Originally Posted by
sfozrhfco
You can also get some awards when the prices of tickets are very low for the number of points you can earn from a single higher priced flight. As each point has the same value the way to maximize them is to use them for the lowest possible redemption level. You are thus better off redeeming on the $29-$49 sale fares as you only pay $2.50 instead of the $10.50+ in taxes. If you want a premium class just try online check in an pay the upgrade fee. It doesn't make any sense to horde large amounts of points like in some programs as the value of each point never increases.
People get into the midset of other FF programs based on distance and that is not the point of this program.
Yes, this does make it interesting. When I think about using points, I always start out thinking as though it was a legacy program. I want the ticket cost to be as high as possible, so that I am getting the most value for the points. With elevate, it's the opposite. You want the fare to be as *low* as possible! The points are worth .0215 no matter what the fare is. There's no reason to not use them for short hauls, for example.
The problem, though, is for flights like SEA-FLL, where it's $1100 each way for F. You need 55,000 points for one way! Disregarding credit card bonuses, you need to spend $11,000 on air travel to get a one-way ticket in F, within 18 months. Most people don't do that, let alone $22,000 for a round trip.