Alster2015

After reading a ton of articles online I decided there is no real answer to this question. Haha. I bought and economy round trip ticket for $627 from ORD to Bangkok with UA in May. I have never found a ticket this cheap in the 3 years I have been flying this route. Using a milage calculator it came to like 3 cents for mile. This is bad right? I shouldnt pay more than like 1.3 cents per mile. Now if I could have qualified for and airline credit card would have helped. Or upgraded to business class it may have brought the mile price down. Also the time of year I fly can be more expensive which would result in a higher price ticket lowering the value of my miles. All I am saying is it all depends on the person and the situation. I have never ever seen a price this cheap for my ticket and yet some people would say I got a bad deal! Paid to much per mile. I just don't believe all the travel articles could even begin to claim what the average price per mile should be.

Jaimito Cartero

Mileage runs are often hard to do these days because of the spend component that has been imposed by some US airlines.

Take UA for instance. If you had got the flight for $100, you might have only gotten a handful of miles. The price you got seems like a decent deal. 1.3 cpm might be what the miles are worth, but don't get caught up on that. Enjoy your trip and decent deal.

Romelle

^

From not that far to the north (MSP), I'm very grateful every time I see 5¢ a mile. IM(not very)HO you did superbly well.

Now think incredible street food, massages, cooking schools, silk, and all sorts of other unique and wonderful sights and sounds and smells.

I bought and carried with me the Lonely Planet guide book. Used it a lot. Found a very convenient Airbnb place to stay. Bought a week pass on the Skytrain. I'm ready to go back just thinking about it.

Alster2015

I agree with both you. I just got caught up in all the articles and tips. I can just look at a flight anymore and know if it is a good deal for me. If I had excellent credit and a good amount of savings I could do a lot better. So I am not saying everything I read wasn't useful. Maybe someday my financial situation will improve and I can apply what I learned.

jbeckett

$627 to Bangkok is a decent deal - no one will tell you that this is a bad deal. Air prices are (and have been) remarkably low from the U.S. to Asia the past couple of years. I suspect it is due to the Chinese carriers which are often low priced.

Alster2015

I don't care what anyone says. That is the cheapest price I have ever heard of and I have been flying from ORD to BKK for 10 years now. For that price don't even care about how much points and miles are. The cheapest I ever got was with Cathay Pacific and it was a very last minute deal for $760 I think. The most I ever spent was $1900 ouch! Very last minute on United. On average if I buy the ticket in advance 3 months I usually average about $1000. I flew Eva Air on a code share flight with United. I wish I checked the seat status code. United wouldn't give me the points because it was V class seat. I never knew about that. Live and learn. If you go often to Thailand you may want to check out Eva Air. I only had one flight with them but I was very happy. Looking on United right now but every time I search even the same days the price constantly changes. I find a good flight at a cheap price then research again and it's gone. What gives? I'm thinking about using the rest of my United miles on an upgrade and signing up for Eva Air. There prices are always reasonable and they seemed like a great airline.

moondog

In your OP (7 years ago?!), you commented that $0.03 per mile was too expensive. Under current earning schemes, that same $627 yields 627 miles...a cost of $1.00 per mile. How is that a good deal if 3 cpm is a bad deal?