In late 2013, I became really interested in the points & miles game. I started following websites and blogs like FlyerTalk, The Points Guy, and Hack My Trip, in the hopes of maximizing hotel points and airline miles through the combined use of credit cards and actual hotel nights and airline miles flown. This, in turn, led me to websites like The Flight Deal and Fare Compare, which opened up a whole new world of travel for me. I studied the concept of the mileage run and decided to give it a try. As I was telling a coworker that I was going on my very first mileage run, the first question he asked me was, “so have you trained for this run?” I laughed and realized that I should probably explain that a mileage run is not a race, but it could leave you feeling just as exhausted at the end.
So, What is a Mileage Run?
A mileage run is basically a flight from Point A to Point B – usually via 1 or 2 stopovers – and then almost immediately turn around back to Point A. There are a few reasons for doing a mileage run, but the most common one is to get the greatest amount of miles for the least amount of money. For all you math lovers out there, this is measured in cents per mile (cpm) by dividing the price you paid for the airline ticket by the amount of miles flown.
For example, the very first mileage run I booked was an absolutely brutal route. It took me from Washington-Reagan (DCA) to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to London-Heathrow (LHR) to Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB) and back in reverse order. I left on a Saturday morning and was back in DC by Tuesday night. That flight netted me 23,126 miles and I paid $1,020 for the ticket, giving me a rate of 4.41 cpm. Most mileage runners will tell you that anything under 6.0 cpm is good, under 5.0 cpm is great, and under 4.0 is incredible (though rare), but I was excited to be getting so many miles for a great price.
Ok, I Understand, But Why?
For most people, the whole purpose of completing a mileage run is to either achieve or maintain elite status with an airline/alliance. There is usually a mad dash at the end of the calendar year to maintain elite status, but I prefer to do my mileage running earlier in the year when I don’t have to contend with busy holiday travel when prices tend to be higher anyway.
My DC to South Africa mileage run was flown on American Airlines and British Airways, both members of the OneWorld Alliance. I decided prior to my first mileage run that I wanted to gain elite status with American Airlines, which is why this route interested me in the first place. I booked the flight using my American Airlines frequent flyer number, and because British Airways is an alliance partner and because I booked using an eligible (miles earning) flight code, all those miles were credited to my American Airlines account. Combine this trip with the trip from DCA-DFW-AUS that I had done the week earlier (not a mileage run) and I had surpassed the 25,000 miles needed for Gold Elite status with American Airlines.
How Do I Find A Good Mileage Run Deal?
There are probably tons of ways to find a good mileage run deal, but the easiest, especially for those just starting out, is to monitor the following sites:
Flyer Talk Mileage Run Deals discussion board: Here you’ll find people sharing deals that they found. The typical format you’ll see in the titles is the airline, the route, the price, mileage, and cpm. For example, AA/BA: DCA-DFW-LHR-JNB, $1,020 for 23,126 mi (rt) @ 4.41 cpm. For more information, I would highly recommend reading the “Welcome to the Mileage Run Forum” thread.
The Flight Deal: Recently, this has become my absolute favorite website. The Flight Deal has 12 focus cities – New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle, and Washington, DC. You can either go to their website daily, or subscribe to their newsletter and every day at around 3pm, you’ll get an email with that day’s best deals from those target cities. Because of the flight deal, I’ve been able to take weekend trips from DC to Bogota ($406rt), DC to LA ($227rt), and DC to Leon/Guanajuato ($206rt).
Fare Deal Alert: Sister site to The Flight Deal that includes 10 focus cities – Atlanta, Charlotte, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Orlando, and San Diego. As of now, this site is still in beta testing, but I signed up for their newsletter, which arrives in my inbox the same time as The Flight Deal newsletter, and I imagine before long this site will be fully functional.
Learn how to use the ITA Matrix: Another one of my favorites. This website is very similar to other online travel agents (OTAs) like Orbitz or Travelocity in that you can search for flights, but the main difference is that you can add advanced routing language to find the exact combination you’re looking for. The only downside is that you cannot actually book a ticket using this site; you’d first find the combination you’re looking for on the ITA Matrix and then book elsewhere, whether it’s through one of the OTAs or an airline website. For example, you can search for specific carriers, specific flight numbers, specify what city or cities you want to have a layover in, and for more advanced language, you can even narrow down flights by alliance. This may seem daunting at first, but once you get the hang of the ITA Matrix, you can mess around with different combinations and find your own mileage run deals (and then post them on FlyerTalk!). For more help using the ITA Matrix, with screen shots included, check out my other article about using the ITA Matrix to your advantage.
Now that you know the basics, get out there and start finding flights you never thought possible.
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