I travel for leisure, 4-6 times a year. I'm racking up my Mileage Points from CC sign ups and have am Silver with Delta this year thanks to a transfer bonus.

My question is, when do MR costs become equal to the reward of Silver or better. Is it a waste of my time and money to shoot for status? I have been contemplating the flight from BNA to JNB for 6cpm to keep my silver status for another year. Then I starting thinkin with very few domestic flights each year, is it really worth it?

Anyone out there a in-frequent flyer and spend money just to maintain status?

Nowadays, Silver status can be bought with an AMEX DL CC. $99/year gets you Zone 2 boarding (same) + 1 free checked bag (same). The only thing you're missing is 25% bonus miles (which at 25-50K a year is only 6-12K miles) and upgrades (do you even get upgrades as a silver?).

I find these things would be the same across all the legacies ... credit card holding = most of the lowest tier elite's benefits. Not worth an MR that's more than the price of the credit card.

Its probably in my head, but I feel they have treated me better since I hit silver. At my airport I get to skip the lines at bag check and walk down the red carpet. The agent there has been very helpful, too.

I don't know about spending money JUST to get status.. but for credit cards, you gotta spend money to live normally.. so just spend it on a reward card and get the status as a bonus really?

IMHO, no, unless your "mileage run" is actually a vacation someplace that you wanted to go anyway, not just flying there to turn around and come back.

Only you can answer if it's "worth it" to spend the money. If you find the treatment is better (which is consistent with my experience--- even "entry tier" status on any airline is better than traveling with no status at all), do you find it so much better that you don't mind coughing up a couple hundred dollars and a day or a weekend to reach?

I don't know how you value your time or what your finances are like. I know if I were faced with the same decision, I would take the MR. I like having an elite line to call if there's bad weather, and I like getting on the plane while there's still overhead bin space, even if I check in late. I like being able to choose from the "elites only" seats when I book, and I like having some fees waived. I also don't have any kids (so my weekends are my own to plan), have a fiance who is happy to go flying for no reason with me, and can afford the flight plus all the related expenses (parking, meals, hotel if we stay over). So for me, it's worth it. For my sister, the social worker, who spends a lot of her weekends actually working, and does not make as high a salary plus has some ungodly student loans to pay down, she loves the perks that status brings, but it's not worth the money or the time to go chasing after (she usually asks me to gift it to her ).

Worthwhile to me:

- Did one recently to PIT to finish a US Gold Trial. I wanted *G for long-haul international trips to be taken later this year. Used the ITA software to find the cheapest US Airways metal available on the one weekend I had open to travel. Pittsburgh and DC came up close to the same price. I always go to DC, never been to Pittsburgh, so PIT won. Spent a little under 24 hours in Pittsburgh (a buddy came along with me for the trip), visited a few different neighborhoods, picked up some souvenirs, had a couple of good meals, and flew home. Total cost: a little under $200 for the flight, $30 for a rental car, and 2000 Starpoints for a hotel.

- Did one many years ago that most FT'ers don't do: a trip to mark my final day at a status level. I was losing my UA 1K status, plus I had two CR-1's nearing the end of their lifespan. So I found a transcon for about $200 R/T and spent about 48 hours in the Bay Area visiting friends who live out there.

I've also done a couple of late-year weekend getaways to ensure that I requalified for a status. Even a low-tier requalification is worth it if you intend to fly that alliance even once or twice the following year.

I don't do the never-leave-the-airport thing. I always find a city that I have an interest in, with the only requirement be that it meets the mileage goals and I'm getting a good value in terms of fares to that city. My recent PIT run would never have made sense as a "pure" MR - the value of the time spent would have been far too high if it was just wasted time.

This is usually me, too. Very, very occasionally I'll fly somewhere just to get the miles, turn right around and fly back, without leaving the airport, but that kind of trip has to net a pretty nice sum of status-qualifying miles at a really nice price to appeal to me.

I'm much more likely to do as pinniped does and make a mini-vacation out of it. Even if I just get 18 hours somewhere, it's fun, it's exciting, and it makes the overall experience far more valuable.

Well, of course you get more than just a 25% RDM bonus with Silver but the greater gains don't begin until Gold. In other words, each person needs to decide for themselves whether doing a run is worth it. If it's fun, you can afford it and want to do it, go for it. ^

IMO, a mileage run is never worth it. It's almost like an insult to yourself, implying that you have nothing to do with your time. Life is short, why spend time trying to impress a private business? Is it worth it to sit on a plane for several hours and spend a few hundred dollars so that you can jump the line and have a bigger seat on a future trip?

If you want to go on vacation, then make a trip out of it, but a pure mileage run is just a waste and seems to be more of an ego booster than a practical venture.

Ouch! I think you just spanked 80% of the Flyertalk audience...

And those 80% of us can disagree. We all have our own reasons. Some like to fly just for flying, and might as well earn elite status or SWUs while at it; others genuinely like seeing any part of the world and want to do it at the lowest price possible; some are a combination. I did a 24-hour domestic turnaround MR and decided not to do trips like that afterward, unless I could get out of the airport; after that, I did a 4-day international MR where I got to see a place I likely would never visit unless the price was cheap. It worked out! A new country, a relaxing weekend, a new airline, time to myself on the plane to catch up on reading/watch movies, and a bunch of EQMs and RDMs to boot!

I've only ever done one but that $100 (approx) got me a new experience (EK F Suites on the A380) including a shower at 38,000 feet, it qualified me for lounge benefits (easily $100 of food and drink at Dubai prices) and enabled me to bypass queues at check in and boarding (everyone will value that differently but a healthy benefit for me).

All in all it was worth every penny spent on it IMO.

Imo.. if you're close enough to a status, and can make a worthwhile trip out of it to achieve status, that is when I would consider an MR..

To me, that doesn't really qualify as a MR vs a weekend away. I think even most "average" people would be able to understand doing something like that, while they may get a bit perplexed at the idea of flying to an airport simply to turn around again .