What is mileage run criteria?
 

A recent post about finding mileage runs got me thinking about the criteria for them. How low does the cost/mile have to be for people to do a run?

Are you talking about flight miles or about total miles credited to your FF account (including all bonuses)?

.dup.

[This message has been edited by PG (edited 10-04-2000).]

Cost/mile is not the issue...it's the benefit to you/year which needs to be factored...ex. a last minute $ 2,000 RT coast-to-coast run - which qualifies one for upper level elite - may well be worth the investment!

See for value of miles to determine what it is worth to you:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/003114.html

Also consider the convenience of the flight and how long you're away. My favorite mileage run was one December from my West Coast haunt to Orlando. Out Saturday, back Sunday, stayed in the hotel which is physically part of the airport. Never went outside, qualified for Saturday stayover, 6000 flight miles for about $300, and made Premier Exec for the first time. Well worth it!



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Law Lord

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Law Lord. I fully agree with your words, "Well worth it!"

I feel a mileage run is an investment, not a cost. A cost effective investment!

Welcome to FT, Law Lord. Perhaps we'll cross paths on a mileage run sometime soon. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

OMNI: what areas of law do you practice?

2.5c/m (all costs such a hotel etc included) and I fly. It really helps to have my daughter fly on an infant fare to average down the cost (50% off domestic and 25% off international and she gets her own seat and miles).

Although I have seen 2 and 2.5 cents per mile as benchmarks, I disagree. Mileage awards, for the most part, cannot be considered as valuable as what it would cost to buy a ticket because:

1. Often free (Award) seats are not available when you want them.
2. More blackout dates.
3. You do not earn miles with free ticket.
4. You cannot easily get upgraded with free ticket.
5. You often cannot get moved to another airline flight if flights delayed/cancelled.

Therefore if 25K miles for a flight that costs $400 (very few places in US I cannot go for $400) -- one does not get the same benefits as if one purchased the ticket.

I took my first absolute "mileage run" trip last month (with no activity in the destination city whatsoever) and wasn't too keen on it. I've been plenty of places "for the night" and "for the miles", but to fly, go right to the airport hotel, wake up, and go right back to the airport was not such a hot trip. When you add in the same few crappy old UA movies that I have seen in 2 languages......

That said, a mileage run is a need for miles for no other reason than needing the miles, and for most of us, its for status, not for the account miles. One friend thought I was crazy when July came and went and I was "nervous" because I barely had 50K UA miles for the year and had no planned trips.

the miles directly earned doing the mileage run are, for me, just a positiv side-effect.

the so-called 'mileageruns' will put me a status level higher (example UA 1K with NorthAmerican- and sytemwide upgrade vouchers, etc.) - but also the (mileage-run) trip should, in itself, add some fun for me (a meeting with people I otherwise would miss, visit a new place, revisit an old one) - and during the trip (if not sleeping) I will read a book I otherwise could/would probably never finish.

I disagree with the idea that only status makes a mileage run worthwhile. I would do a mileage run just for the miles if it were cost effective. In fact, I'm doing two mileage runs in the coming weeks because they are cost effective. Chicago to Singapore on two consecutive weekends. Total cost for both round-trips: $1580. Total miles with e-booking, United Premier Executive bonus and United "summer of hell" bonus: 122,000 miles. This translates into about $.007 per mile if my math is right. That's right, less than a penny per mile. So for $1580, I'm getting almost 5 free continental U.S. free flights. What's the value of that? If I used them to take last minute transcon flights, it's worth about $8000. If I use those miles for almost 4 free trips to Hawaii, it's still worth nearly $4000. So, a mileage run can be profitable if you like planes enough to sit in them for 40 hours.

And that's not even counting the four books of flight upgrade coupons that I will get for flying the nearly 40,000 miles. Those coupon books combined are worth $500. So my total cost is essentially $1080 for 122,000 miles. That's less than half a cent per mile!

By the way, I define a mileage run as a trip you would not take if there weren't frequent flyer programs. And you can't stay in your destination for more than 12 hours. Anything more is a vacation.

I agree that status is an important factor in making a mileage run. I wouldn't be doing these runs if they didn't bump me into a higher status level. But there's no reason why a mileage run can't help your status AND be cost effective.

That's a fair definition of a mileage run.
It also got me to think about the most rewarding small trip to take; here's my answer, unfortunately good only on United. Suppose you are UA Premier and would finish the year with 49,500 miles. If you take 1 extra 500 mile trip by November 15(the mileage run) THEN you get for that trip:
500 flight miles
125 Premier bonus miles
125 "Summer from H." miles
500 we-want-you-back miles
AND
37,500 more "Summer from H" miles because you mow make PremEx and get 100% SFH instead of 25% SFH miles.

So one 500 mile flight gets you 38,875 miles, a return of about 77 to 1. Can anyone think of a better return on flight?

(Answer to Essxjay: I practice corporate, commercial, and real estate law.)



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Law Lord

Thanks for all the info. I guess the answer is: It depends on who you are and what you value.

A friend of mine will take needless trips just to increase his segments with DL. It takes him forever to get anyplace, but he loves flying first class.