86 percent “round the world” for $315
OK, I admit it – the title to this post is a little misleading, because I’m referring to the distance I’ve traveled during the first five months of 2012, the distance equivalent to 86-percent of the way around the world.
But still, there’s a big chunk of miles around the planet for a small chunk of change.
But first, here’s a little background …
Over the last ten-plus years, I’ve flown a total of over one million miles with American Airlines and their Oneworld alliance partners. This means a few key things:
- some “we love you” elite-status, which means faster check-in process, no “first checked-bag” fees, early boarding, and some use of the airport lounges,
- faster accumulation of miles “earned” by flying,
- and I’ve a chance to use these miles to see friends around North America in a short period of time without breaking the budget.
Using miles to fly within North America
I began the North America portion of my around-the-world (RTW) trip the first week of 2012. With over 300,000 frequent-flyer miles in store, I’ve traveled throughout the continent by redeeming miles (plus taxes) for the following flights.
Date | Destination | Route | Miles Traveled & Used | Taxes & Fees ($ USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 4 | Vancouver, BC | SFO-LAX-YVR 1-way | 1418 | 25k | 5.00 |
Jan 19 | Honolulu, HI | YVR-SEA-HNL return | 5608 | 35k | 66.00 |
Feb 21 | Los Angeles, CA | SEA-LAX 1-way | 954 | 12.5k | 2.60 |
Mar 2 | México City | LAX-MEX 1-way | 1553 | 17.5k | 24.90 |
Mar 10 | San Jose, CA | MEX-DFW-SJC 1-way | 2374 | 35k | 47.20 |
Mar 20 | NW Arkansas | SFO-DFW-XNA 1-way | 1745 | 12.5k | 5.00 |
Mar 26 | Houston, TX | XNA-DFW-IAH 1-way | 505 | 25k | 5.00 |
Apr 3 | Toronto, ON | IAH-DFW-YYZ 1-way | 1424 | 12.5k | 5.00 |
Apr 10 | Minneapolis, MN | YYZ-ORD-MSP 1-way | 770 | 12.5k | 61.26 |
Apr 17 | Washington, DC | MSP-ORD-DCA 1-way | 946 | 25k | 5.00 |
May 2 | Nassau, Bahamas | BWI-MIA-NAS 1-way | 1130 | 17.5k | 5.00 |
May 29 | Vancouver, BC | NAS-MIA-DFW-YVR 1-way | 3058 | 30k | 83.50 |
TOTALS | — | routes map | 21485 | 260k | 315.46 |
Note that the equivalent frequent flyer miles reimbursed amounted to a total of 260,000 miles. With plane tickets obtained by redeeming miles, the actual miles flown came to a total of just over 21,485 miles, which would be the equivalent of making my way 86-percent around the world (with the Earth’s circumference equal to about 24,900 miles).
All of the flights were intracontinental, but that was still a lot of miles flown in the first five months of 2012.
Disclosure: No Connection, Unpaid, My Own Opinions. I have not received any compensation for writing this content and I have no material connection to the brands, topics and/or products that are mentioned herein. Full credits for the map are found here. This post is published on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-1sP.