"Mileage Runs"

"My Mom is Doing a Mileage Run" is blogger Mark Ashley's latest post on Upgrade Travel Better, whose subtitle is Living the First Class Life...at Coach Prices. He explains, "For those who don’t know, a mileage run is the process of taking a trip just to get the miles. (Usually this means elite-qualifying miles, and not redeemable miles.) For the mileage-running purist, your destination is irrelevant. You might not even stay there — you just fly there, and fly back, to collect the miles."

I'm ambivalent about this. I think of the hassle of flying somewhere just to collect miles with the increasing likelihood of getting stuck at some airport you or I have no reason to be at in the first place. I am assuming that such mileage runners (or mileage accruers) seek out bargain fares to less popular places, and I'm not sure it's worth it to be one of them.

When Continental hubbed in Denver, I was a OnePass Silver Elite flyer. I hardly ever fly that airline anymore, because the only nonstop destinations from Denver are Houston, Cleveland and Newark. It was easy to stack miles on Continental, because Elite membership automatically doubled and tripled the points. When my son was in school in New Hampshire, or when he went to his dad and stepmom's in Maine, I bought tickets when there was a fare sale and used his and my mileage when fares were higher.

I now have premier status on United's Mileage Plus and also on American's AAdvantage. I do like being seated in the front of the plane. I like the express lane through security that a premier card accesses. I'm short, so legroom is not of prime importance to me, but I know it's an issue for tall passengers. How much extra flying would I do to maintain that status if I weren't flying enough as is? I don't know, but I do wonder...

Mark Ashley was evidently pondering the same thing. He mused, "is a mileage run really worth it? Elite status is still worthwhile, if you travel enough with one airline (or within one alliance) and if you’re going to take advantage of the perks. If the price is right, and it gets you the perks you want, that mileage run may be an investment worth making. "