Originally Posted by altaskier

It can be good to keep a modest stash (150K for example). Once I tried to sneak in some diving on Jeju Island in South Korea at the end of a business trip, where I was to return from S. Korea to France to the US (complicated story, but because of work reasons to be first in France and then in S. Korea). A storm blew in as I landed on Jeju Island, and there was to be no diving for several days. Because I had a stash of miles I was able to call that morning and use miles to get home that same day (ICN to LAX to JFK, my home then) rather than wait 3-4 days. Would have cost me thousands of dollars if I had done this without miles.