A few days ago I was staring to search for mileage runs for next year to try and knock out as much travel at the beginning of the year as I could. I quickly realized that I have a very light knowledge of searching for mileage runs on the ITA Matrix and so I took to Twitter to see if anyone with WAY more knowledge on building mileage runs could point me in the right direction, so I sent out the following tweet:
Quickly I had GREAT responses from people in the miles and points community that pointed me to their favorite blog post on how to construct a proper mileage run. Without Twitter it would have been a very trial by fire experiment on my part. I could have muscled through it and figured out a strategy that worked for me, but that extra bit of knowledge from those who have been doing this for years was a big help in helping me understand how to leverage the power of the ITA Matrix to search for great mileage runs.
In the end it paid off! Yesterday I booked a trip of BWI/ORD/IAH/PHX - PHX/CLT/BWI for around $.004 cents per mile and it currently includes a trip on one of United's 787 Dreamliner, which I have been pining to fly for months now.
None of this would have been possible without the help of social media. It's a great place for everyone to learn from people who have more knowledge and are willing to share it, a place to share successes or ask questions and most of all...a place to meet new people from around the world that have the same addiction to travel as you do.
