My basic approach to earning top tier status for cheap...

This works well if you're young, single and don't have the kind of job where you actually have to be at work most of the time.

The rest of us unfortunately can't drop everything for a mileage run.

Oh, and don't forget the cost of a visa to China - $140 plus agency and courier fees if you happen not to live in a city with a consulate and/or don't want to spend a whole day standing in line dealing with the visa. That significantly increases the total cost of your mileage run. (You can get 1 year visas for the same cost, but that helps only if you expect to do multiple trips to China.)

@ snic -- You mean not everyone makes multiple trips a year to China? :p

Wow, you are an animal. Cheap MR price, but at 6350 EQMs for a day and half SEA-MCO RT turn, times 16 to hit 100k, that's 24 days of your year (not even including the time to travel to/from the airport and getting there early to play security theater)!

@ steve -- Yes, though thanks to in-flight wifi it's not totally lost time. 😀

Hey Lucky - Sort of along these lines: my go-to card has been my Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard, which has been allowing me to earn Million Miler qualifying miles. When last I heard, that benefit will expire at the end of this year. If that happens, Citi will lose almost all of my business, and I will switch to a combo of Chase Sapphire Preferred/Starwood Amex/Amex Gold Premier Rewards. Is there any way to find out if CITI/American will extend that benefit?

@ Tom -- I haven't heard of it being extended, though if I do I'll be sure to post about it. Frankly it wouldn't surprise me to see it extended.

If you ditch U.S. carriers, you can qualify for *A Gold on, say, Asiana for $2,200 to $2,700 or less easily. (Cost varies depending on where you are in the U.S.) Just do a couple of NYC-SIN runs on UA metal (usually 20,000 miles a roundtrip in Y) and you are Gold for the next two years. If there is a deal on that route, it could be even cheaper.

@ Yichuan -- Good point, and there are lots of great benefits that come with it. It's just worth keeping in mind that typically upgrades are only reserved for members of the "native" frequent flyer program, and you often don't get the huge elite tier mileage bonuses when crediting to a partner airline.

@ lucky That's true. However, since I am on the west coast and use Asiana regularly, the elite benefits still pay off. Star Gold from Asiana can also use United Club when flying domestic routes, and I can credit any mile over the 40K *A biennial qualification requirement to UA so that I can use on redemption.

@ Yichuan -- And for that amount of travel, that's an unbeatable "return."

Great information and very timely for me. Thank you for this great info!

I have been wanting to start MR's and was trying to figure out the best way from my local airport (SMF-Sacramento). Now I know how to search for some great deals as I expand my leisure flyer knowledge. Would love to fly to NYC, then do the NYC-SIN run as Yichuan suggest. Have some nice meals, try out some nice hotels in the process and build up my hotel points as well. Once I earn high tier status, I'll use that for my trips to Switzerland and Japan to visit friends.

Loving this new hobby because of your blog! Looking forward to my first award flight on SQ in business class on the A380 to Japan next Spring because of your tip last July.

Keep up the good work! I'm wishing someone would start a MR blog for people that want to fly with others in their area that want to learn more and travel with others instead of flying alone. I think it would be very popular, but I haven't found anything like that yet. Might make the MR's more social and fun that way. Do you know of any communities like that anywhere on the internet?

@ John Elich -- Thanks for the kind words and happy to hear you're getting into the hobby! The "CommunityBuzz" section on FlyerTalk might be a good place to start. You can see if anyone else in your area might want to be your mileage run "buddy," and you can alert each other of great deals and fly together.

Hard for me, as moat of my flying is award with my CC bonuses. Spending $2-4k/yr for status seems noble but since i usually redeem bus or higher award, i get elite security, and on IC flights, lounge access. Even then if i wanted, going with the amex plat, i would get lounge access and $200 worth of award change fees for $450.

Going to the ord sems, it seemed that many of the people there were status flyers, while i was not. Being me being a newer miler, do you see a change in the game with cc signups and less status changing as frugal tg has mentioned also?

@steve: A lot of the time I spend on planes would be "wasted" (or maybe not) anyways. I'm going to spend ~21 full days on airplanes this year, but about half of that will be on redeyes. (...maybe a better night's sleep wouldn't be a waste.)

Lucky's SEA-MCO example, while brutal, occupies some time you would otherwise not be working (I hope).

Thanks you, Lucky. Glad you're enjoying the new digs. We Floridians miss claiming you as our own, though.

Thanks for the ITA Matrix tips! That's really useful information I didn't have before (new to the mileage world). Can I input multiple departure airports as well? I'm in DC so can fly out of DCA, IAD or BWI. Thanks!

OK, so everything above is US only, right? (or at least North America). afaik this is not even closely possible in Europe (Germany in my case).
I'm also very jealously looking at the benefits you guys on the other side of the Atlantic get, simply by using credit cards.

@ Tracy T. -- Absolutely, you can enter as many origins and destinations as you want. Just put a comma between them (or that may not even be necessary anymore), and it'll search all of them at once.

@ Till -- Yes, unfortunately it is, and I should have clarified that. Much tougher outside the US.

The higher your SC the better the redemption and free flight opportunities, beyond doubt! Partner is Gold and nothing ever available when they want it, me Plat+ almost every flight and class I want. They even bump people of planes for you but managed to change a meeting and could fly earlier so wanted to get on the same flight home as partner, on board I discovered they bumped the partner. It was a chilly few weeks after that.

SC on partner airlines if it's your programs codeshares are possible. Though individual airlines partnerships can over better deals i.e. new qantas/emirates, qantas will now pick me up and drop me of in a limo on my trips to Europe. Emirates is introducing a higher SC category to match the levels of Qantas. The possibilities of bumping a Sheik (especially an ex client)fills me with glee.

The Matrix site outside of the US seems to be outrageously over priced! Compared to travel agents and websites (i.e. webjet) I entered my known travels for May next year and it was 9,600 dearer and does not show all airlines? Mind you the had a fantastic status run from Mel-Bcn on Aerolingis Argentina (well that rules it out for me)the fare is 2,400AUD and here is the scary bit Non Stop and this would have to be via Sth America.

Interestingly enough...

I'm not going to re qualify for LH Senator this year, and a few days ago, I got a nice letter from LH, saying (paraphrased):

We noticed you haven't got a chance in hell to get up to 100.000 miles before your status expires, but if you want to pay us 2000 EUR, you can have it for another year...