I knew when I moved over to the USA as a Virgin Australia Velocity Gold member that requalifying was NOT going to be easy. Last year I managed to keep myself in Gold with a lovely few double status credit promos and a couple of really cheap Business class runs. This time though, it was going to be tougher. No double status credit promos to look forward to and the fact that it was going to be a struggle to qualify off “partner airlines”. I knew this was not going to be easy on my butt but at least with Flyertalk’s Mileage Run forum to help me find the right deals, the research would be easier. I came across a nice deal on Flyertalk one day for Seattle to Dallas and it allowed 2 connections in each direction. This was good, one its out of my home city so no positioning, 2 it allows multiple segments for cheap, so although not a lengthy flight point wise, the more segments the more status credits.

Thanks to a couple of guides on Hack My Trip and Wandering Aremean I used the ITA Matrix and Hipmunk to book in my mileage run and it came out looking like this:

Thats Seattle to Salt Lake City to Minneapolis to Dallas to Memphis to Minneapolis to Seattle. An overnight in Dallas was required but it wasn’t all that bad. The problem was, 45-60 minute connections everywhere. In Australia, no big deal, over here… this could get interesting. Considering its February, its Winter. There is likely to be snow all over the place in Salt Lake & Minneapolis and possible storms or fog in Seattle, it was going to be a battle. I booked it anyway for shits and giggles. The exact flights would be:

Saturday 9th Feb 2013
Seattle to Salt Lake City – DL1634 – 0600/0905 – Boeing 737-800
Salt Lake City to Minneapolis St Paul – DL996 – 0949/1328 – Airbus A320
Minneapolis St Paul to Dallas Fort Worth – DL5017 – 1415/1649 – Canadair CRJ-700 (operated by ExpressJet)

Sunday 10th Feb 2013
Dallas Fort Worth to Memphis – DL3357 – 0615-0745 – Canadair CRJ-900 (operated by Pinnacle)
Memphis to Minneapolis St Paul – DL1064 – 0830/1045 – McDonnell Douglas MD-88
Minneapolis St Paul to Seattle – DL1753 – 1140/1330 – Airbus A320

Next stop… hotel choosing. Figured Dallas Airport area would be ideal, I hit up the usual industry rate sites, first thing that picks my interest is the Grand Hyatt Dallas Fort Worth which is located on top of one of the terminals. The rate was significantly lower than anything else with Hyatt and majority of the other ones were not nearly as good. So I went with it!. Hotel set, Flights set. I had one thing on my mind… BBQ! So I looked into getting to a BBQ joint near the airport, cabs probably cost me like $15 each way to the closest. I checked National for a cheap last minute car deal. $11 for the night… CHOICE! I would barely have it 3 or 4 hours but it was cheaper than cabs. So I booked that to.

Time was getting closer, the impending doom was learing, so rather than worry about the whole ordeal with rebooking etc, I would let someone else handle it. I sent off my details to Brett @ Crankyconcierge and his first reaction was a WTF! But yeah I knew it coming into it this wasn’t going to be easy. With that in mind I had a couple of rules for them about handling any rebookings:

1. Has to be Delta Metal or this mileage run is useless
2. I don’t care how many segments I have to fly, as long as I get to Dallas
3. Last resort, I can go on another airline

With that set, I was fully good to go for what was going to be my first REAL mileage run.