boxo

This thread popped up on my search and I didn't realize right away it is from 2007. I was really confused for a minute.

Anyway, I've flown with wana and can verify he enjoys flying, is a genius, is a go-with-the-flow kinda guy, showers daily, eats well, is proactive in abolishing foot odor and uses various items as eyeshades when napping inflight.

lovetotravel06

I'm assuming the laptop is fixed now. Perhaps a detailed update? Curious minds need to know!

derekcarden

Absolutely beautiful! Wonder if getting lifetime status on all the airlines is the goal now?

Angeleno228

Wow, felt tired just reading the OP's itinerary on the 1st page. I realize it's from 2007, was wondering if it was repeated for 2008?

grimani

bump, it's 2009! (btw, i think qualifying in early 2007 means it lasts thru feb '09, no?)

RTW4

Absolutely remarkable. The planning was impeccable... Hats off to you...

wanaflyforless

Young and single, I like challlenges, and self employed.
Good health, good shape, plenty of energy - in the only stage in life this woudl make sense to me at.
I would not try this 10 years from now (let alone 30 or 50).
Some years back, I did do runs on the above basis, where I calculated certain (undocumented) series of MRs to be a better use of my time from a $/week perspective than any other current options.
The above describes the primary reason I undertook this challenge.
250,000 are worth:
- the lowest cost of getting 250,000 any way possible
(This can be done in a number of programs at will without flying or other extreme activity for about $6500 USD)
- A ticket to Australia in F is worth the maximum cash you would pay for it.
(For many this might be around $4,000, not the going price!)
Yes, it was pretty much!
A challenge I can look back on, adventure, a story to tell.... I look back very glad I did it!
Yes, and the nice thing is this kind of 19 days of excellent working didn't kill (or harm) me. 19 days of 100% working in most other scernarios would kill me!
Time is a valuable commodity. I couldn't do a repeat this month or next if I wanted to because of time. But I am very glad I took the time to do the many MR challenges I have.
Thank You!

Today, a couple years later, the most comfortable way for an EXP to MR without breaking the bank would still be using similar routes to this one. The AA policy of upgrade priority based on date of purchase could also favor this kind of run, although schedule changes requiring ticket reissue do reset this date.

If I plan future domestic AA runs, I will keep my eye out for fares that allow me to include the SFO-JFK-SFO 763 flights, the LAX-JFK-LAX 762 flights, or/and any of the other routes where AA runs a limitted number of international configured aircraft. These routes have included: ORD-DFW-ORD, ORD-MIA-ORD, ORD-SFO-ORD, ORD-LAX-ORD, BOS-ORD-BOS, DFW-MIA-DFW, DFW-LAX-DFW, LAX-MIA-LAX, MIA-JFK-MIA, MIA-BOS-MIA and perhaps one or two others I can't remember off the top of my head (also the 763 hawaii flights). While getting international aircraft using cheap domestic fares can be quite the difficult puzzle, some will find it satisfying to solve!

I recently flew to Hawaii on AA (DEN-DFW-HNL roundtrip, less than $300 all in). Booked the 763 flights and my upgrades did clear.
I have been able to do that to a limitted extent. However don't expect a lot of other work out of yourself if doing more than two days of back to back flying; you need the time in the air to sleep and the time on the ground to eat/shower/exercise and be in the right places at the right times for the next flights.
One of these days I may write my own version of the FT guide how to book a MR. I use a combination of tools and planning takes a lot of time to do well. The puzzle makes the most sense as an enjoyable hobby.

wanaflyforless

I had/have decided not to post my 2005/2006/2008 puzzles.

You have my 2004 and 2007 records for your reading pleasure.

I continue to travel a lot but more on Star/Skyteam now than OneWorld (due to the international destinations I need to go to). I will sadly loose my AA EXP status, falling to lifetime Platinum. Meanwhile Star and Skyteam top tiers will be earned and retained.

Perhaps one day I will earn both lifetime Star and lifetime Skyteam status, although Star alliance is the far more important one to me. I will not, however, attempt to make these statuses primarily through MRing...though its an intriguing puzzle.

If I were to choose a carrier for 100K/year of primarily domestic travel, AA would still be my carrier of choice, assuming I live in a city like ORD well served by AA. From a frequent flyer program standpoint, AA wins (at the 100K/year level) if you want tons of domestic upgrades + some free international upgrades. UA is number 2. CO will be #3, DL #4, and US #5. I have significant experience will all of these carriers and programs. So, I am sad to leave AA EXP but don't feel compelled to keep it this year just for its own sake.

laurasozo

I have MR envy..........

number_6

I made EXP by Jan 20 or 21st one year, but not doing any MRs. It was entirely due to necessary (and unplanned) business travel. Basically used most of 2 OWE tickets flying in F (only need 67K bis miles for EXP). Sleeping on the plane 5 days a week (I had 6 hotel nights in 3 weeks of travel); even with the flat beds in F this was quite tiring, esp. as during the day I was working a real job which was fairly demanding. Cost for airfare was about USD 20K -- so definitely not MR worthy. But anyone could do this, and if they really tried could make EXP in 15 days. Even in 10 days if they were really crazy (in 2009 that can be done for USD 5K with a bit of planning, flying business class which now has flat beds on quite a few airlines so less need to fly F).

Congratulations on your achievement. The planning is admirable.

wanaflyforless

Congrats. What I was actually asking AA was not the earliest completion date but the number of days flying. As things turned out, I had completed EXP in 18 days. I am guessing others have done shorter; there was a some sort of competition planeed last year that I am not sure the result of.

Yes, I think the record breaker would be either 8 or 9 days if there was a major competition with $$$$$ available.

f4freeJunior

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.2; U; Series60/3.1 NokiaE51-1/100.34.20; Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)

and I though I was crazy with my upcoming 37k bis miles in 9 days this february...

Totally insane, but I like the op's approach

N1120A

Doing a couple trips like that would probably get you Global Services on United.

All American Flyer

Forgive me if this was asked/answered, but where do you stay at night? Do you just sleep at the airport and occasionally at your friends' houses? Obviously staying at a hotel would somewhat hurt your cent/mile ratio but I wouldn't blame you if you did