MR's - Who stumps the gorrillas?

[thegurio]

Hi all, I've been fascinated and enthralled (and jealous) by the lengths that some of you will go to maintain your status's - or is that statii? It makes me appaled at myself for falling 600 points shy of silver last year...

What i'm itching to know is who pays? Is it a "business expense" or does it come out of your own pocket? How do you justify it(i really want to know this one as i own the company so all i have to justify it to is the Minister For Finances SWMBO Division)?

 

[simongr]

My mileage runs are built into fixed price tickets - DONE4/DAS13 so the only people who pay are the airlines. The additional time spent travelling is put onto the end/beginning of my journey and generally on my own time.

 

[Keith009]

My mileage runs are built into fixed price tickets - DONE4/DAS13 so the only people who pay are the airlines.

What he said.

For my Starwood mattress runs it's only a matter of swapping hotels every night or every few nights to build up stay count. So no additional expense there, in fact in KUL I actually saved money as the average rate of my stays at multiple hotels was lower than that of sticking to the same hotel the entire trip.

 

[Hawkeye]

My travel is a mixture - approximately half is point-to-point fares paid for by sponsors in J; the remainder is typically OneWorld Explorer and Circle Pacific fares that I pony up for myself.

Hotel stays that I gain credit for are all leisure stays paid for by me. Business-related stays for me are ineligible for credit.

I keep SWMBO happy by taking her along with me!

 

[Keith009]

What he said.

For my Starwood mattress runs it's only a matter of swapping hotels every night or every few nights to build up stay count. So no additional expense there, in fact in KUL I actually saved money as the average rate of my stays at multiple hotels was lower than that of sticking to the same hotel the entire trip.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I pay for my own trips as they're all leisure.

 

[Mal]

MRing is a bit of a hobby for me. Some is paid for by my employer (but not much), some is tax deductible for certain reasons etc, but both those combined would be less than 10% of my travel. This year it was probably 5%

Using creative skills to find cheap fares is fun, and I enjoy the lurks and perks of status with airlines/hotels etc.

I spend way too much on the hobby, but some people collect vintage cars, some people hire yachts or compete in yacht races or spend thousands on dirt bike rallying or dvd collections they never watch. I choose to travel, and for those people I just think they have a different view on life.

I have learnt lots by travelling and seen some unique (and too touristy) sites. Have had some bad moments, have had some good moments and some excellent moments.

Highlights like a rare upgrade to BA F (from a J award) was nice, so are the suites and executive lounges I've been in at certain hotels when I've paid a very low rate to start off with.

Airport lounges rate from poor to excellent, and places like the HKG Cathay Pacific F lounges and the Sydney/Melbourne Qantas F lounges are a very nice place to while away spare time before flying.

Bad moments include lost baggage, missed connections and lots of stress at various times from risky trips and suspicious customs officers. I've also become sick a few times from the travel I've done where I've picked up infections during my travel (colds, flus even chickenpox!). I also feel like I sometimes no longer appreciate holidays like I once did, and won't spend the preparation time I used to on a trip, and for some reason find flight after flight trips more interesting than direct (eg adding an additional 5000 miles (50%) and 2 sectors onto a UK trip by finding a way to go the wrong way around)

It's also the little things, for example with Qantas, I can't remember having a middle seat last year and about 80% of my domestic trips had a spare seat next to me (and were in rows 4-10). Being able to choose seats before I travel on Qantas Internationally also allows me to get my preferred seats (middle aisle).

There are people who don't agree with MRing here, and others who are concerned about the greenhouse footprint of the 'excess' travel. Similar to my comment above, very few people know my personal circumstances and they should not be throwing stones themselves.

The other thing to watch is that status is easily diluted by airlines/hotels etc, and there are so many 'elites' in the marketplace that getting some of the listed benefits are hard. Plus the constant battle to try and work out if a 45 min connection at some weird airport in the US is achievable or not or why you should change hotel after your first night!

PS - Virgin Blue Velocity (I assume that's the FF scheme you were referring to when you discussed 600 points?), is not an easy program to MR with. The non-flexible points system ensures that you pay fixed amounts for travel to get status within Australia. I am yet to analyse overseas flights, but there may also be some bonus partners that could assist with getting status (but once again, I've not researched it thoroughly)

 

[Homer]

What i'm itching to know is who pays? Is it a "business expense" or does it come out of your own pocket? How do you justify it(i really want to know this one as i own the company

I also own the company, thegurio, and have asked a similar question in this place myself.

In my case while I fly domestically in J regularly I usually use points to upgrade so until recently the SCs only allowed me to maintain SG for the last 4 or 5 years. In the last couple of years I started attending some conferences in the US and so managed a business-funded long haul a few times each year usually with a vacation tacked on to the end.

I only did my first DONE4 late last year. Before then it had seemed like a waste of time but I decided, after the inspirational stories on this forum, to take the plunge and try to make QF WP. That trip was a big success - I really enjoyed taking "the long way home" and experiencing J and F on a range of airlines.

To get back to your question about who pays, in my case at least, the cost of a DONE4 is about the same as (or even slightly less than) a regular direct J fare to the US or UK. So as far as the company is concerned, there is no issue with the cost of the airfare.

