GetSetJetSet

With the wave of devaluations going on across pretty much every program, what are you doing with your miles now? Trying to sit on a pile and hoard more for an aspirational trip, or burning them as fast as you can on future trips you may or may not take just to get them on the books? I have been trying to burn, burn, burn (which I successfully did with just about all my UA miles), but as a result, I have no time left to plug more trips in this year, and I'm worried other miles will be devalued before I can burn them.

txflyer77

Earn 'n burn.

Just after UA's devaluation was announced I hopped on the LH YYZ-MUC F train and booked a trip to Berlin and the Alps. Using a bunch of Club Carlson points along the way.

The day of the UA devaluation, I booked BR's Hello Kitty service TYO-TPE in J for the hell of it and then added in DEN-ORD-NRT on AA/JL F and HKG-LAX-DEN on CX/AA F. Going in November.

Burning Hyatt points in Tokyo, SPG in TPE and HHonors in HKG. In fact, all 12 nights are on points.

I'll probably hold on to a small stash of AA miles (~150k right now) and keep earning those. I'm focusing Chase points on Hyatt and KE going forward.

milehound

Burn baby burn! I'm an elite member with AAdvantage, so I use my miles to book 4-5 star boutique hotels at what appear to be industry discount rates through useAAmiles. I don't really care about being upgraded as long as I can snag an economy seat with extra legroom (and I usually do), and I need to shell out for tickets so I can maintain my elite status. I only use miles for flights when the tickets are prohibitively expensive compared to the cost of accommodations. I'm also free from the tyranny of frequent-stay programs, which don't always have the best hotel rooms in my favorite cities.

Duffman

if you have elite status (like I do with UA), I'd book all trips that I even remotely plan on taking. Besides that, I like to maintain 100k-ish in each program for emergencies.

But in general, earn n burn. No point in hoarding

satman40

As we age, the desire to stay home feels better, and the miles we need is less.

The body grows tired.

Plissken

I agree the strong trend of devaluations makes it rather silly to hoard airmiles or hotel points BURN EM !

jcwoman

If they're with an airline that has such a program, please donate them. (But wait until I get my charity on the lists - LOL!)

Seriously, as someone who volunteers for a charity that depends a lot on air travel, it's much better to use miles to book tickets so that we can spend our donation revenue on our actual program goals.

CPRich

Is there something I recently missed that has accelerated the ongoing devaluation over the last several years? Hilton was a year or two ago, SPG and Marriott 2-3 years ago. Most of the airlines introduced "Saver" and Normal award schedules, replacing what used to be only at the new Saver level several years ago, effectively doubling the cost of many awards.

Delta may have shaken up the model, but the net effect in terms of "value" is unclear, and from what I've seen about a wash across the board.

I was quoted in the USAToday travel section 2-3 years ago that the golden age of "loyalty" programs had passed and it was now a revenue stream. Several scoffed at the time, but I stand by the assessment and believe it is still true. I've seen no recent "wave" that isn't a continuation of the ongoing evolution and decimation of the original intent of these programs. If you haven't been burning over the last 3-5 years, you've lost a lot - it isn't just starting.

Personally, I'm down a couple million points over the last 2 years, though I still seem to earn hotel points faster than I can burn them.

deniah

burn burn burn. im a hoarder by nature but snapped out of it a few years ago. i actually have a problem using miles since (1) need to book rev tickets to maintain status [&earn more miles!] (2) need to use use-it-or-lose-it travel allowance ....

now the problem is having enough time to use the travel!

Ocn Vw 1K

As this concerns the strategy for using miles, please follow the thread as it moves to the MilesBuzz forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

KennyBSAT

1. Earn at the lowest possible cost, and ignore opportunities to 'buy' miles that take money out of my pocket without some way to offset it.
2. Burn as efficiently as possible and travel at every opportunity.

fragment54

Used to horde miles, but every program has been devaluing so quickly that I've changed my strategy. Trying to burn all of my United miles, but the inventory definitely isn't what it used to be for saverpass. That doesn't get noticed because it still beats Delta and AA, but IME they have definitely reduced the saver inventory in both economy and first.

yuel

I will buck the trend and say I am still a hoarder with a min of 200k in the four main airlines, no doom and gloom for me

Tpa-flyer

I've always been an earn'em and burn'em type. Joined programs back in the early 1980's and have stayed loyal to a strategy of plan the trip, get the miles/points accrued for the trip, take the trip, come home, start on the next one.

sbm12

It was never smart to hoard miles. It remains that way today.