<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Howardform:
With the airline industry in flux and Mileage inflation a possibility
Is it better to use miles for a cheaper ticket (Bird in the hand)
or
Hoard those miles for a round the world first class ticket (Which may never come)</font>
There are a lot of good threads here with varying opinions. The $300-rule-of-thumb is the latest one that covers a similar topic (e.g. when to use miles vs. buy).
It depends on many factors, #1 being your current cashflow situation. I've turned more to "burn" mode lately, but not because of the industry or fear that the miles will evaporate.
For strategies on RTW tickets, look at the two alliance boards at the bottom of the Miles section. (Star Alliance and One World) After you read about common strategies for both using miles and buying these tickets, you might have a stronger opinion about whether to go for these awards with miles.