Originally Posted by
Boraxo
The better assuption is that most people will get 1% cashback so 30k in spending would net $300. In my case I am currently spending $30k on my Chase BA card which will yield approx. 38k BA miles plus a BA companion ticket. I am pretty sure the miles and cert. will be worth more to me than $300 but you never know until you try to redeem.
In the case of a BA flight bought with BA miles, you have to take into account that you will have to pay fuel surcharges and that can be quite expensive. Of course, you could use AA (except to UK from US) or LAN or perhaps other BA partners. But if you have to pay fuel surcharges, most of the apparent value of the 'free' ticket is gone.
The general moral is that if you use miles for premium travel (first or business) or five-star hotels you will get good value in terms of the corresponding cash pricing. For anything else, cash rebates may well be better value and will certainly involve less hassle for booking.