How to Accumulate One Million Miles

Marc Tacchi is a bit of a God in the world of Mileage Runners.

Mileage Runners are those who take advantage of really cheap flights in order to build up their frequent flyer miles. These are the people who jet off to Tokyo for one night just to plug another 5,000 miles into their account.

Well, Marc had much higher ambitions. His goal was to accumulate one million miles in a 60 day period. To do so, he got his hands on an unlimited Air Canada Flight Pass. It was good for two months in North America and Marc really wanted to get his money’s worth. The pass cost $3,499 (Canadian) a month (plus taxes). That is roughly $6,000 (U.S.) for two months–the length of the promotion. At stake was one million miles of free travel after that (Estimated value, $60,000).

Naturally, Marc blogged about his Herculean task. I have to admit, I love his resolve, but his blog was a little disappointing compared to what he managed to accomplish. Nonetheless, it still makes for some interesting reading.

Marc began on October 1, 2005 with a flight from Vancouver to Toronto and then simply went bonkers after that.

And yes, he did attain his goal. Here are a few of the statistics he shared in getting there:

Mileage earned: 1,003,625
Current Flight Segments in Aeroplan account: 276
Days I have been in an airplane: 56 out of the last 61.
Favorite Air Canada aircraft: B767-300
Times I have seen March of the Penguins: 0
I never actually got thru it without falling asleep.
and finally..weight change: +8lbs.