de leted

Well, if you sign up for a Platinum DL Amex, you'll receive 5,000 base miles (and an additional 10k regular miles) with your first purchase - probably worth the $135 annual fee even if you only use it the one time. Also, as you�re looking for �efficient and economic� ways to pick up mileage, I suggest adding your home city to the post for point of reference - best of luck.

de leted

4 JFK-SFO round trips will cost you about $1700 for ~21K miles. Being platinum you obviously can confirm your upgrade in the BusinessElite immediately. Fly out on a Saturday and return on Sunday morning.

Do a Shuttle run for the additonal 1K mile, and you should be set for another year.

If you have the weekend of October 19-20 or 26-27 available, you could do it all on the shuttle for under $1,000, most of it on one of those weekends. Buy tickets soon, because there are some advance purchase limitations on these fares.

LGA-DCA-LGA-BOS-LGA for about $231 (on Orbitz) on Saturday, starting on the first flight out. Do the same thing on Sunday for the same fare. Add a round trip for $116 LGA-DCA-LGA on Saturday evening and you've got 20,000 base miles.

The current triple base miles for shuttle flights (through 12/31) makes each segment worth 1,500 base miles. The ten segments above make 15,000 base miles, all for under $600.

Given how many other weekends there are until the end of the year, I'm sure you can work out the remaining 7,000 miles later on (after the double base miles promotion expires) for another $350 or so.

For more info, see this link:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum21/HTML/007367.html

Also, I wouldn't take the risk that the 5K for the Platinum card will post in time to count for this year. Mine took about eight weeks after my first purchase to post.

[Edited to fix a serious glitch, accurately pointed out by Northern Willy below!]

[This message has been edited by Dave M (edited 10-09-2002).]

de leted

Am I missing a double miles promo to 10/31? The last one that I was aware of (and eligible for) ends 10/15.

Oops! How right you are. I'm revising my post above, so that the math is correct.

Thanks for the catch!

de leted

de leted

Correct.

Each segment is worth 500 normal base miles plus the triple base miles bonus (an additional 1,000 base miles per segment) through 12/31. Total of 1,500 base miles per segment.

Through October 15, add the double base miles promotion (an additional 500 base miles per segment), assuming you registered for this promotion. Thus, 2,000 base miles per segment.

It's a bit more pricey if you do it this weekend. The fares aren't quite as low as when you purchase tickets at least two weeks in advance. About $11-20 per segment more on the four-segment trips that include both DCA and BOS. Between $6 and $16 more per segment if you do it as a series of simple round trips between, for example, LGA and DCA, depending on time of day.

It will take a little experimentation (and perhaps an Excel spreadsheet) to make the calculation that gives you the maximum miles for the lowest cost per mile. My vote would be for doing as much as practical this weekend, keeping in mind the cost per mile this weekend versus a later weekend.

de leted

Good luck! Post back when you finish this marathon!

Did you register for the double base miles promotion?

If you didn't, you will only get 1500 miles per segment due to the triple base miles promotion (which doesn't require registration).

de leted