Miles Run, what it is and why it is part of the reward travel game

There is a saying among frequent flyers that indicates tickets purchased for the sole purpose of gaining status in a particular loyalty program as easily as possible: "Miles run." And paradoxically, running is the exact opposite of what should be done.

What is the Miles Run

As we have repeatedly explained, each loyalty program has its own rules, both for obtaining/renewing status and for accumulating points/miles to be turned into award tickets. The Miles Run is a strategy to identify those combinations of flights that can allow you to accumulate the highest number of points to achieve the desired elite level.

When you do a miles run, you are not traveling to visit a place or visit a friend, but just to collect as many points as possible. If you also get to have a beer with friends and family, all the better.

Miles run for status

The reason frequent flyers seek status is a well-known fact-when you have an elite level in a loyalty program you get benefits. The higher the level, the more important these benefits are and can make a difference whenever you take a plane.

Having Gold status with Virgin Airlines allows you to be able to enter In the beautiful London lounge. Having Gold status with Air France opens the door to being able to book a ticket in Premiere class, the first class, using points in the Flying Blue program and save tens of thousands of euros.

Having lo an elevated status with Finnair gives class upgrades on both European and intercontinental flights; with British Airways, in addition to lounge access, you save hundreds when choosing your seat on board. Examples abound.

The miles run for the miles

Then there is a second type of miles run, one made to accumulate the highest possible number of points or miles to be turned into an award ticket. In fact, sometimes it is possible to accumulate a significant number of miles even by taking very cheap flights.

How a Miles Run works

Loyalty programs are designed to reward loyal travelers, those who take more flights and thus spend more money with the company. Miles run takes advantage of this concept, however, by trying to maximize it in as few trips as possible, where by trips are meant tickets not flights.

Indeed, the crux of miles runs is precisely to get from point A to point B via the longest route, making as many stopovers as possible and wisely trying to choose where to stopover.

Some examples of miles run

In the old Alitalia, in order to obtain Winged Arrow status, one had to accumulate 50 flights or 50,000 miles qualifiers. To get qualifying miles one had to fly quite a lot and in very inexpensive classes, in contrast it was possible to get the status by making 50 flights, even in hyperscale fares. Fifty flights might seem like an enormity, but if you think about domestic flights with a stopover in Rome Fiumicino, it was possible to get the Winged Arrow level with "only" 12 a/r tickets plus one.

In the European airline landscape, the most sought-after status miles run are those of British Airways and Air France/KLM, the reason being that both loyalty programs use a similar concept for status attainment. Each flight BA allows you to earn a fixed number of Tier points, as is the case for AF/KLM whose points are called XP. Depending on the class of ticket and distance flown, you earn with BA from 4 to 240 points per flight, while with the Franco-Dutch duo you get from 2 to 60 points per segment flown.

For example, an Italian passenger who decides to vacation in Hawaii with British Airways could leave from Milan, or any Italian airport (except Catania), and fly via London to Los Angeles and from there take a connection to Honolulu.

With an economy ticket the 3 flights would accumulate, depending on whether the tariff is discounted or not, 90 to 320 Tier points. The same route with an extra stop, for example in New York, would bring the gain between 40 and 140 more points, enough to become Silver in BA's loyalty program and have access to lounges, as well as free choice of seat on board.

As can be seen in the table above, the London/New York route alone earns a fixed number of Executive Points, regardless of the level held. Conversely, the number of Avios points earned varies depending on the level of membership.

Catania/London route is the longest route operated by British Airways in Italy and is the only one that allows you to earn 20 to 140 points each way, instead of 5 to 40 as is the case for all other BA connections from London to Italy. This means that if you have to choose between Palermo or Catania, it is much better to choose the second airport because for a handful of miles you will earn many more Tier points.

My miles run with British Airways

The month of March I am planning my run for British Airways status, and the goal is to accumulate enough points to achieve Gold level in the Executive Club.

Thanks to an ultra-discounted rate, I was able to disconnect a paid ticket that will allow me to accumulate 920 Tier points and 35,143 avios, all for just over €1,300. Thanks to this flight I will get Gold status until October 2024, and until then I will have access to First lounges in London and in all lounges of BA and OneWorld airlines, even traveling in economy, in addition to all the other benefits provided by the status.

In conclusion

Does a miles run make sense? The answer is it depends. If you travel often with an airline and do so in economy, having status can give you many benefits to make each and every trip less stressful. Passengers with status are the ones less likely to be left stranded due to overbooking, the ability to take advantage of lounges saves money at the airport, and fast track to have fewer lines at security checkpoints. All important little benefits that can be worth a miles run every year. Conversely, if you do not fly frequently. makes no sense, just as it makes no sense to chase the status, better to focus On the cheapest ticket in the best cabin possible with the fastest flight available.