On the Eve of a Month of MRing...
 

I am sitting at home the night before I begin a 27 day stretch during which I will MR my way to AA Executive Platinum. I still consider myself to be a relative newbie at FT and these will be my first MRs. I scheduled 7 days at home spread throughout the month and tried to turn many of these trips into mini-vacations so I will be visiting friends along the way- they all won't be quick turnarounds and some trips are definitely not traditional MRs. The centerpiece is a 34 hour monster LGA-ORD-MSN-ORD-DUB-ORD-MSN-ORD-LGA that I booked for $363 (1.68 cents/mile).

Obviously, I am too excited to sleep (I figure I will have plenty of time for that tomorrow!) so I decided to make a thread to shamelessly promote myself and for anyone interested in tracking my progress. If anyone has suggestions, comments, questions, complaints, or anything else they want to contribute, please do! Also, if any FTers will be flying with me or transiting through the same airports, PM me and I'll buy the first round!

Here's a quick summary of my itinerary.

May 19: JFK-NRT
May 24: NRT-LAX-JFK
May 26: EWR-ORD
May 31: ORD-LGA
June 2: EWR-DFW-SEA-DFW
June 3: DFW-EWR
June 7: LGA-ORD-MSN-ORD-DUB
June 8: DUB-ORD-MSN-ORD-LGA
June 11: LGA-DFW-SNA
June 14: SNA-DFW-LGA

BIS Miles: 38,178
DBEQM Miles: 76,374

Wish me luck!

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Sorry for the delay, but I am back to share my experiences from the first legs of my MR-athon.

Flight 1: JFK-NRT
Aircraft: 777-200
Travel Time: 13 hours, 40 minutes
BIS Miles: 6,745
EQM: 13,490

My mileage-running career started at JFK airport as I checked in for my flight to Tokyo-Narita, the longest flight AA operates out of the airport and one of the longest in the entire AA system. “No checked bags” I replied to the slightly surprised TA at check-in. Security was a breeze as there aren’t too many flights departing this late from AA’s terminal 8. I spent some time in the make-shift Admirals Club that has been hastily assembled in a hallway that used to separate adjacent lounges back in the days when T8 had more airline tenants. The Flagship Lounge is undergoing renovations and they have temporarily relocated it to the main club, so the regular AC has set up camp in the hallway. I didn’t stay too long but I was sure to cash in my drink chits for bottled water to take with me on the plane.

This flight went about as well as a 14 hour stint in coach can go. I was able to snag 31B, in my opinion the best coach seat in the American fleet. Further, 31A was one of 7 unoccupied seats on the entire plane. Pre-departure chit-chat with one of the FAs proved invaluable as she ended up comping 3 beers and sneaking me a pillow and comforter from J ;) What can I say, I guess shameless flirting with women 3 times my age is kinda my thing. I passed the time by reading Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. Honestly, I was a little disappointed by the novel written by one of my favorite authors, but it certainly helped pass the time. I also watched the second season of Weeds, the Showtime series that stars Mary-Louise Parker (I highly recommend it) and caught a healthy 7 hours of sleep before waking up with less than an hour to go. I used the remaining time to complete American Way Magazine’s May Sudokus (the diabolical one took me over half an hour) and then was thoroughly entertained by the frantic Japanese health officials who came onboard in blue spacesuits as soon as we landed to ask each passenger if he/she was carrying the swine flu. Overall, it was a solid start to my journey.

Running totals:
Flight Segments: 1
Time in the sky: 13:40
BIS Miles: 6,745
DBEQM Miles: 13,490

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Flight 2: NRT-LAX
Aircraft: 777-200
Travel Time: 10 hours, 0 minutes
BIS Miles: 5,451
EQM: 10,902

After 4 nights in Tokyo, I prepared for my return to JFK, this time routed via LAX. Perhaps this strip doesn’t qualify as a true MR as I turned it into a nice little vacation, but my primary motivation was most certainly the elite-qualifying miles. I stayed at the Conrad Tokyo- a wonderful hotel and a great deal at 40,000 HHonors points per night (converted at 1:2 from AAdvantage miles). I saw a good amount of the city and really enjoyed my time in Japan.

I took the airport limousine bus service to Narita airport for my return flights, a convenient service that I would recommend. I got there nice and early to scope out all the OneWorld lounges that Terminal 2 has to offer. First stop was the Admirals Club, where the AAngels were nice enough to watch my carry-on bag behind the counter so I could roam the terminal without dragging it around. The club itself is well above average for AA, even for an international lounge. It’s a very big lounge and there is plenty of space to relax before the flight but the food offerings are definitely subpar. I had a beer from the automatic machine (I just had to try it after reading about it on FT so much!) and then headed for the Cathay Pacific lounge. It was smaller than AA’s but, in my opinion, a lot nicer. It appears that AA and CX have the same caterer because the little sandwiches, crackers, and other snack offerings and liquor are identical, although Cathay has rice balls and fruit cocktail cups. Next up was the JAL Sakura lounge, quite possibly the nicest J lounge I have ever seen. I got a complimentary massage (from a beautiful JAL girl in fact!) and dined on Chicken Teriyaki and soup. I enjoyed the lounge so much, I decided to skip the remaining lounges that required a tram ride to the satellite terminal. After savoring the experience a little while longer, I reluctantly returned to the Admirals Club to pick up my bag.

