100,000 Miles in 45 Days Renting Cars
Jan 18, 2008, 5:16 am
#61
Join Date: May 2005
Location: FLL
Programs: DL ♦M MM|HH♦|Marr Slvr|CO UA AA US|Pri Cub Plat|SPG|Avis 1st|Htz 5*
Posts: 5,044
GET CARRIED AWAY (not shouting.. emphatic... excited.. encouraging).
Occasionally an FTer will show some signs of apologetic embarrassment for engaging in this game. I call it a hobby. If I spent 9 hours on Sunday watching sports games; jumped on planes paying last-minute fares to buy overpriced scalped tickets; missed my kids concert because of a playoff game; planned my vacations around the team's season schedule; or had two TVs in one room showing simultaneous satellite feeds; I would be called a "fan" and not "OCD". Don't get me wrong. I see nothing wrong with sports being an extreme hobby. I just resent it sometimes that my hobby is looked at as "weird" or "obsessive" by some.
There are many worse activities one could engage in on the internet while updating spreadsheets and chatting with strangers. My net hobby gets me trips all over the world and not a visit from Dateline or an intervention on Dr. Phil.
Mrp Alert, you are my hero. Your posts are informative and enthusiastic. You post in full sentences using punctuation and proper capitalization. You are succinct but informative. You make this game more fun! Will you be my father?
It's ok to spread the love around as long as you can keep track of your programs and redeem your miles before they expire. I have over 500,000 miles spread between different programs. This gives me flexibility when I need a last minute award tickets or want an upgrade award or a specific routing. If airline A in does not have availability, perhaps airline B does, or maybe airline C, etc. It usually works out perfectly.
You can repeat the CO offer as many times as possible, but all rentals must be completed by Jan 31. IIRC, the Delta offer is good until March 31. As mentioned by Evan!, you can't combine two offers on one rental. Finally, ATL is expensive for rental cars at the airport, but you may want to check off-airport locations.
Jan 18, 2008, 8:49 am
#62
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ATL, BHM, DUB, County Wexford
Programs: DL DM, AA ExPlt, Diamond HH, HY, BW, & Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 4,866
I have reserved back to back rental with drop off and pick ups the same day. That way I do not have to drive two cars back and forth to the airport. Is there any problem that I could experience doing this?
Jan 18, 2008, 9:08 am
#63
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ATL, BHM, DUB, County Wexford
Programs: DL DM, AA ExPlt, Diamond HH, HY, BW, & Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 4,866
Isn't there a credit card that gives you elite status with the rental car companies? I seem to remember something like that with my Amex Plat or Chairman M/C.
Jan 19, 2008, 4:05 am
#64
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: TLV now - formerly LAS
Programs: King of Rental Cars, BA Gold, Virgin Gold, AA MM Gold, A3 Gold, SK Gold, Hotel SuperElite
Posts: 7,357
TalkMail Typo
I am aware of the typo in the TalkMail and did post a request for a correction in the Technical Issues forum. For the record, the Aveo had a lingering methane odor on the cloth interior when I received it. All other vehicles have been methane free.
Jan 19, 2008, 4:23 pm
#65
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: TLV now - formerly LAS
Programs: King of Rental Cars, BA Gold, Virgin Gold, AA MM Gold, A3 Gold, SK Gold, Hotel SuperElite
Posts: 7,357
Well I got sick and forgot to pick up 2 vehiceles this weekend. I am making up for this but at a slightly higher cost which has driven me up my CPM. I am hoping for a slow weekend to cause a last minute price drop which will get me back on track. Additionally, I face a firm deadline to get this done as I am going out of the country on February 2. I may have to get a bit more creative with my volume of rentals per weekend to decrease my CPM. No matter how you slice it, this is beginning to get a bit stressful, but the RDMs will be worth it.
Jan 20, 2008, 7:41 pm
#66
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Kamuela, Hawaii
Programs: Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, AA Plat, UA Silver, AS MVP, HA premier
Posts: 509
While I find this an interesting (and entertaining) idea, and applaud you for your resourcefulness, the promos don't provide enough value in my view. Your anticipated results of 1.14-1.25 cpm is more than I would pay outright for miles, not including the hassles and time involved in jockeying cars around.
The OP could trade for the CO/NW miles he needs over in CC at about the same cost. That would be a lot less hassle and time than doing the rental cars. Why not just do that?
Note I'm referring to renting cars that are unneeded and just being parked to get miles. Someone who needs to rent a car anyway isn't paying 1.25 cents per mile.
