#milemadness week 3: the pace slows, and we set our sights on Charlotte

One month… $5,000 bankrolls… How much cash and how many points will be earned?…

We have now completed the third week of the #milemadness manufactured spend tournament, and the final full week is under way.  For review, the general idea of the tournament is that each player starts with $5000 (of their own) to spend in ways that will return their money and earn extra cash and points.  Contestants are judged by 3 factors: amount earned, efficacy, and artistry.  In case you missed the details, please see these prior posts:

• The Manufactured Spending Tournament
• The next mad challenge
• Manufactured Spend Tournament FAQ Post and Thread
• #milemadness Manufactured Spending Tournament meet the Players

#milemadness fatigue

In the third week of competition, most contestants continued to plug away at their respective techniques, but the trend has been towards lower and lower point earning totals over time.  The following chart shows the combined mile and point totals across contestants for each week of the competition:

The drop from week 1 to week 2 can be mostly explained by the fact that OfficeMax ran a fantastic promotion that first week and some contestants were able to capitalize on this with their 5X Ink cards.  The dropping totals between week 2 and week 3 may be due to any number of factors:

1. Some contestants have been travelling.  Travel often interferes with daily manufactured spend techniques.
2. In some cases, contestants may have used up their low hanging fruit options (such as maxing out the $5K per month limit on Bluebird reloads).
3. Contestants had less money to work with.  According to the rules of this game, contestants started the month with a $5K bankroll.  Each following day, their bankroll was determined by how much of their spend had been effectively liquidated.  Most contestants entered week 3 with bankrolls significantly lower than $5K (the average was $3767).
4. Fatigue may have set in

Or, maybe contestants focused more on earnings than on points.  Let’s look at the earnings trend from week to week:

(see the #milemadness 2014 scoreboard for details of how earnings are calculated) 

As you can see above, earnings have also declined from week to week, but the decline from week 2 to week 3 appears to be less severe than the point totals.  So, that explains a small bit of the point-earning decline, but certainly not all of it. 

Checkout the latest #milemadness 2014 scoreboard for complete results.

#milemadness Seminar and Celebration event

As Saverocity announced recently, we’re planning an in-person #milemadness event.  Here are the basic details (please join us!):

• When: Saturday May 10th, from 11am onwards
• Where: Hyatt House Charlotte, nearest airport CLT

HYATT house Charlotte Center City, 435 East Trade Street,  Charlotte, NC 28202

Confirmed speakers include:

• Frequent Miler
• The Miles Professor
• MilesAbound
• Marathon Man
• Matt from Saverocity

Price: $75 (includes lunch, cocktail hour drinks and canapés, presentations, etc.), or $65 if you book by March 31. 

Please see Saverocity’s post for more details.

How to get to Charlotte

The Charlotte airport is a US Airways hub.  With US Airways entering the Oneworld alliance at the end of this month, it should soon be possible to book US Airways flights with British Airways Avios.  Why is this important?  Because short, non stop flights booked with British Airways Avios cost as little as 4500 points each way.

British Airways Avios are easy to get.  You can transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards points, Amex Membership Rewards points, or Starwood Preferred Gold.

Below are the airports from which you can fly non-stop into and out of Charlotte on American Airlines and US Airways according to this Wikipedia page.  

American Airlines: Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago-O’Hare, Miami, New York – LaGuardia

US Airways:  Albany (NY), Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Charleston (SC), Chicago–O’Hare, Cleveland, Columbus (OH), Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Greensboro, Harrisburg, Hartford, Houston–Intercontinental, Indianapolis, Jacksonville (FL), Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, New Orleans, New York–JFK, New York–LaGuardia, Newark, Norfolk, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (ME), Portland (OR), Providence, Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, Rochester (NY), St. Louis, St. Thomas, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan, Sarasota, Seattle/Tacoma, Syracuse, Tampa, Washington–National, West Palm Beach, Wilmington (NC), Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Belize City, Cancun, Cozumel, Frankfurt, Freeport, Grand Cayman, Liberia, London–Heathrow, Mexico City, Montego Bay, Nassau, Providenciales, Punta Cana, Rio de Janeiro–Galeao, São Paulo–Guarulhos, St Lucia, St. Maarten, San José de Costa Rica, San José del Cabo

US Airways Express: Akron/Canton, Albany (NY), Allentown/Bethlehem, Asheville, Atlanta, Augusta (GA), Austin, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Birmingham (AL), Blountville/Tri-Cities, Buffalo, Charleston (SC), Charleston (WV), Charlottesville, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbia (SC), Columbus (OH), Dayton, Daytona Beach, Des Moines, Detroit, Fayetteville (AR), Fayetteville (NC), Florence (SC), Fort Walton Beach, Gainesville, Greensboro, Greenville (NC), Greenville/Spartanburg, Gulfport/Biloxi, Harrisburg, Hartford, Hilton Head, Huntington (WV), Huntsville, Indianapolis, Jackson, Jacksonville (FL), Jacksonville (NC), Kansas City, Knoxville, Lexington, Little Rock, Louisville, Lynchburg, Manchester (NH), Melbourne (FL), Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Mobile, Montgomery, Montreal–Trudeau, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, New Bern, New Orleans, New York–LaGuardia, Newport News/Williamsburg, Norfolk, Omaha, Ottawa, Pensacola, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, Roanoke, St. Louis, Salisbury (MD), San Antonio, Sarasota, Savannah, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Toronto–Pearson, Washington–Dulles, Washington–National, White Plains, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Wilmington (NC)

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