If you need a quick 5,000 elite qualifying miles on American, Delta or United this year for your 2012 status, there are some reasonable fares out there right now for travel 12/1 – 12/3/2011. The all-in fares range from $219.40 to $240.80 depending on your routing and are available from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Hartford and Providence. In the San Francisco and Boston markets, United also has availability at the $219.40 fare from 12/12 to 12/15/2011.
I’m certain these will be the last “cheap†fares of the year and probably won’t last long, but they’re ideal for anyone who miscalculated or still needs those EQMs for 2012 status. They come in around 4.2 to 4.5 cents-per-mile, only require one-day advance purchase and I see several options on each day for simple turns.
For example, from Los Angeles I see:
Get ‘em while you can!
I’m sending a family member on DEN-EWR-FRA-DUB-FRA-EWR-DEN to get enough miles so they make Plat in the new M+. About 4cpm..
Nice one!
Would love to do your DEN run… what are your dates and what $$ did you pay?
Dan, sorry for the delay in getting your comment approved (I’m overseas), hopefully FriendlySkies will reply.
As an MSP captive, I can’t help but be jealous of what’s routinely available elsewhere in terms of mileage runs.
Those of us on the coasts certainly win out. It’s virtually impossible mid-con unless you go international.
You wouldn’t happen to see any originating in Europe right?
I actually have never looked at runs originating in Europe… sorry! Will keep that in mind for future posts.
darren-love the site, great work! i have a question. im on schedule to make 1k this year on the very last day of the year. what does that mean for me in 2012? do my 6 SWUs expire on the 31st? will i get any meaningful benefits out of this? thanks-
Hi Mike, sorry for the delay in responding (I’m overseas at the moment). Thanks for your kind words! If you hit 100,000 on 12/31, your SWUs will post in a few days, but likely carry an expiration of 12/31/12. I crossed the mark in October this year, my SWUs didn’t show up until November, but they have an expiration of 10/31/12 since October is the month I actually crossed the mark.
If you haven’t been 1K before, you’re going to enjoy it. 100% RDM bonus, second-highest upgrade priority after GS, 1K desk, regional upgrades in 2012 after flying 75K, etc. Here’s the United link with all the details.
I wish i could jump on one of these but i have a dentist appointment i cant cancel on the 3rd 🙁
@Dan Riley: Sorry for my delay in responding! I’ve been in North Carolina for the last week..
For the DEN-DUB run, I had to book it as two seperate PNRs. One for DEN-EWR r/t, and then one for EWR-DUB r/t.
Doing it the first weekend of December, so Friday evening departure from EWR, and returning to EWR Sunday afternoon. I used an e-cert for DEN-EWR, so the total cost was $120.
Searching for EWR-DUB, I selected a Friday departure, and a Saturday return.. We get to overnight in FRA on Saturday, and then continue back on Sunday.. Anyway, a 12/2 departure, 12/3 return comes back as $432 with stops (intra-EU flight on LH or BD). Total for the TATL was $577.
Hope this helps!
ETA: My first post was a bit off.. CPM closer to 5, but still a good deal for her to earn Plat before 12/31..