Jan 20, 2008, 8:42 pm
#67
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Living in SIN™
Programs: TK/QR Gold, Marriott/Accor Plat, IC Dia Amb, Avis/Hertz PC
Posts: 6,706
This is too much work, though it does remind me of my 23-day Avis Connect promo run last August...the only effort I had to make though, was to drive 40 miles out of my way to rent from SFO. 5 consecutive Avis rentals got me a total of:
126K DL miles (already redeemed in a 140K LAX-SIN-BOM RT in SQ F
)
1K SQ miles
1343 SPG points
Total cost $1343 (at ~1.05 cpm), out of which I would have spent ~$600 anyway for a rental from a cheaper location during that time.
126K DL miles (already redeemed in a 140K LAX-SIN-BOM RT in SQ F
)1K SQ miles
1343 SPG points
Total cost $1343 (at ~1.05 cpm), out of which I would have spent ~$600 anyway for a rental from a cheaper location during that time.
Jan 20, 2008, 8:59 pm
#68
Join Date: May 2005
Location: FLL
Programs: DL ♦M MM|HH♦|Marr Slvr|CO UA AA US|Pri Cub Plat|SPG|Avis 1st|Htz 5*
Posts: 5,044
Whenever I calculate the cost of miles I only use the incremental amount I might spend to get the bonus. But then again I don't do lap dances. I rent for biz and when home out of necessity. So if I get 9,999 miles but pay $40 more than I would have paid I consider my cost per mile to be $40/9,999 miles = 0.4 cpm.
Jan 20, 2008, 9:09 pm
#69
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Kamuela, Hawaii
Programs: Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, AA Plat, UA Silver, AS MVP, HA premier
Posts: 509
However, don't forget to only count the incremental miles. For example, suppose you would have gotten 1k miles at the lowest rental cost. That would make your cost per mile $40/(9999-1000) =.44 cpm.
If I could do .44 cpm without significant investment of time (e.g. I was renting a car anyway) I would do that all day.
Jan 20, 2008, 10:40 pm
#70
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Living in SIN™
Programs: TK/QR Gold, Marriott/Accor Plat, IC Dia Amb, Avis/Hertz PC
Posts: 6,706
Jan 21, 2008, 2:05 am
#71
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: TLV now - formerly LAS
Programs: King of Rental Cars, BA Gold, Virgin Gold, AA MM Gold, A3 Gold, SK Gold, Hotel SuperElite
Posts: 7,357
Wirelessly posted (probably driving while typing: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry8830/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)
I also think this is very creative, but I am also not following the math.
The OP could trade for the CO/NW miles he needs over in CC at about the same cost. That would be a lot less hassle and time than doing the rental cars. Why not just do that?
Note I'm referring to renting cars that are unneeded and just being parked to get miles. Someone who needs to rent a car anyway isn't paying 1.25 cents per mile.
In the past year, I have burned 200,000 miles. This is one of my methods for replenishing my bd, vs, co, and dl accounts. As cash trades are prohibited, I fail to see how I can trade for these on cc. On the other hand, these miles will be redeemed at 5-10 cpm which is a worthwhile return on my investment.
Originally Posted by RLG
While I find this an interesting (and entertaining) idea, and applaud you for your resourcefulness, the promos don't provide enough value in my view. Your anticipated results of 1.14-1.25 cpm is more than I would pay outright for miles, not including the hassles and time involved in jockeying cars around.
The OP could trade for the CO/NW miles he needs over in CC at about the same cost. That would be a lot less hassle and time than doing the rental cars. Why not just do that?
Note I'm referring to renting cars that are unneeded and just being parked to get miles. Someone who needs to rent a car anyway isn't paying 1.25 cents per mile.
Jan 21, 2008, 8:17 pm
#72
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: ATL, BHM, DUB, County Wexford
Programs: DL DM, AA ExPlt, Diamond HH, HY, BW, & Titanium Elite Marriott
Posts: 4,866
National serviced by Europcar in Portugal
Does a 3 day rental in Portugal count for this NW promotion?
Jan 23, 2008, 6:01 am
#73
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: S.F.Bay
Programs: A.A Korean, JAL, Delta,
Posts: 131
Where can I find a basic math analysis of FFmiles.
Jan 24, 2008, 5:42 am
#74
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Seat 2A
Programs: AA EXP LT GLD 1MM, BA GLD, NH/UA*G, Hyatt Dia, Marr Tit LT PLT, IHG Spire,HH Dia, MGM NOIR,Hertz PC
Posts: 10,571
Am I missing something or were these 100k miles pread over several programms ?
Its a nice amount but in small portions I m not sure if its worth the hassle
Its a nice amount but in small portions I m not sure if its worth the hassle
Jan 24, 2008, 3:50 pm
#75
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: TLV now - formerly LAS
Programs: King of Rental Cars, BA Gold, Virgin Gold, AA MM Gold, A3 Gold, SK Gold, Hotel SuperElite
Posts: 7,357
Originally Posted by rdp9246
Where can I find a basic math analysis of FFmiles.
Last edited by Mrp Alert; Jan 24, 2008 at 3:55 pm