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If you love spending time in airplanes and airports, here’s a mileage run especially for you.
New York JFK to Singapore in China Eastern business class for between $2040 and $2095 — and yielding 31,628 MQM and $7789 MQD!
If you want to make Platinum this year, this single run gets you about 86% of the way there, MQD-wise. It’s also over half the MQD for Diamond!
Most trips I found involved hanging out in Singapore for all of about seven hours. It’s pretty much a “true” mileage run.
In most cases, it’ll take only about two and a half full days of your time.
Make sure to credit to your Delta SkyMiles account. (Read why.)
- Cost: $2040, upwards to $2095, depending on dates
- Dates: See below
- Route: JFK-PVG-SIN-PVG-JFK
- Class: China Eastern I (between JFK and PVG) and J (between PVG and SIN)
- Miles Flown (estimated via ITA Matrix) 19,474
- MQD (est): $7789.60 (because China Eastern’s I and J classes earn 40% of mileage flown)
- MQM: (est): 31,628 MQM (6.5 CPM) China Eastern I class earns 150% MQM and; J class earns 200%
- SkyMiles (est): 39,000 (plus medallion bonus: Diamond + 120%; Platinum + 80%; Gold + 60%; Silver + 40%)
Departure dates I found available:
- March 3, 4, 8
- April 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 27
You might be able to find more availability if you play around with the dates or have a fairly flexible schedule.
**RELATED** René Talks to the Washington Post About Mileage Runs!
Where to Book
More power to you if you’re successful booking a flight on China Eastern’s inane website.
My good friend Carol — a veteran of many China Eastern (or “MU”) mileage runs — generally has success through Travelocity, Momondo, and JustFly. (You can earn up to $16 cashback on JustFly if you start your purchase through TopCashback or BeFrugal.)
I found the below deal on Expedia:
Can’t Do This Run?
Maybe you don’t live in New York or can’t get there for this run. There’s still hope. Get in touch with the mileage run staff at Juicy Miles now and plan a mileage run around your budget and schedule.
Juicy Miles also helps with award redemptions, honeymoons, and much more.
Paying for the Trip
Remember to use a credit card that gives you bonus points on your airfare purchases!
2X with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (<– LINK), which also comes with great trip delay and cancellation coverage!
3X on the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card (<– LINK) (3X on the first $150,000 combined spend in categories — such as travel — each anniversary year)
3X with the American Express® Green Card (<– LINK), which awards all travel purchases, including airfare, hotels, rideshare, and more!
3X with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (<– LINK), which also comes with an annual $300 travel credit. Plus, airport lounge access!
Enjoy!
— Chris
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- 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!
- Boost your Delta MQMs with the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card (<– LINK) or Delta Reserve for Business Credit Card (<– LINK)
- Want a custom built run from your home airport? You can find one here.
- Relax in an airport lounge during your mileage run with one of these cards!
Featured image: ©iStock.com/orpheus26
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I’m doing this run in late March 29.
Does anyone know the Visa requirements for this? From what I have read, there is no Visa required as long as you are booked to pass through China and not stay there. I just wanted to ensure that any veterans of this run can confirm this.
It was pretty tough to find, as Matrix uses cached data, and had some phantom availability on some of the legs according to the GDS, but we were finally able to find it. I ended up booking through a travel agent with a GDS because I wanted my positioning flight to also be on the same locator even though it had to be ticketed separately.
I did manage to get a pretty solid all day layover in SIN. As much as I love airports and airplanes, some time in the city seemed like fun on this trip.
If you’re transiting through China to a different country, you qualify for a Visa-free transit. You can actually stay in China up to 144 hours on one of these. Shanghai is quite easy to do this (which is where China Eastern usually connects). I booked a flight to New Delhi for $1,800 which credits over $8k MQD. There wasn’t a lot of availability for that one.
There is no visa required. In China you are simply passing through and even if you wanted to spend a day or two in Shanghai you could as you are going on to a third country. SIN Changi airport is an amazing and beautiful destination of it’s own. The new Jewel with it’s waterfall and light shows is great and the butterfly garden and movie theater in the terminal are awesome! The MRT station in the airport makes it easy to go into town, but watch your time. There is a LOT to see and do in Singapore. I did 3 trips to SIN last year and still have things I need to go back and see. Just remember it’s illegal to chew gum in Singapore. Leave it at home.
I did a run there three years ago, thanks to Adam at Juicy Miles. He suggested spending the layover time at SIN in a “transit hotel” within the airport, behind security. You basically rent a booth of about 50 square feet, which consists of a single bed and not much else. Bathrooms and shower rooms were shared, but there were enough that there was no wait. It was quiet, immaculate, and reasonably priced, and I think it could be booked in 6 hour increments – perfect for your mileage run. I recall it being about a five-minute walk from the gate used by Delta. I can’t recall which one I used, and things may have changed since then, but I see there are some transit hotels – Yotel, Aerotel – still in operation, and the latter can be booked the day of your sample mileage run for $62 for six hours.
I thought your readers would find this of interest.
@AjayLA, @CarolK, @Peter: Thank you all for your help, advice, and recommendations!
Indeed, thanks guys! That makes me feel better about my upcoming trip!
If you’re going to do milage runs through or to China (as the coming years seems like a lot of opportunity with the competition and capacity ) is easier to just get a 10-year visa when you apply for one just ask and they give it to you, the same price as a regular one makes it easier also crossing from HK etc.
I also just seen MU LAX-PVG-CAN leaving on Jan 23rd and dates after with many return dates $1530 is about 16278 miles round trip so about $6511 MQD in “I” class mostly fares on “just fly” website and ieagle website (although they seem a little shady anyone use them?). I was thinking about going this way for MQD’s as trying to maintain Diamond but I can do the spend through business it is tight and been kind of a waste to put that much spend on Delta Amex. But I also travel with my wife so for me about three of these trips would cost $12k total for two people straight out. Question – Is there any other way to reduce the dollar amount? I have Amex Biz Plat with many PTS but that same fare is $1800 on Amex I guess could pay points & dollar 100k pts each and $800 then I would also 35% points back? Any other ideas? We have so many Skymiles but they are starting to seem worthless I use them a lot for Delta pay with points but seems like a waste and devalue but we have close to 4mil SkyMiles. Thanks for any help.
Another great option for the seven hour layover is taking one of the free Singapore tours from SIN. The tours last 2,5 hours, and only require a minimum layover of 5.5 hours. I did one in 2018. Here’s the lowdown if anyone is interested .
https://salsaworldtraveler.com/2018/03/17/free-singapore-heritage-tour-from-singapore-changi-airport-sin/
@John: Thanks, John!
Google Flights, Expedia and Flight Network are all pulling it up without having to use Matrix. There are even same-day turns available, like 24 February JFK-PVG-SIN and 25 February SIN-PVG-JFK. If you get creative on Expedia, I got options for 2-3 additional domestic China connections that get you a good $1000 more MQDs.
Any issues in booking the same itinerary through the American Express Travel web site? prices out about $50 higher at $2093
@Andrew: Other than being $50 higher, no. (I assume you’ll use MRs to offset some of the cost. Hopefully, you have an Amex Business Platinum card, which will give you a 35% MR rebate.) Make sure you can enter your Delta SkyMiles number as your frequent flyer program of choice.
It looks like New York to Jakarta via Shanghai, also on China Eastern, has widespread availability in February and March at $2000-ish. It comes out to over $8,000 MQDs.