Originally Posted by
Dr Jabadski
It seems ceieoc is referring to one checking account and one MM account, each with an average balance of $200,000 thus 240,000 miles and $144 fees for the checking account and 120,000 miles and no fees for the MM account for a total of 360,000 miles.
In my quote (… for many of us 120,000 miles for no fee, or 240,000 miles for $144, even with the lost opportunity cost, is VERY well worth it.) I was referring to a single account with an average balance of $200,000 thus 240,000 miles and $144 fees for a checking account or 120,000 and no fees for a MM account.
(I’ll not muddy the waters and state the fact that people with 2 checking accounts prior to BD changes last spring were “grandfathered” and allowed to keep the 2 checking accounts.)
That is the reality for the majority of folks who did not have the foresight to open 2 checking accounts before last year's change. An additional $144 for an additional 120K AA miles is a no-brainer - because in order to earn the 120K AA miles no fee using the MMA, you would need to deposit the $200K anyway. I could not imagine anyone who feels the BD account is worth it, would opt for the MMA just to save the $144 fee but get only 50% of the miles earned.
Like I said, it is not just the CX F redemption that warrants such, but also other types of awards including off peak one-way International award between Europe/South America and North America. It is a matter of knowing how to maximize one's award redemption based on one's travel pattern. AA miles worth far more than that mechanical calculation of 1.56 cpm - the value varies between as high as almost 10 cpm to as low as 4cpm but never has value below that. Furthermore, it is actually for some trips we would need to buy tickets had we not had the miles to redeem. Of course if one's idea of redemption is a domestic r/t in coach, or even to Hawaii - then it would be hard to get above 2 cpm.
To illustrate, I just ticketed a one-way MIA-LAX-NRT-HKG in J for 55K AA miles. Husband wants to spend Chinese New Year in HKG as well as has needs to be there in around that time frame. The cheapest ticket to fly J to HKG is on AC via YYZ and a fuel stop at YVR, for approx $4,100. If one wants to use JL via NRT or CX direct flight, the cost jumps to $6600 and up. At a minimum, the 55K AA miles saves us $4,100 which we would be reluctant to pay but would be willing to pay if needed to. The yield in this case is 7.45 cpm. A very well worth spending on miles for our travel need.
Actually it was because of the miserable experience in trying to find a J award using UA/CO miles for the above trip that skewed me to up our BD account balance to the full amount so we can get the maximum AA miles. In fact if husband is willing to connect at either YYZ or JFK, he could get the CX direct flight on his dates but he does not want to chance the January weather in Northeast so we opted for the TPAC from West Coast.
UA wants 150K for its TPAC to HKG as a starter. Other options would all be via either Japan or Korea but in order to get to the West Coast gateways, he has to connect somewhere domestically if using UA/CO award. The AA award allows him to have direct Transcon flight, with 5K LESS miles, plus free changes versus the change fees charged by UA/CO. CO has 0 availability from its EWR hub to HKG by the way.
I always find those mechanical of cpm calculation is too academic and too narrow-minded - sometimes it hurts by biasing a person's idea on how the miles can do for him. But of course this is a highly YMMV topic.
