Ok. I realize it's stupid. And maybe a little bit unhealthy. But I'm SO CLOSE to 100k miles on United this year. At my current speed, I'm going to end the year at probably 90,000 miles flown. It's December 12th. The magic of Premier 1K is so close.
If you've been following along, you know that I took a flight to Singapore in order to move across the magical 75k boundary and get to Premier Platinum. Which I did, and it's awesome. Boarding group one and two regional upgrade certificates and the whole family in Economy Plus. But Premiere 1K. I've been Premiere 1K once before when I flew between Portland and DC every other week. It is magical.
Premier 1K includes six global upgrade certificates. There is nothing like international business class to make you realize how sucky even Economy Plus is. Lie flat seats and real pillows for 12 hours to someplace like Hong Kong can make you forget that you watched four movies and still have four hours to kill. Imagine having six certificates that you might use for you and your family.
You can buy your way to this level by paying close to fifteen cents per mile on United. So I could pay $1,200 to get to this next level. My success at paying only $650 to fly to Singapore yielding 20,000 miles makes me reticent to pay and not fly. Plus, Singapore was awesome.
Of course, the holiday season is peak travel season. No $650 trips to Singapore to be found. But maybe I can find a place that yields the 10,000 miles for under $1,000 and has the hallmarks of good mileage-run destination (read: no visa required and not dangerous). I could bounce around the US and collect 2,000 miles flying from SFO to IAD back and forth, but domestic economy sucks (small seats, no food) and I can't use the lounges unless I fly international.
So I'm looking for two days trips to someplace at least 5,000 miles away. Even Hawaii is too close. Maybe Lima, Peru? Or a couple connections through Europe to end up in Athens for a night? Surfing on Google Flights to see what I can find, and if I can convince my wife that I'm not a kook for wanting the Premier 1K.