Ironically, my flight was departing from the satellite terminal which I had avoided and now I had to hustle to get to the gate by boarding time. I had upgraded this flight and the next one with the one VIP my dad had left over from hitting 2 million lifetime miles, which he had advanced me until my 8 come in from hitting EXP. I had a very uneventful flight (slept almost the entire time) in my NGBC seat. I woke up around 3 hours before landing and read from my new book, Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa. I also watched the first two-thirds of the movie 21 with Kevin Spacey. The flight arrived early to LAX and I cleared immigration and made my way back through security and into the Admirals Club in 15 minutes.


Flight 3: LAX-JFK
Aircraft: 767-200
Travel Time: 5 hours, 30 minutes
BIS Miles: 2,475
EQM: 4,950

I arrived earlier than expected in LAX and hustled to the Admirals Club to try and stand-by for an earlier flight home. There were two people ahead of me on the stand-by list but I jumped the queue by virtue of my Plat status and soon appeared as #1. I only had time to spend 5 or 10 minutes in the club (no time for the shower I had been planning on) before heading to the gate. Once the J cabin had boarded, the GA called my name and handed me a new BP for the earlier flight . The bulkhead was a small price to pay for 3 extra hours at home without taking a downgrade.

I passed the time of this flight by finishing 21, reading some more Death in the Andes and chatting up my neighbor about MRing and FT. He seemed pretty interested. I dozed off for the last few hours and only woke up as we started our descent into JFK.

Running totals:
Flight Segments: 3
Time in the sky: 29:10
BIS Miles: 14,671
DBEQM Miles: 29,342

2 questions:

1. do you have any lounge access?

2. how many nights do you need a hotel for?

Have fun and having that many days for a long MR is certainly unique. Most of us will never have that block of time before retirement.

Good luck!

I did my first MR last month and at worst found it tedious. I did enjoy meeting FTers on most every flight!

Keep us posted, we newbies learn best from the expiriences of others!

GC

I am still a university student so time is certainly a nice advantage for me. On the other hand, I have missed a lot of great MR deals since the DBEQM promos started because of classes and exams.

I fortunately have access to lounges just about everywhere. I have an Amex platinum card (just switched as my admirals club membership expired last month) and a free priority pass.

I only need to stay in a hotel for four nights in Tokyo and I was able to get a great deal using HHonors points. In Chicago (not much of an MR anyway) and Orange County, CA I am staying with friends and the other trips are all quick turns.

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I'm off to sleep as I'm due at the airport in 8 hours!

Nice to see a fellow student doing a MR :). Sadly, there are no mileage runs ex-AMS ever, so I need to position myself to LON before beginning my MR. Must be great to live in the US :).

njvandy: Hope you enjoy the LGA-ORD-MSN-ORD-DUB-ORD-MSN-ORD-LGA run ;)

here are some tips.. on the MSN segments, I barely made the first flight since we left LGA a few minutes late, so no time to access the lounge before Madison, try to get seat 1A, I was able to chat up the FA, she didn't really know about MRs and was really interested in the concept, plus she gave me 5 mini bottles :p :D.

Collect two drink chits at LGA, keep em for Chicago, collect another one once you get off the Plane from MSN to ORD, at the AC that's near the AE gates, then with those three chits you have enough for the layover at the main AC. Also a shower can be useful before boarding the DUB flight....

DUB is a piece of cake, I wish I could film the reactions of the Customs/Immigration personnel when I tell them I'll be in Ireland for 2 hours... after that, go to the Aer Lingus lounge for some cookies or to relax a bit (No Shower/ but decent Booze) ... A few weeks ago (After March 30th but Before May 8th), they opened a new shopping area between the security check point and the AA gates... You can get some nice souvenirs (I got a chocolate bar that looks like a Pint of Guinness)...

once you fly back to ORD, the MSN run is a breeze, same crew both ways... you might want to spend two stickers on the ORD-LGA flight... I found that after a long flight, that little extra room and getting off the plane first helps... :D

enjoy your MRing ;) also no BOS-LAX/SFO trips? ;) triple/quadruple miles helps! :D

Good luck with your MR! I'm doing an EZE MR during the weekend.

My trip report of my last MR might be of interest to you: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...ay-w-pics.html

First flight over, about as great as a 14 hour flight in coach can be. I'll post a detailed account when I have a little more time.

Thanks for the tips, especially from the expert responsible for this insane routing! It became more incredible for me, however, when I went to purchase it from hold and found the price had dropped another $100 to $363 all in :D

Was it a long walk to the MSN gate from the first flight? I may give up 21D for a seat closer to the front if that's the case. I have already requested the upgrade ORD-LGA but I don't know how much success I'll have on the early Monday evening flight on a very elite-heavy route.

Did you notice if there were showers in DUB? I'll probably just shower in ORD when I have more time but who knows how I'll feel after that flight while staring down another one.

No Boston runs for me unfortunately. I tried to make it work but the BOS promo ends May 31st and I couldn't find anything that really worked for me.

Have a great Month.

Cheers Larry,:):)

Hope you enjoyed the few days here in Tokyo. Look forward to reading more updates on your adventure!

Trip report!
 

Try to take pictures of your seats, food, lounges, etc, and give us a trip report! We are all excited to see what it was like! :D

I did have a bit of a run to the MSN gate, due to the fact we were slightly delayed in LGA due to a emergency slide related maintenance issue, or something like that... It's a quick flight, so I usually pick 9B since I like to be one of the first off the plane...
No showers in DUB... :( , but they have some good snacks... The AC at ORD is OK, but if you want more than one drink, you better save your drink chits from the LGA AC... for some reason the ORD gatekeepers don't like to hand out the chits... :mad:

A sponge bath in the accessible men's room stall is the rule for me on a DUB run.

Uh... who gives you this sponge bath?

If I had to guess, I'd say a US Congressmen.