Mile Run To LAX

I’ve been bitten by the travel bug. So much so that I thought it would be a good idea to get status on Delta and attempt a crazy thing called a “Mile Run.” It is exactly as it sounds, you sit your bum on an airplane just to get miles. There is no end destination, just the accrual of miles to use toward a future flight (Business Class to the UK) as well as status on an airline (Mine is Delta).

I was prompted by the wonderful Rene from Delta Points that there was an incredible deal for 5,000 miles. I searched ITA Matrix and found an excellent deal to go to LA from Milwaukee for $170 round trip. Fantastic! However, it would be a blitz of a day traveling nearly 5,000 miles in under 24 hours.

It started well in Milwaukee where we were greeted at the Delta Sky Club by our favorite employee, JR. He asked about the baby and how we were. He is hands down the best Delta rep I have ever encountered. He also gets extra bonus points for asking about Lacey :D

We make our way to the gate only to discover that the flight is delayed – we ask if this will impact our layover in Atlanta, we are assured we will make our flight. Adam gets upgraded at the gate (He’s a Gold medallion). He politely declines to sit with me but I tell him to take it and drink up since I got us into this crazy adventure anyways. So he gets to sit in first class and I get an entire row to myself.

We get in late to Atlanta and land at the exact time our flight is supposed to take off. We rush to the Sky club and ask to be re-booked on the next flight. They call to our departure gate asking if the plane has already taken off. We are informed that it has and that we are both on it. The Club agent politely tells the woman on the phone that we are in fact not on the plane and standing right in front of him. She tells him we are both checked in on the flight and on our way to LA. A bit of a security issue if I say so myself.

After some time of telling this woman that we are not on the plane we get put on standby for the next flight which is 2 hours later but not to hold our breath since it is full.  We end up missing our reservation at Inn of the Seventh Ray which really upsets us since we wanted to sneak in a fancy dinner in LA while we were there. As the flight is full we end up being pushed back to a departure which is 4 hours later than when we should have left.  We were beyond annoyed at this but we thought we would try to salvage the trip with a run to In & Out.

We made the 4 hour wait as enjoyable as a wait of that magnitude can be at the Sky Club watching the Kentucky Derby and enjoying many, many, many drinks.

Dinner was at One Flew South – in terminal E. If you ever need something to eat and are stuck in Atlanta, GO HERE! The food and wine and AMAZING!!!

Our flight to LA is delayed some and we are stranded on the ground searching for a gate to doc for almost an hour! We are running out of time and even a trip to In & Out is looking like a no go. We rush off the plane and go to the rental place. We get a car only to be told their systems are down and they cannot let us take the vehicle. We manage to get the car anyways only to run to In & Out where the line is terribly long. We get our meal to go, drop off the rental (we had it for a whopping 30 minutes), and head back to the airport.

By this time we are both grumpy and tired. We inhale our meal and board our flight to Memphis. I was really looking forward to the Red Eye as I was slotted to be upgraded. Then at the last minute this couple comes and I am bumped off the list L I end up sitting next to a very annoying woman who kept putting her feet on me, a mad who kept asking me to shut off my reading light, and a screaming child kicking and screaming. It was a LONG flight to Memphis.

Memphis to Milwaukee went off without a hitch but we were dead tired at this point. So, would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY! I would just do it differently. First, I would make sure to give myself more than 30 minutes of a layover in Atlanta. Second, I would have a plan B, C, & D just in case delays happen. And third, I should have had asked to change flights while I was in Milwaukee and I knew we were delayed and had a tight connection.

Below are this year’s flights so far. 

Currently I have Connecticut, Kansas City, San Diego, Ft. Lauderdale, and Phoenix slated for the rest of the year. Hopefully, I can find another few destinations to slip in.