Valuing F9 miles
Jan 6, 2012, 7:38 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: DL PM, Hilton Gold, Amex Platinum, National Executive, IHG Platinum
Posts: 129
Valuing F9 miles
So I originally accrued a bucket of F9 miles back in '08 when award seats were 15k because every 4 TCONs from SFO netted me a free ticket to go snowboarding. After they raised the award levels to 25k and I started flying more internationally, F9 became a lot less attractive so I hardly fly them any more.
My question to you guys is: How do you value F9 miles and where are the best redemption values? I used to redeem them for trips to DRO/ASE/HDN... and JAC (which no longer seems to be on the schedule according to ITA, though it shows up on the route map here). These routes seem to have gotten cheaper on other carriers in the last couple years though. The other interesting redemption options would be ANC/FAI but I can do those with DL miles (low awards are pretty easy on that route) and not have to ride in Y the whole way. LIR/SJO are also moderately interesting, but spending that long in an A319 sounds awful and it looks like those routes might be suspended? or seasonal? I'm not really a fan of all-in-one beach resorts, especially not in Mexico so most of those destinations are out.
I'd love to hear what you guys value an F9 mile at and where I should be using the ones that are still in my account. IND is my home airport these days if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance!
My question to you guys is: How do you value F9 miles and where are the best redemption values? I used to redeem them for trips to DRO/ASE/HDN... and JAC (which no longer seems to be on the schedule according to ITA, though it shows up on the route map here). These routes seem to have gotten cheaper on other carriers in the last couple years though. The other interesting redemption options would be ANC/FAI but I can do those with DL miles (low awards are pretty easy on that route) and not have to ride in Y the whole way. LIR/SJO are also moderately interesting, but spending that long in an A319 sounds awful and it looks like those routes might be suspended? or seasonal? I'm not really a fan of all-in-one beach resorts, especially not in Mexico so most of those destinations are out.
I'd love to hear what you guys value an F9 mile at and where I should be using the ones that are still in my account. IND is my home airport these days if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance!
Jan 11, 2012, 1:07 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2005
Programs: UA
Posts: 1,775
I value them around 1 cent per mile. I use F9 for their convenient schedule on some of my routes and use them also for our yearly winter vacation in Mexico. I am near Denver so I get enough skiing in the winter and I am happy to get away every so often.
We need 3 seats and I used 3 x 17.5k one way awards to Cabo. At the time the ticket was going for around 270$ + taxes which was a good enough redemption rate for my purpose. I do like their option of 1 way awards because I wanted to have all of us on one PNR (to get my Summit privileges) and also they did not have award space on the flight back anyway.
I don't think F9 miles are that useful and I tend to burn them relative fast because you can't use them with any partner yet and you never know how long they are around.
We need 3 seats and I used 3 x 17.5k one way awards to Cabo. At the time the ticket was going for around 270$ + taxes which was a good enough redemption rate for my purpose. I do like their option of 1 way awards because I wanted to have all of us on one PNR (to get my Summit privileges) and also they did not have award space on the flight back anyway.
I don't think F9 miles are that useful and I tend to burn them relative fast because you can't use them with any partner yet and you never know how long they are around.