*preface: I am doing my own research and am trying to make myself a student of these forums, so rest assured that I'm not just looking for handouts. Even if this thread simply allows me to talk to you all about travel and doesn't yield any concrete info, I'll be a happy camper.

I'll try to keep this as basic as possible. I'd like to start taking mileage runs and building status on my airlines of choice. Until recently, I was dismally irresponsible (or lazy) in making sure I received miles for all of my trips. Despite three roundtrips to Asia, a few to Europe, a couple to the Middle East, and ~50 domestic segments in the past 5 years, I've only managed to accrue roughly 40,000 United (my preferred airline) miles and a couple thousand AA and US miles, respectively.

I don't travel often for work, only average 1-2 international trips per year (this year is an exception, as I will top out at 4) and earn what amounts to an average income. My company allows me three weeks of vacation annually. The question is, how does somebody of average means start earning the kind of mileage necessary to sample premium cabins (I've never flown anything but coach) and fly more frequently? In my case, I'm armed with nothing more than an Amex Platinum card (which I just received), a few mileage program memberships, and those 40,000 UA miles.

I know that it has taken you all a lot of time, money, and effort to build your knowledge base, so I'm not expecting major trade secrets--just any suggestions for someone new to the culture.

 

this is just my opinion.

Unfortunately zcat18, you decided to finally attend the Party, however the party has Ended.

UA still has some bones they throw out. But by and large MRing is harder to do, meaning earning EQMs or whatever term the Carrier of your choice uses for its Elite Basis. Most Carriers arent giving anything away lately. So if what you were looking to do was say a LAX-SEA-IAH-FLL-CLE-EWR and turn right around and go back and end up with 10k in EQMs and 2-3 cents per EQM, those will be very hard to find.

Even Europe this yr should be $100s more then it was last yr, as well as Asia. Many Foreign Asian Carriers are cutting out the US or at least the East Coast, which means less chance of a US Carrier having to sell its seats. and even cutting out a daily flight as well if they still will be flying.

Heck CO has asked that it be allowed to cut its daily flights to PEK and HKG to 5x

Could be if oil keeps going down and well below $100 a barrel that some Carriers will still be around and then Fare Wars may restart

 

Thanks, craz. I'm not surprised, given oil and the state of the airline industry. I've managed to find some decent deals of late ($400 r/t ORD-SJO on AA and $811 r/t ORD-PRG on LH, both including taxes and fees and both of which I bought), but it's probably not the time to be picky about airlines and alliances.

I'll continue to scour the forums and talk to folks. At the very least, I now have FT as a resource, which is tremendous. I could probably try and use the Amex benefits to my advantage. Though I've always followed the airline industry and traveled when I can, I'm just getting to the point where I feel comfortable enough financially to take it on as more of a hobby than as just a yearly vacation or two.

 

Whats funny, is Im about to start flying whomever is the cheapest to wherever it is I decide to go and to an extent forget about Alliances. As I feel upgrades are gonna be harder and harder to score.

Keep checking the Mileage Runs Forum

also be open to say driving up to MKE and flying into other airports as well. So if I wanted to go to Chicago, Id look at MKE ORD MDW if its dirt cheap STL. For NY Id go EWR,LGA,JFK,PHL,HPN,SWF, yep BWI even DCA and take the subway to the Chinese or Bolt or Mega buses to get to NY, even BDL

 

Upgrades seem impossible right now for mere mortals. I'm always begging Star Alliance carriers to take 15k of my UA miles for an upgrade, but thus far all of my routes have been ineligible for reasons unknown.

And you're right about MKE. I see great deals from there all the time. I used to live in NYC, and PHL had some decent deals because of US (not as good anymore, because they're not as financially strapped as they were a few years back).

 

Out of curiousity, if you are of "average" income and don't fly much, why not simply save the money you are spending on MR runs and use it to buy business class on a trip you actually need to take?

Frequent flier programs and status are for those people who fly a lot. If you don't fly much (as you've mentioned), the value of status is not as valuable to you. If all you want is to "sample premium cabins", just pay for it. Unless you are getting some sweet deals on MRs, this is a lot simpler and may save you money in the long run.

 

Ahhh, but that negates the thrill of getting upgrades for "free."

 

YXU, you have a point, but dalm is also correct. Basically, I'm not terribly interested in domestic travel beyond that which I need to do to visit family and the limited amount I do for work (all told, I probably fly an average of one round-trip per month). Doing it for mileage would at least add some sport to an enterprise that I don't find terribly exciting. I definitely won't shell out for first or business on a domestic flight if I can possibly help it.

