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There is a group of people out there – a secret society of sorts — that has a very different view of travel than you and I have.
They are the Mileage Runners…and they’re willing to take more flights in two days than most people take in two years. Why? To get their hands on precious frequent flyer miles that will ensure their “elite status” and keep the perks coming.
In other words, mileage runners are willing to go to almost any lengths to ensure their high status with an airline’s frequent flier program.
But there’s a price to pay: you have to fly a lot of miles. So, beginning in November, elite fliers start checking their miles, to see if they have enough. If not, they must amass more, so…they fly. A mileage run is a way to do this as quickly and cheaply as possible (mileage runners don’t waste time and money on hotels or sightseeing — they simply fly).
A mileage run could involve taking 7 flights across the world to some remote destination, only to turn around a few hours later and head back home.
So, who ARE these mileage runners? Read on. PLUS, SEE WHAT ONE MILEAGE RUNNER’S TRIP COST (YOU’LL BE SURPRISED).
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Yes, Mileage Runners are a strange breed. While others avoid air travel as much as possible, these chosen few are running to the airport, eager to spend 72 hours on planes without the benefit of even a vacation to break up the flying. But, a vacation is not the goal; it’s all about the miles.
Some see mileage runners as an eco-scourge, leaving an enormous carbon footprint behind; others just think they’re a little off their rockers. So, why do they do this? Is it really worth it? What could possibly be going on in their minds? To find out, we went to the source.
Karen is a mileage runner (with Premier Executive 1K status on United — “1K” for short) who recently set out on a very relaxing fun: Asheville-Charlotte-Chicago-Tokyo-Singapore-Hong Kong-San Francisco-Charlotte-Asheville. She did at least get to upgrade on all the “lengthy” flight segments. Karen had done the Singapore run once before, staying for all of six hours and not even leaving the airport before returning home; this time, though, she departed on May 15th and returned on May 17th, but did manage to leave the airport in Singapore to do some quick shopping during her six hour layover. Ahhhh, nothing like a nice weekend getaway!
Karen was gracious enough to answer our questions via email and phone interviews. It is our hope that Karen’s story will help us get a better idea of what makes a mileage runner tick…or that it will at least make us feel better about our own sanity…
FareCompare (FC): When average travelers hear your mileage run story, it seems a bit crazy to them. So Karen, are you crazy?
Karen: A trip like this does seem nuts to an infrequent traveler, and even to someone who does it regularly for work, I suppose. For me, it’s a combination of things. The upgrades I get from being a 1K with United are important to me. The way I’m treated as a 1K is vastly better than the way most folks are treated, and that’s a great gift. The other thing to keep in mind is that for some strange reason, I LOVE this. I love the excitement of getting on a plane, I love bringing things to keep me occupied on the plane, I love being on the plane, I love the nature of the airport and commerce taking place, I love the whole process….and everybody is a little crazy about their hobbies, and this is my hobby.
FC: Are your travel costs covered by an employer, or are they out-of-pocket?
Karen: All of my travel costs are personal, that is to say my husband and I pay for all our travel out of our own pockets. I do travel a lot, but it’s all personal, and I’m often working hard to keep my status with United. I don’t work, currently, but when I do my job is in talk radio. (And it’s difficult to travel and maintain status when you’re working at a non-travel gig!) It’s been great NOT working, actually, so I can take advantage of great deals when I find them and leave at the drop of a hat.
FC: What’s the best single perk you get with your elite status?
Karen: Best single perk: Humanity. Many of my frequent flier brethren would say the system-wide upgrades, which to be fair is why I’d do a mileage run (you can upgrade all but the cheapest fares with SWU’S–system-wides–which means they’re more valuable than miles in terms of getting an upgrade on a not-horrifically expensive ticket). That said, I feel like I’m treated better because I’m somehow a bit more of a human to them since I spend so much time on their planes. Is that fair? Probably not, but it’s what it is, and it’s worth it to me to retain that. Oh, yes, and there’s that thing about me liking to get on a plane. I’m kind of like a five year old in that regard. “I get to get on a plane today!!!!”
FC: What is your response to people who suggest your mileage runs are leaving an enormous carbon footprint and having a lasting negative effect on the environment?
Karen: I have a stock response when I get those questions: The worst thing you can do to the environment is raise a child in America. I don’t have children. I don’t take that [carbon footprint] into consideration when I plan a trip.
FC: As someone who has to deal with all the hassle of air travel on a regular basis, how do you keep such a good attitude when flying, and what advice do you have to help other travelers stay positive?
