Originally Posted by
andrewsco
I see what you're saying about the price of a ticket that 'I would otherwise purchase', but the reality of it is, I would NEVER pay for a business class / first flight - thus why I've decided to collect miles.
There are two other ways to look at this situation: (for simplicity, using US$ scenarios)
(a) What would you have done with the miles otherwise? For example, if you would have redeemed 100k miles for four domestic US round trips, each worth $350, then you are "spending" $1400 on the first class ticket, because that's what you
would have gotten from the points otherwise. (You will end up spending that $1400 in cash in lieu of using those points.)
(b) What did you give up to earn those miles? If you would have otherwise used a 2% cashback card for $100k in spend, rather than a card that earns 1 mile/$, your "cost" for the flight is $2000 in
cash you gave up to earn those miles.
These two methods will tell you what your ticket "cost". Either way, you are giving up some sort of alternate value to earn that ticket you wouldn't otherwise buy.