What is the closest airport to you?

Denver International

Come visit Austin. Have some nice barbecue, tour the capitol building. Head home, qualify for Silver. :) DEN-AUS is a competitive route and fares are generally pretty cheap.

Or, if you don't like barbecue, just look for any other destination that's at least 500 miles away. :)

You can do DEN-AUS round trip for $167 this Saturday. Fly out 7:50am, come back 6:10pm, about 5 hours you can spend in the terminal eating bbq or whatever.

Do you want to fly to PEK for $360? You do not need a Chinese visa for this trip (TWOV).
https://www.google.com/flights#flt=D...65*2.USD.36065

That's some serious overkill for 1K PQM. :)

This idea is becoming more and more enticing

First, welcome to FT!

What you want to do a called a mileage run, there are TONS of ideas and info in that specific forum https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mileage-run-deals-372/
A word of advice: Don't just post a new thread "need a mileage run from Denver", rather read the stickys and wiki's and peruse those forums for thoughts and ideas.

One side question: do you have enough premier qualifying dollars (PQD's)?

Finally as noted above, you cannot just book the ticket and not fly, that would not count toward your PQM.

Also - is this common practice? Trying to earn / maintain status at year end by doing these flights for that sole purpose?

Yes, my PQD is fulfilled.

Yes.

Becoming less so given changes to FF programs, but there are lots of people at this point in the year looking for a few extra flights to meet one or more of the requirements for the next threshold.

One thing to consider is whether the cost of the flight plus your time is worth it for the benefits of Silver. There's a thread on that. (IMO, $167 a a partly wasted day is probably worth it if you plan to fly a similar amount next year)

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...solidated.html

Assuming you fulfilled $3,000 PQD and only shy of 1,000 PQM - the "mileage run" DEN-AUS-DEN for $167 can't be beat imo. It's a day worth of your time and I doubt you'll find anything cheaper. Yes, people do these runs all the time, there is a dedicated forum section here in FT for it.

Flights under 500 miles awarded 500PQM regardless.

I thought that is only if you are Silver or above?

Only once you already have status and it sounds like the OP does not. General members don't get the 500 mile minimum.

If OP has never visited Beijing, it is the best deal available in terms of cents per mile out of Denver. If OP has reached 6K PQM, two such trips will get the Premier Gold status, which is more valuable than a Premier Silver status.