Karen: I’ve done a pretty good job of educating myself, so I feel less hopeless if a flight is canceled or late. If you have the time and you can, give yourself a cushion, so if a problem with travel arises, it doesn’t ruin your vacation…I also bring stuff on the plane that’s going to make me happy-iPod, books, sudoku.
FC: How long will you keep going on mileage runs?
Karen: As long as I can afford it.
Karen’s Mileage Run: By the (approximate) Numbers
- Hours of Travel: 72
- Hours in Singapore: 6
- Air Miles Flown: 21,162
- Elite Qualifying Miles Earned: 40,000+
*to gain 1K status on United, you must earn 100,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) or 100 Elite Qualifying Segments (EQS) on United in a calendar year.
Note: I met Karen when she won a free ticket in a Sony Spider-Man 3 contest we sponsored. When she contacted us to redeem her prize — I chatted with her and found out she was a
mileage runner, and I agreed to apply the contest amount to the total cost of her “run” — $2085. The total cost to Karen was $1085, so she spent 2.5 cents per mile.
She says she wouldn’t have done it for $2085, as the cost per mile would be too high (4.7, still a decent deal, but not a great one).
one key point which this piece neglected to include was the dollar cost of this flight…
can that be compared in some way with the value of the upgrades the subject has received?
Thanks
Joe
Being a mileage runner myself, I totally relate to Karen.
You’ll notice that Karen also earned free tickets (because of the miles she earned) on this run. While the price is important, most mileage runners figure cost per mile into the equation but others just work to get the best deal they can for the run they want to do. The cost of a Business Class fare to Asia is thousands and I’m sure Karen didn’t pay that.
Way to go, Karen!!
There’s no way she earned over 40,000 EQM on that run. She likely earned 22,008, unless she purchased a full fare economy ticket or paid for the nice seats, in which case she would have earned a tad bit over 33,000. I think you confused RDMs (redeemable miles – the ones you use for awards) with EQM.
If you have ever had a lay over in the Singapore airport you’ll understand her reason for using it. It’s an amazing extravaganza and well worth the out of the way route if you have to do a layover in the Pacific Rim. I highly recommend the dried pork that is soaked in some sweet sticky goo. Yum Yum! And the massages are great as well.
I had a client once who needed more miles to get his honeymoon trip to Australia in business class. Since his father had the same name, he sent him to visit his sister in Arizona on this itinerary [when Eastern was still flying];
EWR-PHL-BWI-MIA-ATL-MCI-PHX-TUS
[spend the weekend-this was the days of weekend fares]
TUS-PHX-MCI-ATL-MIA-PHL-EWR.
I think the fare was like $149 roundtrip………
I guess the other question would be – what do you tell the customs people when you get there.
It’s pretty uncommon for someone on a pleasure trip to take a 24 hour flight (the cross-pacific part, each way) so they can spend a few hours shopping.
- Steve
hi, joe, i can answer that…typically, for a mileage run to be considered a ‘good’ run, you want to end up under .04 a mile. in this case, using elite qualifying miles as a rule, i ended up spending about .025 cents a mile, which would constitute a VERY good run.
the systemwide upgrades i talk about are selling for about $400 to $600+ on ebay (it’s not legal to sell them per the united rules, actually, and i don’t) and i will get another six for making 1k again in 2009…i spent less money on this flight than i would buying two-three of these upgrades on ebay. it was well worth it.
Obviously Karen has her head in her rear if she thinks having children is the biggest contributer to the “carbon footprint”. I don’t deny her desire to do mileage runs as I do them also but for crips sake, don’t give a load of BS justifying your action by using inaccurate facts. Pull your head out Karen.
Karen DID earn 40,000+ EQMs AND 40,000+ RDMs. Nice surprise to see this piece about you, Karen!
and why the total fare price is still a mystery? it should have been included in the article. why keeping it a secret?
Double EQM promos should be noted then when stating the total earn. This is exactly why we mileage runners break everything down to CPMs (cents per mile) as opposed to total miles earned. The author makes this trip sound like 2.5 SIN turns could earn 1K, while this simply isn’t true without the DEQM promo UA just ran.
In regards to customs – some countries like Canada are a pain to transit in this regard, and mileage runners tend to avoid them. The US can also be difficult for non-US citizens. In general, however, customs officers could care less – Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, EU countries, Japan, S Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, etc; all have been very welcoming to me. There’s a story I recall about a few mileage runners that, when asked, told the UK immigration officer they were there to drink beer for the night.
