Destinations Marathons Running Round the World With Miles The Basics

The Most Comfortable 82,500 Miles I Ever Burned

Etihad First Apartment
Written by Charlie

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When it comes to burning miles, we obviously all want to get the most value possible. The hard part comes in assessing that value. Premium cabins offer a lot of value for the amount of miles required, but last minute travel in economy can also present a lot of value for the miles. In between, there are many personal reasons for travel that present extreme value for mile redemptions as well.

There are a lot of trips that I have booked in my life with miles that have been incredible – both in the trip itself and in the value. This particular trip I have upcoming certainly represents the most comfortable 82,500 miles I ever burned and I know that I will not be regretting it for a single minute!

The Most Comfortable 82,500 Miles I Ever Burned

The trip I am talking about is my upcoming trip around the world that will be putting me on 6 continents in the span of less than 5 days. While on those continents, I will be running a marathon run on each one. Having such a ticket schedule and the fact that I will be getting onboard an airplane literally within 80 minutes after having finished running 26.2 miles means that the ability to stretch out will be very important. I did a similar event years ago running 5 marathons on 5 continents in 5 days and did the entire journey in economy class! That was very painful!

Etihad First Apartment

Getting to lie down and stretch for an entire 14 hours if I want is worth 30,000 miles! [Etihad First Apartment]

This time around, I booked the entire trip with miles to help demonstrate to runners and others how easy it is to travel for almost nothing. Since I was booking with miles, I went for business/first class on every flight and was able to get all the ones I wanted! That required an extra 82,500 miles for my entire round the world trip to not be in economy and be able to travel in business/first. I could have done it for 167,500 miles but I really wanted to fly in Etihad’s First Apartment again instead of flying in their Business Studio (which is also very nice). 🙂 The business class redemption would have cost me 45,000 miles vs 60,000 miles for the first Apartment.
AA Business Class

This will be my ride from Santiago to Miami – much better for relaxing than an economy seat! – From AA.com

Here is what I am getting with the extra mile expenditures:

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With the majority of those flights providing me with lie-flat seats, being able to secure them for that amount of time for only an extra 82,500 miles is incredible! That means I spent an extra 1,800 miles per mile for the level of comfort I will be able to enjoy contrasted with the limited-recline in economy.

I have no problem flying economy as the majority of my flights have been in economy, but spending an extra 82,500 miles for business/first class seats on this entire journey certainly represents the most comfortable mile redemption I have ever made! Running 26.2 miles on each of 6 continents in under 5 days is going to be tough no matter how I fly, but at least these extra 82,500 miles is going to give me a better chance of completing thanks to the relaxing/stretching out I can do!

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About the author

Charlie

Charlie has been an avid traveler and runner for many years. He has run in marathons around the world for less than it would cost to travel to the next town - all as a result of collecting and using miles and points. Over the years, he has flown hundreds of thousands of miles and collected millions of miles and points.
Now he uses this experience and knowledge to help others through Running with Miles.

2 Comments

  • Could you share some details about booking the AKL-SCL segment? (or maybe I’ve missed a previous post discussing this). That route, and LAN in general, seems to be difficult to get in my experience.