLASS
AN FIRST CLASS
B ECONOMY
BN ECONOMY
C BUSINESS AADV/UPG
CN BUSINESS
D BUSINESS
DN DELUXE NIGHT
E ECONOMY
F FIRST CLASS
FN DELUXE NIGHT
H ECONOMY
HN ECONOMY
I BUSINESS
J BUSINESS
K ECONOMY
KN ECONOMY
L ECONOMY
M ECONOMY
N ECONOMY
O ECONOMY
P FIRST CLASS
Q ECONOMY
R BUSINESS UPGD
S ECONOMY
T ECONOMY
U BUSINESS
V ECONOMY
W ECONOMY
X FIRST CLASS UPGD
Y ECONOMY
YN ECONOMY
Z FIRST CLASS

Alaska Airlines
A FIRST CLASS
AN FIRST CLASS
B ECONOMY
BN ECONOMY
C BUSINESS
CN BUSINESS
D BUSINESS
DN DELUXE NIGHT
E SHUTTLE SERVICE
F FIRST CLASS
FN DELUXE NIGHT
H ECONOMY
HN ECONOMY
I DISCOUNT BUSINESS
J BUSINESS
K ECONOMY
KN ECONOMY
L ECONOMY
M ECONOMY
N ECONOMY
P FIRST CLASS
Q ECONOMY
R ECONOMY
S STANDARD
T ECONOMY
U FIRST
V ECONOMY
W ECONOMY
X ECONOMY
Y ECONOMY
YN ECONOMY
Z DISCOUNT BUSINESS

bhatnasx

Since ITN.net is down, FlyAOW's page has been very helpful.

I recently came accross another tool that uses ITN's interface (you even have to set up an account with Expert Settings to view the fare buckets). Travel & Transport's online booking tool has all the same functionality as ITN. They charge a 20.00 booking fee per ticket purchased, FYI.

fly co to see the yanks

hmmm...i set up an account and used advaced but it still won't show me the buckets. any suggestions? thanks.

bhatnasx

FCTSTY,

I think that if you go into your profile & click Display Preferences - from there, change the Availability Format to "an Expert" and that should enable you to see the fare bucks same as the old Amex ITN site did - it's the exact same interface & set-up. Hope this helps!

pixuk

Another link for you, http://www.v-flyer.com/vtool.asp

A bucket class checker (and airport/airline/code lookup, mileage manager & UK arrivals/departures tool) for Mac, Windows & Linux. Although born from the V-Flyer (Virgin) site, most of its features are airline-agnostic.

Pete

KVS

Smile67's Tool is forever gone and so is ITN-AMEX, so these links should probably be removed.

There is, however, a comprehensive alternative: KVS Availability Tool

bhatnasx

True - it's been a while since I've updated - I'll take care of it today - thanks!

bhatnasx

Fare rules are back on Expedia!!

bhatnasx

Added this - sorry about the delay!

Also added stewyvr's tool that interfaces with Dream Maps & Yahoo's FareChase

Billiken

Mileage Runners:

Start your engines.

izzik

Sorry but I'm getting errors on both US and Canadian sites for even looking up city pairs.

I think they shut it down altogether.

bhatnasx

You're right - it looks like that's the case...posted in the thread about the tool coming back...i'll edit

frankinD

bump bump