 

[serfty]

My answer is in post #29 of this thread: Work paying for F and J flights

In my role, I can travel on Industry fares if I desire.

I prefer the FF points, SC's and security of confirmed bookings; so I try to travel on paid point/SC earning fares. I must keep the costs down to do this so most travel I do is on discount WHY fares; even overseas. I do use upgrades a lot on the longer trips (Since the May '05 changes I am 100% on those Upgrades I have requested.)

... more than that, about 10% of my domestic and 50% of international travel is for leisure & self-funded.

I do try to optimise my SC earning/$ ratio as much as possible.

 

[littl_flier]

Since discovering AFF and FT earlier this year, I have become a little bit (okay maybe obsessed) of a FF enthusiast. I stuggled with the concept of making pointless flights like an immediate turnaround to the US or even Adelaide but this site (and mainly FT) has opened my mind to some amazing possibilites and the lurks and perks that come with status.

In the last 12 months, probably 50% of my flights were business, and 50% were leisure (on a sector basis) though none of my work travel is overseas. For the business flights, I travel on Full Economy fares so I have paid the upgrade to Business Class a couple of times and enjoyed the extra status credits. In this case, even though the additional cost was bourne by me, I was able to claim this as a tax deduction.

I generally travel with a team so it's quite hard to drag anyone else with me on longish routings but on a recent trip by myself, I took the long routing home and flew through Darwin and Sydney for 50% extra points and more status credits. The additional cost (~$300) is funded by my employer/the client but this is hardly noticed when thrown in with the overall fees etc and it saved a nights accomodation. The client used to book our airfares so it was quite hard but because of discounts, I was still able to get the longer routing under what the client used to pay for direct routings so they are still happy.

Mileage wise, probably 80% of my travel is leisure and self funded. Like Mal, I quite enjoy finding a long routing to get to my destination if it will maximise points. (egs include BNE-SYD-CBR instead of BNE-CBR and BNE-SYD-LAX instead of BNE-LAX) All of my international travel is leisure but because of my circumstances, I will be able to write off a fair portion of a DONE4 (though I'm unsure about 100% because of the MRing) this year.

There are also some great bargains to be had out there if you can get yourself to the US. Have a good look at the Mileage Run Forum on Flyertalk and see if any will work for you. 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. This is my worst MR by far but I will get to experience premium classes on several airlines. I'll also note that I can count the number times I've flown business class on one hand and none of these have been Internationally so it's a pretty exciting prospect. As Mal notes, it's arguably not the most sensible way of spending my money but it gives me the same satisfaction that my mates get from their trailbikes, surfboards and cars.

Thanks to FT and AFF, this year I'll be travelling on a DONE4 and will hopefully make AA Platinum and QF WP, something I never thought would happen at this stage of my life.

 

[Evan]

Company pays for my work trips and i have some flexability in routing provided its best far of the day (And since i can always find cheaper than my agent no worries) so a simple example for me booked by agent would be MEL-SIN-FRA train to STR, i would route MEL-SYD-HKG-LHR-STR for less money often and have some fun on the way.
All my work travel is economy.

For my personal travel its a mix of cheapest whY and some J product like DAS13 and my planned DONE4. I live most of the year in Singapore so i have some better specials at times to some locations and the trip home to MEL is much cheaper.

My current DAS13 (Business class circle pacific less than 13k miles) is SIN-PER-MEL-SYD-NRT-KIX-TPE-HKG-SIN, total cost less than $5k AUD (Could have been cheaper but booked via QF in SIN since it was somewhat last minute, eg i imagine starting in Japan and ticketing via AA would cost somewhat less)

My flights are nearly all OneWorld as i have status and prior to that used to be Qantas Club Life. Some other airlines also like SQ/LH but not as often.

Evan

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

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?

 

[JohnK]

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.

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

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.

 

[Febs]

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! :shock. 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.

YMMV, but that's my experience with AA's YUP's.

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[trooper]

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 purpose of 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!!!:mrgreen: )

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")

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

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 purpose of 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).

 

[trooper]

The man has done an ex-CMB run!!!:mrgreen:

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????

 

[littl_flier]

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).

As trooper mentioned, it was a mistake fare that one of the readers on Flyertalk posted about. You can follow the thread (though extremely long) here: EWR-YYZ-SCL-EZE-MEX OW in C class at $673 ?? on AC - FlyerTalk Forums. An example of a current one is: good (but not great) J class fare SYD-YVR-YYZ-EZE (AC), 3042 CAD ow - FlyerTalk Forums

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..... :shock:

 

[Arthur Hodgson]

As trooper mentioned, it was a mistake fare that one of the readers on Flyertalk posted about. You can follow the thread (though extremely long) here: EWR-YYZ-SCL-EZE-MEX OW in C class at $673 ?? on AC - FlyerTalk Forums. An example of a current one is: good (but not great) J class fare SYD-YVR-YYZ-EZE (AC), 3042 CAD ow - FlyerTalk Forums

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..... :shock:

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.

Have a great trip.

 

[littl_flier]

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.

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.... :-|