For me, the goal is to fly premium cabins on long-haul international routes (it's kind of like the big prize for me in all of this). For instance, if I know I want to visit, say, South Africa, why not make the trip even more exciting by trying SA's business class?

So YXU--yes, since I only travel internationally once or twice per year, I can feasibly just pay the asking price for business class on a different airline each time I decide to take a vacation somewhere outside the US, but why would I do that when I can build up some "equity," so to speak, and begin upgrading with miles? It might cost the same or more in the short run, but in the long run, it gives me momentum to be able to try more airlines more often.

Ultimately, as I said above, it's not all about the money (although my funds are somewhat limited compared to many in this community, which is why I need to figure out how to build some of that momentum). Much of it is about "sport"--in this case, miles collection, which is where the idea of mileage runs becomes intriguing to me, since I enjoy flying, planespotting, etc. anyway--with the ultimate goal of being able to sample a range of premium products at the lowest possible cost to me.

 

But your "equity" only lasts a year. Again, if you are not flying a lot, you can sample some business class fares but then you're back to zero when your status expires. If you said you were planning to pick up your flying and really use your status, then I could see it.

Well, this I can understand. What you're really saying is that deep down, this is a bit of a game for you - how to get status as cheaply as possible and then how to feel special knowing you got a free upgrade. I can dig that. It just may not be cheaper

 

It looks to me like you are already making one mistake. Don't spread your flights around between alliances. Stick to either OneWorld or Star Alliance. Unless you must go somewhere only served by AA, stick to UA and other *A partners and always credit to UA Mileage Plus or you will end up with orphan miles on many carriers. Make your hotel stays, car rentals, and credit card miles work for you by crediting them all to UA. If AA is $20 cheaper than UA, don't be tempted. Pay the extra and credit to UA. High level status can be done for a reasonable price (think say $3K for UA 1K), but it requires work. You have to be alert for good fares for MRs and take them when you can get them. There are still bargains out there. Right now, for example, there is a nice PHL-SMF fare for about $190 on UA. This year, I booked East Coast to HNL for $450 all-in, EWR-LIH for $276 all-in, and EWR-EZE for $650 all-in. That is 30K miles right there for ~1400. Those aren't great prices either (except for the $276), but they are great prices for those destinations. These weren't MRs, but rather short vacations. When it comes to MRs, don't be picky about the destination. Go where the cheap fares are. Just try to find .02 cents/mile or less and take them when you can. You need to get up to at least 1P status in my opinion before you can really take advantage of many upgrades, so just put some effort into it. If you want it faster, fly to SIN. That should net you 15K - 20K miles each time. It's not cheap, but it is fast. Good Luck OP.

 

zcat18, like you I am new to the concept of mileage runs, but I like airplane travel, and I have been doing a bit of research into how someone like me can reach CO Platinum this year, just to do it at least once. I'll have about 40,000 EQM by the end of September, so I think it is doable.

From what I have learned, it seems like there are a number of variables in planning your MRs.

- budget
- timing / flexibility of schedule (can you fly MRs mid-week?)
- tolerance for pain ("27-40 hours in back-to-back flights -- sweet!" )
- patience for research (lots of tools referenced on this site)
- preferred airline (e.g. CO can be restrictive on 2+ stop multi-segment bookings)
- interest in pure mileage-running vs. taking short vacations

I'm sure there are plenty of other factors the more experienced folks can add.

For me personally, I prefer to pay low fares, but my work schedule is M-F, so that generally limits my choices. Even so, on CO I have booked one-stop transcon flights for around 5 cpm (all-in but not including status bonuses), at 6000+ EQMs flying from NYC. A friend in the DC area recently booked a one-stop CO transcon at 3.7 cpm, but I haven't done as well as that yet.

You mentioned you like to travel internationally. Again, I am talking about CO, but direct flights from NYC to Hong Kong will get you 16K EQM (at ~6 cpm, probably similar from ORD) with a direct flight. If you want to really rack them up internationally and don't care about multiple stops, then going somewhere like Manila (or Bali) is 20K+ miles. I'm sure there are many other options.

Of course, if you have the wherewithal to fly Business or first class on revenue, you have comfortable trips, AND get the EQM bonuses, so don't forget to put that in your calculations. Also there are occasional premium class sales. Premium class tickets from partner airlines can also be more transferable to your home airline plan.

The more I research MRs, though, the more I think I might rather take short vacations when possible rather than a pure mileage run, time permitting, just because when you travel all that way, it is nice to get the benefit of spending time in your destination. Incidentally, many discount international fares' rules require a bit of a stay (the HKG flight requires six days!) if you want the best price, so sometimes that can push you in a different direction.