What I missed in the article was also what I miss about the farecompare site….how do you find the cheapest price per mile if you need to get mileage. Being a 1K is great but there are so few of them. What about those of us trying to keep the first level or egt to the second level. That cost per mile feature is what brought me and those I have recommended to farecompare’s site. I miss that info. Is it still there?
Yes, Chris, Karen did earn that many EQM because United has been running a double EQM promo. My gf is on MR to Singapore right now that will give her over 34,000 EQM to put her at 1K halfway through the year. While I don’t fly UA I value MRs to maintain my elite status on Northwest, where you only need 75K miles to reach top tier and virtually guarantee unlimited domestic first class upgrades (or bonus miles on the very rare occasions when you don’t get upgraded). UA 1Ks love the SWUs but UA doesn’t give upgrades to first class unless the flight is oversold. You rarely see a NW flight go off with empty seats in first class as all elites are eligible for complimentary upgrades, although the higher your tier the higher your priority. Rarely is first class sold out by paid customers so upgrades are a real perk for some of us.
I guess I’m still puzzled how these offers can help UAL meet it’s bottom line. The stock is down 80% and they are complaining about 1/2 billion in Q1 losses. This nonsense must be costing them something -no? I’d gladly trade in any flight for a fast train ride to some place I actually wanted to go.
What a dodo! To justify creating such a huge carbon footprint without any sense of conscience over what she is doing to the environment because she is (apparently) not raising a child is, as Dick said, a load of BS. Would she use the same argument for driving a Humvee or contributing to the 30 billion plastic water bottles that go to the landfill every year? That’s putting a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of little kids when it belongs squarely on the shoulders of the adults.
Karen……….. GET A LIFE !!
hey, steve, the answer to what you tell the customs people–the truth. if they ask you how long you’ve been gone, you tell them, if they ask you why you traveled you tell them ‘for the miles.’ i’ve gotten some strange looks, but it’s never caused any trouble–they’ve heard it all before at this point.
How can I get started on this. My spouse is working for a non-profit that pays his way within U.S. to possibly Sinapore, Saudi Arabia and he wants me to travel with him. For the long hauls – 1st / business class would be great. I use coninental a lot but their seats in bus. class to London kept me awake all night. query: what if you want to sleep in a pod on a different international airline – how do you get elite status for that?
Before commenting on the global warming implications of Karen’s actions, it would be necessary to determine whether those actions have resulted in a net increase in the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted by the airline industry. Is someone claiming that United has increased the overall number of miles that it travels based on something that Karen has done? Does United adjust its schedules based on her decisions to fly with them or not? I would suggest that her actions have no direct impact on carbon dioxide emissions, but a looser argument could be made that her actions combined with those of all other air travelers are responsible for the present airline industry schedules and therefore for the net greenhouse emissions of the industry. That doesn’t leave much room for personal responsibility on her part with regard to those carbon emissions. The actual climate change implications of whatever quantity of emissions that could loosely be attributed to her is a whole other issue that would need to be compared to the benefits she and others derive from her air travel. Happy landings.
I truly don’t understand all the effort and expense just to be “treated better” than other passengers on the same flight. I fly for my business, and I pay for all the expenses myself. I fly Southwest 95% of the time, if not more. All I need to do to make sure I get the seat on the plane that I want is to check-in 24 hours before my flight. This is so simple to remember with all the calendar programs that are included in all the e-mail programs and cell phones available. Once on the plane, Southwest doesn’t discriminate its service base on how much you paid for your fare. They are fine from gate to gate. Plus, I use the free tickets I earn to take the family (so called “carbon footprint”) on a vacation. What could be better than that!
Singapore seems a little nuts.But I understand. I’m in Detroit, so all of my work travel is through Northwest, and as Jim above noted, the difference between serfdom and nobility in Northwest’s Worldperks Elite would make a medieval noble envy.I know several people who’ve taken last-minute roundtrips to Phoenix to seal the deal. Another time, needing just a few inches to get over the line, my father took a one-way a.m. from DTW to Flint; my poor brother got the honor of dropping him off in Romulus, then turning tail for Flint for the pickup.Two years ago I came into December about 4,000 miles short of Northwest’s Silver (lowest) Elite level. I wasn’t going to bother, but then a last-minute work flight came up early in the month and I found myself on Christmas Eve just 1,200 short. That’s when I got an e-mail from a girl-friend suggesting I come down to Florida (she also said “…and get jiggy” which apparently means “come hang with me and my mom”). I booked a flight on 12/24 for a 12/25 flight, with a 12/31 return. And on New Years Eve, somewhere over Ohio at 9:05 p.m., I was a made man.
