Budget Travelers Struggle to Earn Elite Status as New Airline Rules Take Effect

Last weekend, just short of earning "1K" status on United Airlines, I took an overnight flight from San Francisco to New York City for the sole purpose of picking up a few elite qualifying miles. "Mileage running," or the act of taking useless flights simply to fulfill elite status requirements, has been around since the beginning of travel loyalty programs, but this year the calculus for earning elite status on many carriers changed, requiring passengers to accrue a minimum spend along with a requisite number of flown miles. For many budget travelers, those new rules are making it di