MR's - Who stumps the gorrillas?
Page 2.
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Digital Luggage Scales
A plane flying from Libya to Sudan has been hijacked
All of my travel is self funded, as I do not have an employer. My Finance Controller is happy for me to do this, as it is considered to be quite therapeutic and keeps me in a good humour.
I travel well over 100,000 miles every year (have done for the last 15 years or so), mainly internationally, and often in Business class (many complimentary upgrades), using mainly *A carriers.
I use *A because of the status I have built up (lifetime gold) which means various additional perks such as lounge entry, preferred seating and double miles, not to mention free upgrades, etc, etc. Changing to OW is not really an option.
On average, I think I spend less than $10,000 a year on my pastime, and enjoy it immensely, although as previous posters have mentioned, there are downsides (eg debilitating illnesses lasting for months and months) which you just have to accept as one of the prices you will pay.
For 2008, I have already booked and paid for 90,000 miles of travel, and have been upgraded on all 8 trans-Pacific flights. I will probably fly a further 25,000-60,000 paid miles this year, but who knows what might turn up?
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All my travel is self funded and I am able to maintain QF Platinum with a spend of <$8000/year. I try to get to Thailand 3 times a year and purchase airline tickets from SE Asia which saves a considerable amount of money for the same travel booked from Australia. I also do some domestic travel mainly to get to destinations I have not visited in the past like the Queensland Mining Towns Tour end of this month.
Recently I discovered the joys of Frequent Guest programs and now I try to stay in Holiday Inns or Hiltons without paying a great deal more than staying in 3-4 star hotel. I have managed to achieve top status in Priority Club and mid tier status with Hilton. With status also comes the occassional benefit.
Currently unemployed, and relaxed, so 2008 may see a decline in my travel patterns.
There was a recent fare that I picked up for Chicago-Vancouver-Toronto-Santiago-Buneos Airies-Santiago-Mexico for USD$490 and it's in United First Class, Air Canada Business Class and LAN Business Class that will give me a night in South America before heading back to Mexico.
Hi littl_flier,
How do you get a CHI-YVR-YYZ-SCL-EZE-MEX ticket in F/C for USD490?
I'd gladly pay 3 times that and think I was getting a bargain.
Member of: QFF Platinum, Hyatt Diamond,SPG Plat, HHonors Gold
Posts: 877
Re: MR's - Who stumps the gorrillas?
90% of my travel is for business, and the other 10% is (usually) paid for with QFF points earned during the aforementioned 90%. Well, not personal domestic travel, but international.
I've never made a mileage or status run per se (i.e. flying simply for the sake of flying), but on work trips I have used creative routing and YUP fares (which cost the same as the full-Y fares we'd been booked on) to earn some extra SCs. Managed to make Partner Gold this way on a recent US business trip.
After my experiences doing this, I don't think I could ever do a YUP run simply for the sake of earning SCs. Simply too unpredictable, ESPECIALLY in Winter.
As an example:
Trip 1: A planned YYZ-ORD-DFW-MEM in A (120 SCs)
Turned out to be YYZ-ORD-MEM in Y (40 SCs) due to unavailability of ORD-DFW that day.
...but then turned out to be YYZ-BOS-DFW-MEM in a mix of Y and A, which ended up being the planned 120 SCs anyway.
Trip 2: A planned MCI-DFW-LAX in A (180 SCs)
Became MCI-LAX on Midwest airlines in Y (no SCs)
...but then became MCI-DFW-LAX (for 3 of us) and MCI-DFW-BUR (for the other 2) in A (back to 180 SCs), albeit the next day.
So it all worked out for us in the end, but was pretty stressful at the time (moreso not knowing if we'd be home in time for Christmas! ). I'd already made WP and was only going for PG, but a colleague was gunning for WP and needed every one of those SCs. Lucky.
I too am self funded.. and in my case a purely recreational traveller...
I made the decision early last year after some research that I was going to at least TRY to maximise the benefits. I had built up some points (Airbucks) with NZ - and I enjoy travelling with them - so that decision was easy.. stick with the *A.
Next came the planning to achieve something special with the travel I was going to do .... by tweaking those 2007 plans a little I was able to hit Gold late last year... and I already know that my 2008 travel WILL requalify me.... through the same careful planning....
The nature of the NZ program means that "First class segment runs" domestically in the US are of significant benefit - just as the YUP/KUP fares are for OW crediting apparently... add to that the fact that, like a previous poster, I also head to Asia to start my serious travel... and for the same reasons.
And I too got in on the ORD-MEX fare.... Using two spare days I had built in to one of my USA trips for the purposeof MRing I'm flying ORD-YVR-YYZ-GRU-EZE-MEX (USD $481) crediting all AC/AM flights to NZ.. not sure what to do with the one LAN segment miles....(If I'd waited an extra 5 minutes before "pulling the trigger" on that one I would have caught the tip on including OGG/HNL!!!!!!! .. but I probably didn't have the time needed to do that routing anyway... )
Arthur.. my understanding (?) is that the fare was available (briefly!) as we booked it because no mileage limit was put on it.... the fare is still available at that price - it seems to be a standard product - but you are now limited to ORD-YVR-YYZ-MEX I think... due to the imposition of this "MPM".... to be honest, depending on how the ORD-YYZ segments credit (F or C?) the first time I may be tempted to do it again as it now stands...
I love the benefits of spending a little more ( I have to admit I do but it is not a LOT more than straight/direct/non stop returns) after doing a LOT of planning... (enjoy the planning too!!).... the Lounge access is a good'un of course.. the extra baggage allowance is nice on the way home... the upgrades are sensational! I'm 3.5 for 4 on those so far... and that was as a base level or Silver.... be interesting to see how useful the Complementary UG certificates for Golds are... I get my first two this month....
