Originally Posted by
mnmoxie
I am a casual traveler where my wife and I take 3-4 flights a year for leisure. Our travels in 2015 has given me, for the first time, a chance for silver status. I can buy 2500 MQM for $495 to bridge the gap and give me silver status for 2016. My question is: Is it worth it for me to do this? We will be traveling about the same in 2016 with one trip to Hawaii in April. We typically fly first class whether buying FC ticket or upgrading using miles. I just don't know if I will benefit from this other than receiving 7 miles vs 5 miles for ticket purchases.
Your feedback is appreciated.
Thanks
If we guess that four FC RT fares cost about $10,000, at an additional two miles per dollar, FO would mean earning an additional 20,000 redeemable miles next year. For these miles to be worth $500, you would need to get value equal to two and a half cents per mile for them, which isn't necessarily unrealistic if you use miles well. [If you have a DL credit card and therefore can use PWM, the minimum value you get is approximately one cent per mile.] So I'd say that it depends a lot of how much money you'll spend next year on DL tickets. If some of your trips are international longhaul, it's probably worth buying the MQMs, although you might be able to get them cheaper by just purchasing a cheap ticket for fun, such as flying to some other city for an afternoon at the museum or Christmas shopping.