Karen, I am Sorry for the way you feel about the issue of children in America. I have no idea how you came to such a conclusion except maybe what has happened to you personally or others you know or by what you see in the news every day. All I know is that for me there is nothing in life more fulfilling than to have been blessed with the most wonderful family and in America. What I have come to realize is that whatever you sacrifice for the most or serve the most is what you Love the most. Same with your Love for others or things. The reason why you Love people to the degree that you do is because you notice or feel their sacrifice and how much they do for you. Thus your feelings for your miles in the sky. You sacrifice for this and thus it has become important to you. The way you feel about your husband is due to how much he does for you and you for him. All I am saying is that there is nothing in this world that can replace or is stronger than the bond of a mother and child. Even in America. Some day you will regret what you have said when your Love for things runs out and no strong bond is there to see you thru when you are old and gray. Families are the best and most meaningful substance around. Without my lovely wife and children and grandchildren, life is merely like your trips for miles mostly empty with little in return. I hope you come to see what I mean before it is to late. Rob
Karen was gracious enough to share an interesting story with us and that is what this is “an interesting story” nothing more — nothing less — My comment posting policy is very open but I am not releasing a couple of comments I feel are out of bounds.
Wow, thanks Rick for censoring. I guess “Get A Life”, “What a Dodo”, a “load of BS” and “pull your head out of you rear” are OK, but me making a legitmate arguement is “out of bounds”.
Karen is correct that the biggest thing most of us can do to limit our carbon footprint is to limit the size of our families. My grandfather was born 95 years ago. At that time there were more humans on the face of the earth than at any other time in the history of our planet. However, there are nearly 4 times as many people today! Chances are we wouldn’t be worried about climate change if we had mantained the world’s population at the levels when my grandfather was born.
Hopefully, we will stabilize our population growth and get climate change under control. Limiting the size of ones family will greatly help. However, that’s still no excuse for burning huge amounts of fossil fuels needlessly, in my opinion.
Rusty, feel free to rephrase your argument — I thought it crossed the line whilst the others had some tongue in cheek aspect with their comments — In this history of this blog I have only censored 2 of over 10,000 comments so I have a pretty thick skin …
QUESTION!
I understand doing these mileage runs to maintain elite status, but why actually get on the plane????
I mean…can’t you just buy the tickets and stay at home? You get the miles for buying the tickets, not actually making the trip, right?
Dan,
Anyone who would heed your call to stop having babies is probably someone who is a productive, generous, positive-influence type person who is probably giving more than they are taking–you know, the type of person this world needs more of. Meanwhile, the type of people who are not reading your plea for population reduction are multipying like rabbits and are generally taking more than they are giving. Therefore, to help counterbalance the decline in the quality of life in this world, I would encourage the people reading this article to get out there and start reproducing rapidly and repeatedly before we get overrun completely.
Please, keep the articles at a level us “common folk” can use. We can’t afford to be running all over the world just for “fun”.
Jerry
Rick,
I enjoy your site, find it quite educational. I had no idea that people such as mileage runners existed but I’m not surpised. I have lived, loved and cried in three Continents – about 20 years in each – Australia, Africa and the Americas. I have both raised a child (the best and most difficult experience of my life) and taken to the skys many times (the second best). What I find interesting about the comments are the HUGE assumptions some have made about of Karen who was willing to share. What I find repulsive are the comments of Dick, Jerry and especially Rob who sounds selfrighteous and judgemental and who cannot make room for someone different from themselves. Rather sit next to Karen on any flight. Bryan
Josh,
No, you only get the miles if your butt’s in the seat.
Several short comments:
YOU NEED TO ACTUALLY FLY TO RECEIVE THE FF MILES. Occassionally I need a oneway, but the roundtrip is cheaper. I buy the round trip, but abandon the last leg. I don’t get the miles – I’ve checked. CARBON FOOTPRINT? To all who are challenging that, I think you’re a little to “green.” The plane was going whether or not she was on it. SOUTHWEST: We don’t all have access to SW Air. It does make a difference to be Elite on other airlines. I’ve done a small amount of “running” at year end if I can get to the next level by spending up to $500. CHILDREN AND CARBON FOOTPRINT: I’m very disappointed to see reference to that. Children are a very, very special blessing, and we are created to multiply. We’re getting on a very dangerous slippery slope if we entertain a decision to have or not to have based on an arbitraty Carbon Footprint equation.
