But, I have spent the last 3 months buying the longest, cheapest round trip fares that I've been able to find, also called "mileage runs". American Airlines has had a "Double Elite Qualifying Mile" promotion, which means that I can reach Executive Platinum with American while flying only 50,000 miles instead of the usual 100k miles. This fall, I've done weekend trips to Madrid, Frankfurt, Florida, visited family in the Mid-West, and this upcoming weekend, a I'm finishing with a round trip to Barcelona. I'm flying out from San Francisco on Friday morning, spending 2 days in Barcelona and I'll be back home by Monday.
All told, I've spent $2200 on flights, and a bit more for hotels + food. What I get in return is being able to upgrade to first class for free on any domestic flight on American, 8 upgrades on international flights (worth $300-400 each if I sell them), and enough earned miles to buy two tickets worth $1100 to visit family in Central America this spring.
I have a hunch, though that after flying first class all next year on American, I'm going to have a really hard time flying coach again. I'm afraid this might be a bit addictive.
A friend of mine, (mcargian on hn) hosts a podcast about this stuff at http://upgrd.com. He turned me on to it.
i did a SIN run (what flyertalkers call the flight from anywhere to Singapore) from Seattle one weekend, and i got a lot done. A buddy and I flew SEA-SFO-LAX-NRT-SIN, and we got a LOT of work done. We got upgraded, worked on our laptops, spent 6 hours eating chili crabs in Singapore and listening to a drag cover band, and then flew back. It took all weekend, cost about $800 and pushed us both up to 1K status on United for the year, which was well worth more than $800...
Singapore is the most bang for the buck in terms of miles/$ and so people often use it as a way to get to the next level of status... for me the opportunity to focus on some projects i hadn't completed and get 1K status (including the upgrades which are easily worth thousands if you had to unload them on the upgrade grey market), plus hang out with a friend and have such an unusual experience, was worth it.
But you actually have to sit in the plane and go to Madrid and Frankfurt to pull this off, right? $2200 is nothing, but days and days of time in an airplane isn't worth it.
I have a netbook with my full dev environment and 15 hours worth of battery life. I actually get a lot of good work done on the plane. And, I get a lot of uninterrupted time to code in my hotel.
Its also part of the way I'm wired. I grew up as a nomad of sorts, and I've been really stationary for the last 3 years, so getting to travel scratches an huge itch for me and it clears my mind so I can get into flow and code.
I wonder if I could find someone willing to fly on fake papers to take the actual trips to Spain and Germany. Airline security blows; they'd use their own papers in (say) Spain.
I have two more trips to Europe this month for exactly this reason. (Well, I actually flew 70,000 miles on American legitimately this year. Seemed like a waste to not go for 100,000.)
Last time I was checking in at Chicago, I had a conversation with the check-in agent and I mentioned my mileage run plans. She told me, "that's excellent". So unlike the Mint, the airlines, or AA anyway, don't seem to mind this. It fills up their otherwise empty planes over the Atlantic :)
I have a hunch, though that after flying first class all next year on American, I'm going to have a really hard time flying coach again. I'm afraid this might be a bit addictive.
This is a nice benefit, but it is not the best. Domestic first class is not that great. The seat is a bit bigger, and you get a $10 meal for free. The best part is the coffee cups your coffee is served in. AA just bought new ones, and they are very pretty.
Also, you don't lose the ability to upgrade next year. You will be in F for the next 3 years. Exec Plat drops to Plat even if you don't fly at all, and Plat drops to Gold even if you don't fly at all. You will have to use stickers to upgrade, though, it is no longer free. Back when I was Gold, I had pretty good luck getting upgrades, and as a Plat, I have only missed one. You get the ability to book exit rows either way, and on the MD-80, the exit rows have more leg room than the first class seats.
So you are set for a while.
worth $300-400 each if I sell them
AA is pretty good at shutting this down. I would not recommend it. If you're not going to use them, share them with your friends (or fellow mileage-runners on HN) instead.
(Search the Flyertalk forums for stories of people losing 1MM+ frequent flyer miles for selling their SWUs.)
But, I have spent the last 3 months buying the longest, cheapest round trip fares that I've been able to find, also called "mileage runs". American Airlines has had a "Double Elite Qualifying Mile" promotion, which means that I can reach Executive Platinum with American while flying only 50,000 miles instead of the usual 100k miles. This fall, I've done weekend trips to Madrid, Frankfurt, Florida, visited family in the Mid-West, and this upcoming weekend, a I'm finishing with a round trip to Barcelona. I'm flying out from San Francisco on Friday morning, spending 2 days in Barcelona and I'll be back home by Monday.
All told, I've spent $2200 on flights, and a bit more for hotels + food. What I get in return is being able to upgrade to first class for free on any domestic flight on American, 8 upgrades on international flights (worth $300-400 each if I sell them), and enough earned miles to buy two tickets worth $1100 to visit family in Central America this spring.
I have a hunch, though that after flying first class all next year on American, I'm going to have a really hard time flying coach again. I'm afraid this might be a bit addictive.
A friend of mine, (mcargian on hn) hosts a podcast about this stuff at http://upgrd.com. He turned me on to it.