Lookout Tampa .

By limits, I mean BALANCING the quest for miles with practical planning. This means no red-eyes (which I abhor, and simply won’t fly anymore, even for business). Very few immediate turns. Creative routing yes, insane sqeeze-every-possible mile gyratons, no. I’d rather leave “some” miles on the table and smell the MR roses, rather than trample the flowers in an mad quest for numbers.

As for small goals, I mean, enjoy SOMETHING at the other end, before turning around and heading home. Even an quick overnight to a place like Vegas can be very enjoyable. Hit a new restaurant in L.A., see an exhibit in NYC, do Comic-Con in San Diego for two hours. You get the idea. Something that allows you to be a part of the fabric and pulse o the destination city, if only for a few short hours.

I just booked a six-segment, IAD-SAN-LAX-SBA-SFO-ORD-DCA MR w/ a $200 off e-cert. Looking forward to seeing some new west coast airports!

Another thing, why don’t you like to do international MRs, all my recent MRs have been international, and i think they’re usually a lot more fun. And with UA’s little YQ thing, they’re usually very profitable.

For non-p.s. runs I find it VERY hard to sleep in domestic F seats, and even worse in E+. I won’t even talk about E-.

So my patterns are changing. I will make sure to get a nights sleep at a hyatt place or summerfield suites in between flights, and I will NOT do back to back transcons anymore. If there is some kind of promo then this all goes temporarily out the window. During september next year I get double RDM through the elite choice award I chose this year. I plan to use two of my vacation weeks and all my weekends and squeeze in as many miles as possible – maybe 150,000 – 200,000 BIS during that month. It will be gruelling but worth it. The rest of the year will just be working on my platinum status with CO and hopefully a DEQM promo will be available to make that easier.

I still enjoy all of this though – even the gruelling parts. It’s like a challenge. Some people climb mountains and encounter tough parts during the climb, but when they get to the top it’s all worth it. Many people might say climbing a mountain is pointless in the same way others see flying for fun as pointless. Its my hobby, and I really do enjoy the experience. I like watching the country roll by out the window, listening to channel 9, people watching in the airports, visiting a friend for a meal that’s 3,000 miles away, and “working” the promos. I often enjoy good service on the flights, and sometimes I enjoy how comically bad the service is.

Yes, Lucky it does get gruelling sometimes, but gruelling a little bit is part of the fun.

And on a more macro level, the airline/hotel/travel industry is kind of my obsession, so the hobby of mileage running keeps me ever so slightly closer to it….

@Gary, I’m with you on more MRing during promos. I’m an AA guy, so PLT+NY Double Miles+DBLEQ is my motivator this time around.

My rules are to stick to non-redeye, p.s. or 3-class metal as much as possible, even it it means a little extra $$$ or a few less EQMs. My runs aren’t as “lucrative” as yours, but they’re certainly not as grueling. : )