What the knee-jerk “someone is attacking children” crowd fails to recognize is the issue is not having or not having an American child. The issue is that those children grow up to be American adult consumers and they, in turn, produce other American consumers. The unpopular FACT is that Americans are, BY FAR the largest polluters on the planet with only a measly 5% of the world’s population. They consume multiples more oil, clean air, clean water, plastic, paper and CARBON EMISSIONS than anyone else on the planet. You can have as many kids as you like and drive hybrids and recycle aluminum cans until you are blue in the face. However, THE ONE SINGLE THING YOU CAN DO AS A SENTIENT AMERICAN ADULT TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS AND GLOBAL POLLUTION IS TO HAVE LESS CHILDREN. Frankly Karen is to be applauded by pointing out this obvious, but unpopular fact.
Karen and her mileage eaters may not be crazy, but she certainly is a self-indulgent, obsessive-compulsive with no life outside of an airport or airplane. Is it any surprise that she is not capable of having any concerns about carbon footprints or taking up a lot of airspace that others could use far more productively?
Next time I get bumped or cannot get a seat on an overbooked flight, I will think about these mileage louts that no doubt leave me and many others is dire straits.
Thanks Karen. You’re making a real contribution to human society!
William, you poor baby, BOOHOO. In reality I wouldn’t be surprised if her REAL contibution was significantly greater than yours.
I found the article interesting and in good spirits, but wow … the comments! I don’t understand why they turn so vicious. Let someone do what they enjoy. I also like the idea of planning a trip like this (yes, they require planning) and then all the time at airports and on the planes. No different than people who enjoy being on a train, or driving a car for the joy of driving.
I thought this was about Frequent flyers and getting more miles…. Sounds more like a Jerry Springer website !
Carbon Footprint…Give me a break ! Did this poor woman charter this plane to get these miles ?
I gather from reading this that a runner must concentrate on just one airline, correct? How about airlines that partner with others? Is is practical to mix and match various trips on different airlines to get to the goal of elite (or whatever they call it) status, free flights and upgrades?
Very nice article, and good job Karen! Great insight into what some of us do.:)
Josh-
Yeah, you can do that. There are three major airline alliances in the world: Skyteam, Star Alliance, and Oneworld. What you first need to do is choose an alliance and then join a program within that alliance. (For example, Northwest is part of Skyteam) Then, you can fly any of the airlines within that alliance and credit miles to your main carrier’s frequent flyer account. (Note that you’ll want to read the program’s rules since mileage earning rules vary). Status on one airline translates into equivalent status across the alliance. That’s pretty much it; good luck!
First off: Rick, thank you for entertaining this topic on your site. It is very informative and I would HIGHLY encourage you to continue this even more. Something in the area of posting airline specific great mileage runs and strategies would be great. AA anyone? If you have already done this point me in the right direction, please. Overall, very useful website, I have been a fan for the past few years as it keeps getting better.
Second: THANK YOU KAREN for sharing your experience! When you posted more details in your comments in post #7 of June 4, that really helped so we could do some comparisons of our own. I for one appreciated ALL of your comments and respect your honesty and your viewpoints.
Thirdly, for all of you JUDGING Karen, STOP IT! You are all acting as if you are somehow better than Karen and yet her statement was factually accurate and intellectually compelling. It took me only about 2 seconds to do the mental math on her statement and conclude that she has a point.
If YOUR OPINION differs, be respectful. Based on the tone of some of the posts, Rick did the right thing to block any more inflammatory and judgmental postings.
We can ALL BENEFIT when we share our experiences and the data around them. Thanks for a great community!
Having quickly identified “Karen” as a person that I know and respect, I also share her joys of the hobby.
Yes, I think it is somewhat off to spend only 6 hours in Singapore but I know numerous people who do this and understand the motivation. When I fly to Singapore, I use the trip as a vacation which does not fit the true definition of Mileage Running. This year, I spent 6 hours in Ft. Lauderdale on a MR from the U.S. West Coast in order to earn top level status on NW. During my trip across the country I enjoyed a comfortable seat in the forward cabin, got a meal on 2 of the 4 flights and met 2 other individuals taking advantage of a very attractive fare to fill seats that would have otherwise been empty and not earning any revenue for the airline. All this at a cost of less than $.02 per mile on a fare of $239.00.
What Karen and those of us in the community do is a hobby. Yes, it is a community and there is a strong social aspect to it both in the air and on the ground. Some people collect memorabilia. some a Nascar nuts. Some enjoy cooking. Some are boaters. So what is so bad about a hobby that allows us to see the world, often in relative comfort and often at a very competitive cost?
Could someone just answer one simple question- WHAT DID IT COST HER?
MR sound interesting, and I could understand the perks and all, but for someone who is still on a budget in this shaky US economy- it’d also be nice to know in REAL dollars and cents what this endeavor cost her.