Most Miles / Least $
 

Every once in awhile I know we all need to get some extra miles or segments to get to the next elite level. Maybe here we can post our trips that can earn quite a few miles (or segments) with the least amount of money spent. I've seen some 8 segment trips posted out there in a weekend!!

Last December I flew MSY-ATL-MCO-SRQ-MCO-ATL-MSY (3000 miles and 6 segments) on DL for $158.00 all in one day.

I also know that I can fly MSY-ATL-BHM-ATL-MSY or MSY-ATL-BNY-ATL-MSY for under $100 round trip which would get me 2000 miles and 4 segments on DL.

Beckles, that is quite an accomplishment! How did you find (and how long did it take)this routing?

I had flown to Sarasota before (on a more typical two-segments each way trip) and knew it was a relatively inexpensive to fly, and I recalled seeing option for six-segments when I had bought my previous tickets. In other words, I don't know any neat tricks to finding cheap fares with lots of segments!

As I mentioned I flew it all in one day, left MSY at 5:00 am Central Time and arrived in SRQ around noon Eastern Time, then returned home around 6:00 pm Eastern Time and arrived around midnight Central Time.

The one tricky part of doing a six segment round trip like that in one day is that you have to spend at least four hours at your destination for it to be considered a round trip, at least that's the case when using Delta's on-line reservations.

Note that because I'm Gold Medallion on Delta and because I booked it on the Delta website (but not with E-ticket) and paid with my AMEX SkyMiles card, I actually earned over 6500 miles for the trip ... plus I needed five of the segments to requalify as Gold this year.

For people in Boston, NYC or DC who want to be able to take a trip for extra ff miles at the last minute, take the Delta or US Airways shuttle at weekends - it's only about $60 each way. If you qualify for their youth or senior pensioner fare, it's even cheaper. These tickets can be brought at the airport on the day of departure and therefore do not require and advance purchase ...

A good way to figure out routings like these is to look at the fare rules on Expedia. Click on "fare rules (I think) and you get the fares with brief rules, then click "see rules" for the complete text.