Originally Posted by
golferguy2727
So this raises a really good question for me - what does in reality represent good value for use of miles, personal preferences aside? As a newbie I have not much experience in reward consumption, but when I look at the obvoius availabel rewards for which I can use points, they all seem to be similarly bad in the "points value" context.
And also, what is C/F?
Regards, Chris
J/C = general abbreviation for business class
F = general abbreaviation for First class
(J/C/F may also be booking classes)
When determining whether to use miles or cash I usually use the following formula:
if (miles required x $0.015 + taxes/surcharges/fees etc. + opportunity costs) < cost of revenue ticket; Iīll use miles
$0.015 = minimum valuation of my miles (insert a different number if you like)
opportunity costs: value of miles you donīt earn because you use miles vs. buying a revenue ticket
Example: YYZ (Toronto) - (SFO) San Francisco r/t
25k miles required x $0.015 + $260 taxes + $105 (as an Elite I would earn about 7k award miles; 7k miles x $0.015) = $740
=> I would only consider using miles if a regular ticket cost more than $740.
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Youīll also find FTers saying they got a return of > $0.10/miles when redeeming for intīl First Class. While their calculation is theoretically correct (cost of an F ticket US/Canada-Europe is greater than $10k, and costs 100k miles as an award), only a very few FTers would have spent that sort of money (out of their own pocket).
Anyway, you obviously get the highest return when redeeming for intīl business/First class.