<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by sosafan:
I take a different point of view.
It seems to me that airline prices are about as cheap now as they have ever been. So it is not unreasonable to me that airline prices are as cheap as they ever will be. Therefore I have been saving my miles and am buying tickets.
Sure the airlines might devalue the miles. But it seems more likely to me that they won't devalue the miles and they'll increase the price of tickets. In that case, miles are a great hedge on inflation.</font>
Sosafan, I thing you have a somewhat "corked" view of things. IMHO, I think miles have already been devalued. Future worth is diminished by the ability to deliver, i.e. devaluing is occurring even without changes to the redemption table. Financial well-being, airline consolidation, limiting flights, reduced service all devalue miles because of the higher risk of failing to deliver. As with the time value of money, I'll take present worth over equal future worth anyday unless I am compensated for my risk of holding onto these scrips. I eliminate my risk by burning now.