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Old Feb 20, 2011, 9:09 am
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mre5765
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: SJC, SFO, YYC
Programs: AA-EXP, AA-0.41MM, UA-Gold, Ex UA-1K (2006 thru 2015), PMUA-0.95MM, COUA-1.5MM-lite, AF-Silver
Posts: 13,437
Award accelerator and EQMs

CO has elite maximizer with an EQM option when you book CO tickets. UA has an award accelerator option with just RDMs.

I realized yesterday that for all intents and purpose, the combination of award accelerator and M+ Chase Visa Choices gives you an EQM option. You buy miles (currrently about 2.5 cents/RDM), and then on a 10 to 1 conversion ratio, redeem them for EQMs, thus making the price per EQM on M+ 25 cents.

According to http://thepointsguy.com/2010/12/cont...r-a-good-deal/ CO elite maximizer EQMs cost between 6 and 30 cents (I don't know if the RDMs come with that).

25 cents per EQM is steep, but in some situations it might be worth it. For example I was 1000 miles short of 175K EQM last year, and wanted to get the 25K RDM bonus. So I redeemed 10K RDM choices miles, to get 1000 EQMs. Had I bought 10K RDMs through award accelerator, I would have paid $250. A one way SFO/DEN cost me the same yesterday, which nets about 1000 EQMs. For me, it was better than an MR.
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