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Want to scoop up over 14,000 MQM while spending a Saturday night visiting Tokyo? Checking out this Delta weekend elite mileage run!
It’s a Main Cabin run on refurbished 777s — so Diamond Medallions can use GUCs for Premium Select and Delta One suite upgrades. (Read René’s review of Premium Select on an A350 run to Tokyo.) Plus, all Medallions are eligible for first class and C+ upgrades domestically, and C+ internationally. (Personally, I prefer an exit row seat over a non-bulkhead C+ seat during long hauls — especially when I bring my little exit row survival kit 😉 )
The trip leaves late night Thursday, November 14/early morning Friday, November 15 with a 12:35 AM hop to Minneapolis, where you connect to Haneda. You arrive on Saturday, November 16 at 2:55 PM. This allows you plenty of time to catch dinner and wander around some of Tokyo’s great wards before you catch some much-needed sleep!
Enjoy the morning and most of the afternoon in Tokyo before your 7:20 PM departure Sunday night. Thanks to the International Date Line, you arrive in Minneapolis at 3:18 PM the same day before departing MSP at 8:29 PM. Your adventure ends with a 10:01 PM arrival in Sin City.
Here’s how it prices out:
Total Price: $612.23
MQM:14,464 MQM
CPM: 4.2
People taking advantage of the Delta Amex special cash back welcome promotion can end up paying significantly less.
Here’s the itinerary:
There are several other options available with different routings and Narita returns (which may give you a chance to bid farewell to NRT and its staff.) They earn about 1000 fewer MQM, involve longer layover time, and the pain (and expense) of getting to Narita. They leave earlier in the day Sunday but do get you back to Vegas at 8:30 PM.
A couple include:
Pros and Cons of This Run
Pros
- A trip to Tokyo allowing you a chance to see some of the city!
- Involves only one weekday — which is especially nice for Vegas-based travelers
- Easy, fast, and affordable for Arizona, California, Utah, New Mexico and non-Vegas-based Nevada residents to position. Consider one of the many Southwest flights to McCarran Airport
- Centurion Lounge access at McCarran airport for Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more) and Business Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more) cardholders
Cons
- $613 isn’t exactly cheap for one run. But this is certainly easier than two or three much shorter mileage runs of $300 here and there.
- You’ll probably require a hotel in Tokyo. I highly recommend The Strings ANA by InterContinental at Shinagawa Station. Take advantage of the IHG Premier Credit Card‘s new promotion offering 125,000 points — and that should more than cover your stay. The Strings is about 15 minutes (by train) from Haneda and many great areas such as Shibuya and Shinjuku
- Red-eyes galore. But if you can sleep on a plane, you’re good to go!
- Two layovers of over five hours each at MSP — one on the outbound and another during the return. Remember MSP has two Delta Sky Clubs (one on the C concourse and another on F/G) which allow complimentary access for those holding the below cards
- Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more)
- Business Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more)
- Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (learn more)
- Delta Reserve for Business Credit Card (learn more)
Bookable on Delta.com — but make sure to sort by “Price.” Otherwise, you may spend forever trying to find this routing.
In the meantime, consider our friend Adam for help constructing a personalized mileage run that suits your needs and convenience! — Chris
- Don’t miss a single run. Subscribe HERE: www.RenesPoints.com/RunMail
- Need to learn how to find a run? See THIS Rookie post for how-to guide!
- Want a custom built run from your home airport? You can find one here.
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I’m in MSP but to get this price I’d need to start/finish in Vegas?
@Desmond: Yep. Sorry. 🙁 You could consider using SkyMiles, Membership Rewards points, Flex Perks, etc to position to LAS, if the run intrigues you.
@Desmond: Yep. 🙁 You could, however, use SkyMiles, Flexperks, Amex MRs, etc, to position to Vegas if the run intrigues you.
You cannot upgrade to Delta One (ie biz) with a GUC?
@Ethan Whoops. Missed a couple words there. Corrected, thanks.
LAS with no lounge access is probably the most unbearable airport 🙂 It’s particularly true at that hours of the night with drunk gamblers.
I’ve never flown to Asia on Delta. What’s Delta Comfort like on an overseas 777 flight compared to Main Cabin? I have lowly Gold Medallion so no upgrade certificates.
@Jeff: I’ve done it a couple of times in exit rows and it was fine. Personally, I value the legroom and no one being able to recline into my knees.