Originally Posted by
hindukid
Are you taking into account the following:
1. Another airline might be cheaper.
2. Another airline might be more convenient
3. There might not be award seats available on the day you fly.
4. You would earn miles on the purchased ticket.
5. Have you factored in taxes?
Lets say I want to go to India. Oneworld ticket to India in coach is $1600. Cost of ticket is 80K miles, so yield is 2 cents? No.
Best price to India is $1300 on UA. UA and AA or BA are equal convenience. Also earn 18K miles so true cost of mileage is 98K miles. Also have to pay taxes of $130 so savings is only $1170. Also I realize there are limited award dates available so I subtract another 15% because I probably won't get the dates I want.
So my net savings is $995 for 98K miles or 1.02 cents per mile.
Running my calculations in this fashion, I have a tough time justifying more than 1.4 cents. And that 1.4 is only because of the stopover trip.
All your points are valid, but I think a trip to India isn't the best illustration.
I don't think a planned trip in Y is a particularly good redemption value unless you are traveling on an expensive route with little competition. The miles are most valuable when used for a last minute trip, or for a trip in business/first (depending on how much you would pay for such a ticket).
My last redemption involved purchasing same day tickets for a trip that I had to take that would have cost, round trip, $1,400 from DCA, or $850 from the much less convenient BWI. With milesAAver availability out of DCA, it was an easy decision.