Why make a mileage run?
 

I have seen many many posts about mileage runs, and folks talking about how many cents/FF mile it cost them.

I love acumulating and using miles, but the only reason I can come up with for flying simply to earn miles is to make an elite category. However, I am sure there are more reasons than this.

So - I ask you for enlightenment - what are your reasons for making a mileage run?

How about to visit a place where you have never been and will probably never go to again?

Better yet, do both at once! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Haven't done one, but might need to pick up 4 segments to keep Silver on CO.

BDL-EWR-BWI and back is $99 on CO. It is WELL WORTH the $100 to get upgrades on all my flights in 2001. The 2,000 miles are just gravy.


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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

For me the only reason is for status. Miles just make the money seem less wasted. I've done three pure mileage runs.. I figured I probably would have to do them at the end of the year, and at the time US was running a promotion which netted me 20,000 bonus miles, so I sat on a 19 seat turboprop Beechcraft for thirty minutes six times -- several times going in and out on the same flight -- all for the miles!

Being someone who's been elite and someone who's not, I know it's night and day -- and since I began the year planning to make top tier, it's now nothing short of a passioante addiction. Luckily United might end my addiction by buying out my airline of choice -- if United's my only choice, I chose to stay on the ground http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

If seeing some place I have never seen before is the reason for the trip - isn't that really a vacation (and not a mileage run) ?

I love to visit new places, and try to do it frequently. I think of those trips as vacations because my primary reason for the trip is to go to the location, not just earning more miles.

Perhaps I am just a dork, and we are all looking at the same thing, but through different glasses. I see a vacation (with the added bonus of more miles if the price is cheap enough to warrant actually paying), whereas others may see cheap miles (with the added bonus of a vacation).

Food for thought...

Mikey, I consider it a mileage run (and not a vacation) if I stay for 24 hours or less. I did that to MXP last year and to ANC this past w/e.

My favorite mileage runs are flying JFK_SFO_JFK in the same day with a 2 hour or so layover at SFO.

Holy Cow, AA!

East coast to West coast round trip with a 2 hour layover!

Let's see, about 6000 miles, sometimes as cheap at $189.

Do you go alone, or with friends? Is it worth it?

I guess if I needed a few miles for elite, I would fly to NYC, but I think I would stay a few days and see a Mets game, visit friends, etc.

Maintaining elite status, for sure. Especially if you are on the bubble.

I did a mileage run in February. AA had a fare to Europe for $299.00 USD. In addition they were offering bonus mileage to European gateways. The bonus alone was worth 12,500 miles. As Platinum, I received a 100% mileage bonus. When it was all said and done, I had gained about 32,000 miles. I went to Zurich........and it was wonderful. The qualifying miles were a terrific little push toward another year at Platinum.

As was mentioned earlier, the difference is night and day for elite/non-elite.

Anytime I can go overseas for less than $300.00 on my airline of choice, I will.

I define a mileage run as a trip that would not be taken if frequent flyer programs did not exist.

By that criterion, I have never taken a mileage run. I might one day if I were vcry close to a new elite level, but I haven't yet.

I would do a run to keep my status (last year visited Atlanta from New York for a day just before New Years for that reason) or to visit a place I wouldn't normally go for the miles.

The place visit would usually be in conjunction with some bonus miles, like the 200% one available now, so next month we will spend the holiday weekend in Rio. Is it a pure mileage run, probably not because it's part vacation, but we certainly wouldn't be going if there were not the bonus miles.

I've also done some of the old days qualifying flights, take a flight out of White Plains in February and get double miles for the rest of the year type of thing.

I do it for status, and for the miles.

I like that definition, opus17.

During the last big Southwest-matching sale, I gave in and scheduled my first-ever mileage run to keep NW elite. 3 BUF-DTW-LAX roundtrips on 3 consecutive days, featuring 3 redeyes. DTW-LAX-DTW, of course, being on a coach-class NW 757. Excitement and horror are fighting it out for control of my brain. "I'm gleeful because there's no way I could've stayed elite for cheaper" or "this is a completely idiotic way to waste money and nonrenewable fossil fuel?" I'm still not sure.

There's a clear line in my mind between "mileage run" and "vacation." "Mileage run" to me implies a mentality that the goal is some elite level and that you want it for _as low a price as possible_, and therefore are willing to make some sort of sacrifice (like 3 redeyes in a row) to get the "goods" cheaply.

For me, the priority is not simply minimizing the cents/elite mile spent on airfare, but the total cost of ownership per elite mile. TCO includes the extra money you had to spend as a result of doing the mileage run, e.g. hotel stays, car rentals, parking at your home airport. It seems that many of the trips that are had for fantastically low cents/FF mile often have a much higher TCO. The periodic dirt-cheap flights to expensive destinations (NW example: NRT) that require a 7-day stay, for example.

Also, unless you have loads of free time from your job, you can argue that TCO must also include the productivity at work lost from spending your time travelling in continent-sized circles for no socially beneficial reason.

So, I can't really understand those who can manage to make fun vacations out of mileage runs. I didn't choose to fly LAX because of any reason other than it was the destination that absolutely minimized my TCO per elite mile for this particular fare sale. The month after my mileage run I have a 4-day convention at the Newport Beach Marriott, during which time I'll get to see the parts of LA that aren't in LAX. But that's business -- the month before is the mileage run -- and neither of them are vacation.

I get the impression that my "puritan mile run" mentality is a minority. Many of the flyertalk regulars seem to 1) have more friends stashed around the globe 2) have jobs that are flexible about time off 3) have more money than a grad student like me.

But given friends, freedom, and finances, I can see how mileage runs could become more recreational and less stressful.

[This message has been edited by V21 (edited 09-05-2000).]

Just for yuks, this mileage run will cost me 4.6 airfare cents per elite mile, and 4.8 TCO cents per elite mile. Well, 5.4 TCO cents if I collapse on Day 3 and have to check into a Four Points for a nap. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Mikey .. the answer right up top by Chexfan is mine. The miles and status are the cream.

the difference between elite/non-elite or 100k (or whatever top tier is) vs. 50k middle tier is enormous. by flying 100k in one year you are at the top 2% of revenue generators for the airlines.

you are, in a way, the golden goose! sometimes they chop off your head to get all the gold (this summer) but mostly you are treated with a more skillful level of service.

f