However, the challenge of getting the best deal on a mileage run keeps me reading and researching and occasionally taking trips I wouldn't take otherwise.

Anyway, I wrote a book. Hope some of it is helpful.

pc

 

Don't want to rain on your parade, but zcat18, you've got some wrong perceptions and possibly some misinformation.

As pointed out above, you need to pick a program and stick with it. You're idea of sampling different airlines and using your miles as equity will not be the most cost effective plan in the long run.

Additionally, riding in premium international cabins is difficult to achieve cheaply. Until you have time and money to invest it's not likely to happen on a regular basis. I know because I've finally gotten to that point but it costs me a few thousand extra dollars per year and maybe 10 days of MRing (I fly 100% on my own dime for pleasure).

There's a lot of help to be had here, but you need to develop realistic expectations to benefit from it. I recommend that when you pick a carrier you figure out how many miles you plan to fly in the year and MR to get to a given elite level. For example, you like UA, so I'd likely advise that you get to 1P which would get you some significant benis (2X RDM and international lounge access to start). But to get in the front of the bus with miles is going to cost you some pretty steep fare prices and 30K miles each way.

 

If your funds are limited then many International MRs while great earning possibilities may be out. As other posters have indicated, domestic same day MRs are becoming limited and will probably even more so once capacity cuts start this fall.

Also, you will need to probably have Tuesday and Wednesdays open for some of the better deals.

Stay with one airline/alliance (probably UA since thats where you already have 40K miles) and scour everywhere for mileage deals (here on FT, UA's web site, Fare Compare, and some other sites that fellow FTs can give you). Doing MRs, particularly domestic, won't be totally impossible but will require more work on your part to proactively find the deals.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! This is all fantastic information to get me started, and I suspect that it will be plenty helpful to others in my position as well.

I'm starting to agree. I'm also probably interchanging the term "mileage run" with "short vacation" (assuming a short vacation is 1-2 nights in a city). For someone like me, it's worth a night in a hostel to at least get on the ground outside the airport somewhere interesting, if possible. I, too, work a standard M-F 5-day week, so I can't often take advantage of the sweetheart midweek deals (although once or twice per year, it might be worth investing a vacation day or two on an MR or short vacation, depending on how close I am to my goal).

I realize this, as well, and I do try to book Star Alliance and UA 90% of the time (for instance, I've got ORD-CPH r/t booked on SAS and ORD-PRG r/t booked on LH coming up, but I've also got ORD-FLL-SJO coming up on AA, which obviously will be a waste). The poster who advised to avoid the temptation to save $20 on non-Star Alliance carriers has a good point. Since I'm trying to travel a bit more anyway, I'm probably not as far away from status as I think. I just need to get better at flying the right carriers and recording my miles. A few years back, I took a trip from ORD-ICN-BKK r/t, but of course, I booked it randomly on Korean and also didn't bother to think about or get credit for the miles, since I didn't yet know about this flying culture. This is obviously foolish but isn't a mistake I'd make today. I'd shell out a bit more dough to fly Star Alliance.

That's excellent--especially EWR-EZE for $650. I'm willing to spend up to a couple thousand dollars a year on airfare, so this is encouraging. I've signed up for the fare comparison sites, so that's a step in the right direction to finding these bargains (along with the MR forum, of course).

--

Given the direction that fares are going and my budget, and despite what I said in an earlier post, it's probably unlikely that I can afford to book business class on revenue internationally (maybe for a special occasion, but not one that comes around yearly). That being said, EWR-SIN on SQ is a possibility, or UA to HK, or if I can find a Star Alliance partner that flies to India, I can combine a longer vacation and the hunt for mileage. I probably can't do more than one ultra long-haul per year, though.

I think you're right. It's not unreasonable for someone starting a goal-oriented hobby-type activity like this to adjust expectations, and even 2X RDM and lounge access is a nice start. Perhaps I won't be jetting around in premium cabins multiple times per year, but even if I can fly business on my yearly vacation once in awhile, it would be a fun departure from the norm and something to shoot for.

Since this is something you have to maintain from year to year, I'm sure it will take some trial and error, and I might not achieve it at first or consistently. But the pursuit is a big part of the fun. Another method I'm going to look into is how to use my Amex benefits (the companion tickets and whatnot) to my advantage. Speaking of Amex, I'm off to Amex Travel now to pick up colones for this week's trip. Thanks again for all of your responses!

 

Not surprising at all, considering that UA does not participate in the MFU program that other * carriers do.

You can beg till you turn blue in the face, unfortunately - ain't gonna change.

Dave