He leaves for Hawaii on the 17th and returns on the 19th
By adamg - 5/14/09 - 2:54 pm
Hero to the Masses tries to explain why it makes perfect sense to fly to Honolulu, stay overnight and then fly right back to Boston:
... Sunday morning I will be doing what's known in the biz as a Mileage Run. Basically, the gist is you find a flight that gives you the maximum amount of miles for the least amount of money. It works even better if you can transfer to and from airports that are out of the way to boost the miles while keeping the price the same. ...
He does allow as how some people might find him clinically insane.
Comments
Yes, that's bad
Yes, that's bad.
I took a round trip flight to Hyannis once, for exactly the same reason.
Thing is, as a result, I EARNED a trip to Hawaii, I didn't have to fly there, first.
UGH!
Insane.
I love planes and airports as well, but good lord.
I've flown to Honolulu from Boston, and I was ready to not fly again for 2 weeks. Especially the flight back where it's a 10+ hour flight with 5-6 hours of daylight savings adjustment (took off around 6 PM Honolulu time, landed the next day at 3 PM Boston time). Terrible.
Would jet lag affect him?
Since he'll barely be in Honolulu long enough to get a lei on his neck, let alone adjust to the local time?
True
I'd probably be more worried about whiplash.
So he is flying all those
So he is flying all those miles just to be able to book future trips with extra leg room? What about all the time he is going to spend on this one trip? I do not fully understand, it seems like the run is for a longer distance then he is going to actually travel for the year. He is LOSING aggregate comfort not gaining it.
On a side note, wouldn't it be a lucrative business for the airlines to accept cash in lou of travel to gain the points. That is you just pay cash for the ticket but not actually use the flight in order to bulk up your rewards points? Make it for a few bucks less then the real ticket, and heck maybe they could even double or triple book the tickets and make money off of this enterprise.
Buying Points
Some airlines (Virgin Atlantic for example), does allow you to buy miles so that you can get to a free flight.
I think even just one night in Hawaii is worth it
Really.
flying plague pits!
enjoy your swine flu, buddy!
vicarious exhaustion
I hope he is much younger and has more bounce-back-ability than yours truly.
I've done the Boston to Hawaii thing many times because I have family there, and the trip absolutely wipes me out. It's okay on the outbound. You land in Hawaii and cannot believe you're in paradise.
But the inbound return is just hellacious. I usually have to take a red eye, and landing in LA or Dallas or Chicago in the early a.m. is a killer, with another leg to go. Once home, it's the gift that keeps on giving. I'm zoned for at least a week.
I know I know
I know. It sounds insane. I might have deep regrets on that red-eye from SFO to Boston on Monday night. Rest assured, I'll be running up and down the aisles to prevent deep vein thrombosis.
my two cents (or less)
1. Stay hydrated.
2. Take your Emergen-C or Airborne (yeah, yeah, I know there's controversy over their effectiveness...)
3. Don't eat a big meal right before you leave. (Nothin' like that gas-bloated feeling for hours on end...)
4. Those long flights can be a rare opportunity to become truly immersed in a good book!
5. Unrelated to the list, but, does anyone else find the DFW airport absolutely loathsome? (I feel almost the same way about O'Hare, so maybe I'm just tired of flying...)
DFW loathsome. Check.
How many times have you done the full loop looking for someplace you can bear to eat or have a drink, and then realized that the walking back and forth part is really the best thing going? They've somehow managed to have the worst of everything there. It's a mix of big airport noise with small-airport quality, crappy fast food right next to the busy, poorly laid-out concourse. Yes, I dislike DFW greatly.
I dislike ORD mostly because it's diseased with delays. But it's a slightly more pleasant place to hang out than DFW.
MIA, on the other hand... two words: La Carreta.
Plus it's huge
And I think they purposely have the arriving flights nowhere near the departing flights on the same airline, because we all know it's fun to sprint through an airport and run down the Jetway™ yelling "WAAAAIIT!"
Not that bad
I fly through DFW frequently and I'd rather connect through DFW than most other large hub airports. Since they put the new trains in you're never more than a couple of gates away from your connection and unless you arrive late in the evening you're never more than a few meters from the baggage claim and a taxi. But the food options do suck. I can't argue with that.
I'm with you on MIA
After one round trip to MIA, I would rather go to Ft Lauderdale and take a bus than ever use that airport again. Yeesh.
Some confusion
"La Carreta" are two really, really yummy words.
I have only ever been to MIA en route to somewhere else, between two relatively long flights. Perhaps airports look different to the through traveler. To the through traveler as voracious as myself, the key question is "what's to eat?" At MIA, La Carreta serves up a mighty fine meal.
fortunately for Hero
DFW is his outbound connection, which means at least he can look forward to his 15 minutes in Hawaii en route!
SockPuppet, yes, DFW manages to collect the most boring, generic fast food places and dot them around...you walk walk walk, hoping that around the bend something interesting will pop up...and then you get in line for Egg McMuffin Meal No. 1.