I used to think, "My god, these people get on a plane just to get miles. That is absolutely insane!" But then, I was two MR's short of 1k. I did two MR's, and voila, I'm now a 1k! It was the BEST thing I ever did with regards to air travel, hands down. The priorities and the upgrades are simply unbelievable. The service is awesome. I just call the 1k line, and I speak to a live native-english speaking human being who has my entire list of itineraries already on their computer screen. No waiting on voicemail for 25 minutes. No having them look for your itineraries and mixing up your last name. Unless it is TED, I am on business or first on every single flight (about 50,000 miles worth) all the way through July of this year!!

So yes, MR's do seem insane, I agree, but there is a little pot of gold waiting at the end for those who are willing to do it! ^

You spend more money and end up flying waaaay more - neither one is considered a good thing by most normal sane people. But this is Flyertalk.

nice thread title! caught my attention. although, after seeing "is this for real?" I was hoping for a $1 price mistake at a 5* in NYC or something...
or $99 fare to Asia. =)

Welcome to FT anyway!

Close, fly from ORD with a quick stopover at LHR to do Christmas shopping on my way to YVR visiting my aunt and my cousins.

Check that (head south to CLT for me)

Just did that couple weeks ago

Actually.... That's why I first dropped in the thread. I was hoping for some crazy deal, but just got to greet a new FTer instead.

I only discovered FT in January. Wish I'd discovered it years ago!

+1, except I'd do it in the week, because my family wouldn't be too happy with me being away every weekend! Fortunately, I'm self-employed so have a fair degree of flexibility with my time.