ed1

My longest was TPA-MEM-LAX-DTW-PVD-MSP-LAX-DTW-TPA-IND-PHL totally UGed to F except the CRJ segment in about 48 hrs., followed ten days later by PHL-DTW-SEA-PDX-SEA-DTW-PHL-DTW-TPA in about 35 hrs. with only 4 segments in F. The only thing that was difficult was the lack of sleep. On my longest layover I kept nodding off in the CRC despite drinking lots of coffee.

TheMadBrewer

I've actually only done one "pure" MR -- out and back on the same day (LAX-DTW-IND-MEM-LAX). And I felt guilty -- I was upgraded on all four legs and some Gold or Silver road warrior didn't get upgraded because I took his/her seat. I wasn't going anywhere. Bothered me enough that I haven't done one since.

So now if there is a cheap fare, I spend a day or two there -- see the sights, meet the locals and have a good time. And I don't feel guilty when I get upgraded. Go figure.

ed1

It's the UGs and the airline clubs that make MRs much easier.

aSiAnRiCk

One of these days I'll take the advantage of u/g a random person to F using my GE status. You can do that so you won't feel so bad

gre

I'll make 1K this year by doing IAD-LAX-LAS-LAX/SFO-IAD seven times, including last Tuesday and next Tuesday. Out at 6/7AM, back at midnight/1AM. Not one freakin' upgrade (even though I waitlisted on every return), every minute in E!

I bring my own food and my own booze and my my only comment is that my butt's sore!

Stripe

When I have the time I try to turn a business trip -- paid for by my employer -- into a MR by using the most indirect route possible. For example, instead of AUS-YVR with one stop in IAH or DFW, I've done AUS-IAH-DTW-MSP-LAX-YVR, mostly on NW, with CO and AS at the ends. It makes for a long day but I got full NW EQMs, got upgraded on all segments (and therefore spent nothing on food), and had clubs available at each stop. And the fare was less than the non-stop.

NW is great for this as you're almost certain to get upgraded as a Plat and all fares earn full EQMs.

ROW2Aisle

No need to feel guilty; those Gold & Silver warriors were likely on MRs like you

fahrradman

I'm amazed at people who live in Nashville and do between 130-140 flights a year. But to each his own.

Work flying plus leasure travel usually is sufficient to get me to top tier. If I were 10K miles short, would I MR? You bet. Upgrades, both domestic and international for a year would get me on a plane just to maintain status. I also like burning miles at the end of the year once I have requalified for travel. If you are going to travel ORD-HKG, F is much nicer than J. Trust me on this. Free is also better than $$$.

I have only MR'd once. I had a ticket with value expiring, and I had the opportunity to convert the value into 80K miles by yoyo-ing to the west coat for a weekend. Did it simply to have more miles in my account for trans-pac or tran-atl travel later on. I sat in F and read books and relaxed on the MR. And got to try In-N-Out burger outside LAX.

Punki

I have never done a "pure" mileage run, but I start thinking at the start of each year how we are going to qualifiy for 1k. Actually, I started thinking about our 2009 1k status in 2007 when I booked a SFO/SYD/AKL/SYD/SFO biz class mistake fare for February 2008. Yeah FlyerTalk.

Fortunately, Hunki and I work together, and our work does require travel, so all of our travel is a lot of fun.

I did once book Hunki on a really true mileage run--a SEA/ORD/CDG/ORD/SEA with a one hour turn in Paris over a weekend. It was a little crazy, but it was November and he was at 90,000 UA BIS miles for the year and it just didn't make sense to get that close and not make 1k.

That was back in the day when you got a 1k packet, including 6 paper SWUs even if you qualified in Novmber. So he got those 6 SWUs, plus two North American upgrades, for that flight. Additionally, he got 6 more SWUs in February for the next year. With my 6 SWUs, that put us pretty fat for SWUs for a while.

We have both been 1k ever since.

Lisabloom

Hi aSiAnRiCk, do you have any suggestions on how I can get 6-8 segments from ORD for about $150 for Jan/Feb 2008 on AA? Thanks in advance.

Abidjan

lisa - you have another post in this forum, asking the same thing. If I'm not mistaken, this is disallowed.

aSiAnRiCk

Lisa, you can try This Thread for many helpful links in regard to Mileage Run.

Also, you can use Fare Compare to search for cheap fares and then the ITA Software to maximize your segments/miles.

kingalien

I too, get tired of being away from home after a couple of consecutive weeks on the road. However, after about 3 days away from travel, I'm rarin' to go again.

MauiSeeker

Last December, when I was short about 10,000 miles for 1K, I did a MR from SFO to LHR. There were at least 5 FT members on the same flight for the same reason. We all got together in the SAS lounge and spent about three hours between arrival and departure on the same plane. We had fun!

Leela

I, too, was amazed at the whole concept at first. I mean, I had thought of it myself, I had a friend who had done SFO->JFK (redeye), had lunch with a friend and saw "Hairspray", and came home the next day to get miles, but I didn't know this concept had a name and a web site until I came across FlyerTalk!

Then I really started thinking about it...I had gotten Elite status on my airline of choice for several years running without even thinking about it (and one year had elite status on two different airlines). But because of life changes in 2007 I wasn't getting enough miles/segments and I suddenly realized in September that if I didn't do something I'd have no status at all in 2008 -- for the first time in about five or six years. I didn't want to lose it -- I liked the priority security lines, the occasional upgrades, the redeemable mileage bonuses, and the acces to Economy Plus (my airline of choice is United). So I bit the bullet and planned a couple of segment runs.

I did my first one two weeks ago and it was fun! I had gotten a rock-bottom fare, and I flew on a beautiful day with a great view of lovely coastal scenery. I did some shopping at my destination, saw a celebrity on the way home, watched a 747 lift off from close range while waiting to taxi across an active runway (amazing and gorgeous), and got back in time for dinner. I'm going again this week (same run), and have picked out a museum to spend a few hours in before I turn around to come home. To me it's all a small price to pay to maintain some kind of status for next year, plus I'm having a nice time exploring a city that I had only visited on business in the past -- albeit in 4-hour chunks in the middle of a segment run!

I am planning ahead for 2008 so I don't end up in the same situation is this year, though! I'll make sure I stick to my airline/alliance of choice, will take longer routings to get more miles/segments, and hopefully at the end of the year I won't need to go out for more miles/segments.

But really, I understand wanting to do this. It's nice to meet people through FT who actually enjoy flying. Some people I know think I'm crazy, but I really do love to fly -- one just has to know how to do it to enjoy it. I was talking to a man today who told me he simply doesn't understand me at all, and that he hates flying and that everyone he knows does the best they can to avoid it. Personally, I think if one flies smart (pack smart, pick times and itineraries smart, shop for flights smart, use upgrades smart, knows where the shorter security lines are, etc) one can have a nice time traveling by air.

Thanks, FT!