As a result of knowledge/program status gained 2008 will see me try out (amongst other adventures) SQ's new C class for the first time - without breaking the bank...... REALLY looking forward to that! Not on the A380 unfortunately.... (Oh.. who really cares!!! )
3 and a half upgrades out of four?? Yup.... 2 by Y to C Trans Tasman, 1 by Y+ to C long haul... 1 by Y to Y+ long haul(having requested all the way to C... got halfway.. extra points refunded... that's the way it works on NZ - some folks like it, others would rather "all or nothing")
Last edited by trooper; 3rd January 2008 at 07:57 PM.
And I too got in on the ORD-MEX fare.... Using two spare days I had built in to one of my USA trips for the purposeof MRing I'm flying ORD-YVR-YYZ-GRU-EZE-MEX (USD $481) crediting all AC/AM flights to NZ.. not sure what to do with the one LAN segment miles....(If I'd waited an extra 5 minutes before "pulling the trigger" on that one I would have caught the tip on including OGG/HNL!!!!!!! .. but I probably didn't have the time needed to do that routing anyway... )
Arthur.. my understanding (?) is that the fare was available (briefly!) as we booked it because no mileage limit was put on it.... the fare is still available at that price - it seems to be a standard product - but you are now limited to ORD-YVR-YYZ-MEX I think... due to the imposition of this "MPM".... to be honest, depending on how the ORD-YYZ segments credit (F or C?) the first time I may be tempted to do it again as it now stands...
Thanks for the heads up on this fare, trooper. It might be worth considering even in its cut-down form. But there again, my MR's are really pretty straightforward and tame (although I once did CMB-MLE-DXB-BKK-LAX-JFK-BKK-CMB in C class).
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Good one! I haven't had the nerve........ of course when I started looking at this stuff CMB was not a recommended place to be...... it would appear things have improved there????
Thanks for the heads up on this fare, trooper. It might be worth considering even in its cut-down form. But there again, my MR's are really pretty straightforward and tame (although I once did CMB-MLE-DXB-BKK-LAX-JFK-BKK-CMB in C class).
Fortunately, mine will fit quite nicely into a long long weekend from Montreal (where I'll be based August to January) and gives a night in EZE and probably a couple of days in MEX. I had really wanted to visit South America so while it is a creative routing, it was better and much cheaper than the DONE5 if I had wanted to visit that way. Mileage wise, it will be pretty useless to me anyway. Only two sectors are on OW which will earn 180 SC's (useless as I'll be over Gold but not close enough to Platinum before FF year end) and I don't have a *A program so it'll be just to enjoy the product and enjoy the steak in EZE and Sangria in MEX.
As for CMB, you're a braver man than me. Let's hope the Tamil Tiger's don't learn how to use their nuclear weapons.....
Fortunately, mine will fit quite nicely into a long long weekend from Montreal (where I'll be based August to January) and gives a night in EZE and probably a couple of days in MEX. I had really wanted to visit South America so while it is a creative routing, it was better and much cheaper than the DONE5 if I had wanted to visit that way. Mileage wise, it will be pretty useless to me anyway. Only two sectors are on OW which will earn 180 SC's (useless as I'll be over Gold but not close enough to Platinum before FF year end) and I don't have a *A program so it'll be just to enjoy the product and enjoy the steak in EZE and Sangria in MEX.
As for CMB, you're a braver man than me. Let's hope the Tamil Tiger's don't learn how to use their nuclear weapons.....
Thanks for the extra info. You might as well join UA Mileage Plus (it's free) and credit your *A miles there. Once you're in Canada there will be many more opportunities to fly *A cheaply and you'll already be more than half way to Silver from your little MR.
Don't forget the tango in BA and the margaritas in Mexico City. I have previously spent some time in these cities while working for DFAT and they are certainly very interesting places. However, I'm not sure they are much safer than CMB (which I didn't have a problem with) for the average tourist, but taking the usual sensible precautions should see you through OK.
Thanks for the extra info. You might as well join UA Mileage Plus (it's free) and credit your *A miles there. Once you're in Canada there will be many more opportunities to fly *A cheaply and you'll already be more than half way to Silver from your little MR.
Thanks Arthur, I'm looking at UA but I'm leaning towards Miles and More for the better topup from AMEX to SPG to FF program if I need it. I have my eyes on a *A award to Bora Bora and spending a week in an over-water bure but that's another story.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arthur Hodgson
Don't forget the tango in BA and the margaritas in Mexico City. I have previously spent some time in these cities while working for DFAT and they are certainly very interesting places. However, I'm not sure they are much safer than CMB (which I didn't have a problem with) for the average tourist, but taking the usual sensible precautions should see you through OK.
That's not quite the thing I wanted to hear but I've told my Mum who was initally concerned to look at the Argentina smarttraveller website and avoided telling her about the Mexico one. Thanks for the advice Arthur, BA won't know what's them when they see my dancing though....
). I'd already made WP and was only going for PG, but a colleague was gunning for WP and needed every one of those SCs. Lucky.
)
Not on the A380 unfortunately.... (Oh.. who really cares!!!
)
Yup.... 2 by Y to C Trans Tasman, 1 by Y+ to C long haul... 1 by Y to Y+ long haul(having requested all the way to C... got halfway.. extra points refunded... that's the way it works on NZ - some folks like it, others would rather "all or nothing")
Let's hope the Tamil Tiger's don't learn how to use their nuclear weapons..... 
Thanks for the advice Arthur, BA won't know what's them when they see my dancing though.... 
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