Originally Posted by
RTW1
And you are right, the personal use of the miles is a big factor as well. But what I see in general is that people tend to value their miles too high....
Plus there's the fact that by having the miles I tend to travel more, spending even more money :-). Especially due to the fact that when an error fare materializes I tend to look at that as well.
And AwardBee, that time spent searching award availability is both a blessing and a curse...
Finding a good mistake fare is like finding all the flight segments you need for an award in J/F. Either way you're getting an amazing deal. $500 around the world flight in economy? Awesome. $1200 all-in for a 2-continent business class trip? Also awesome.
Don't have time to search availability? Pay a booking service to do it, only adds marginally to the overall cost.
As for whether this promo is a bargain, it might be if it can be used strategically to top up 2 or more accounts to the levels needed for an award. But I think we can all agree, it's only half as good as the last promo in April, if even that.
This may be an omen of things to come - USDM will only be around for a little while longer. By this time next year they may have folded into AA completely and these buy/share mile promos may be a thing of the past. Same goes for their extremely generous routing rules
