Mileage run suggestions (ex LAX or LAS)

Hi all,

Has anyone done them? Any suggestions? I've read lots on FlyerTalk but as a novice find it a bit confusing.(specifically what fare class to book) Would appreciate any input. Cheers.

Oli

Hi all,

Has anyone done them? Any suggestions? I've read lots on FlyerTalk but as a novice find it a bit confusing.(specifically what fare class to book) Would appreciate any input. Cheers.

Oli

Hi and welcome - the first question, to be able to provide a viewpoint, is what are you doing a mileage run for, what's the goal?

Hi,

I'll be in US for about 10days and I was going to allocate 2 days to just pure flying to maximise the miles and Tier points available. I'm a bit of an airport code junky too! Hopefully that helps to clarify and thanks in advance for your assistance.

Oli

Are you going for Gold or Silver status in any particular frequent flyer programme? This is the normal object of a 'run'.

BA Silver or VS Silver. I'm currently BA Bronze and VS Silver but the run will be post my VS renewal date.

[Darren Wheeler]

I'd say you won't far in the US.

VX First is 2 TP's for under 2000 miles flown, 3 for over 2000.
Other partners are 1 TP under 2000 miles and 2 over 2000.

The traditional 'Gold Run' or Blockbuster was Business class to Singapore on SQ, then 1st class to Kuala Lumpur and back, before Upper home. This would bag you 24 TP's in one trip. Sadly SQ either got wise to it or as only a short flight decided it didn't need F any more and removed the cabin.

Sigh... deep breath... let's try again...

"any particular frequent flyer program"?

Or shall we just continue to guess?


EDIT... ok, I see you've added some more colour to your post... so ignore me here. Must admit, I'd certainly never thought of VS as having many mileage run options available given the limited routes...

If VS Ag or BA Ag is the option, I'd go for the latter, BA Ag gives you lounge access including across the One World network whereas VS Ag has limited benefit (PE check-in, extra miles for example) and no reciprocal alliance benefits ...

Now I see you're base in London, so if you are going for TPs for VS then depending on how many you need your primary options are European flights on flexible Y or J (where it still exists) on BMI, or usually the cheaper fares on VS are to JFK or say DXB.

I agree that I wouldn't bother with VS Silver. Very limited benfits except extra miles and PE check in.

I agree that I wouldn't bother with VS Silver. Very limited benfits except extra miles and PE check in.

Agree VS silver not worth spending money to purely achieve. No benefit except PE chk in, only worth it if you're in Y. Plus a handful of extra miles..
BA silver definetly as gives you lounge access. But if you fly j anyhow...? Why bother.

If VS Ag or BA Ag is the option, I'd go for the latter, BA Ag gives you lounge access including across the One World network whereas VS Ag has limited benefit (PE check-in, extra miles for example) and no reciprocal alliance benefits ...

Now I see you're base in London, so if you are going for TPs for VS then depending on how many you need your primary options are European flights on flexible Y or J (where it still exists) on BMI, or usually the cheaper fares on VS are to JFK or say DXB.

I agree with Slinky - given the choice of BA Ag, or VS Ag, then it would be BA hands down for the reasons stated above.

The only reason I would consider VS to be a viable alternative would be if you were planning on making enough trips to get AU, then it would be worthwhile pursuing. VS is rather limited in its benefits package for Ag, and IMO, even AU is a bit iffy for passengers who, for whatever reason, only travel in J.

BA does seem a more reasoned choice.

With regards to a AU run, I considered it a while ago when my renewal date was approaching and I needed a couple of TPs to trip me over the threshold. I worked out - not that accurately, and literally on the back of a napkin - that VX SFO/LAX First class return, for about $249.00 was the most cost effective method - but only up to about 4 TPs before it becomes pointless, and you may as well go J on VS somewhere

And the way to do this is to do some short hops on AA in Y, then try to buy up to first. You can get some nice tier point bonuses (the miles themselves are irrelevant if you're doing BA), and you can usually find flights quite easily which have upgrade inventory, which may trigger a "buy up to first" offer for not too much cash. LAX is an AA hub, so you should easily find short flights on mainline planes (obviously can't do it on American Eagle), like coming up here to the Bay Area, popping off to Phoenix, etc etc.

A short round trip in F would get you 120 TPs, IIRC, as a Bronze flier. Not too bad I suppose. Again, if you fly J anyway, I'm not sure I'd do this unless you really wanted to hit a particular destination, unless you only take a couple of trips a year over the pond and would like Silver to get lounge access on intra-Europe Y flights, say.