Originally Posted by
WormGod
...A final thought - I really don't understand the logic of the 27,500 mile choice for the EC 261 compensation because it is worth so much less than either of the other two options. Plus, they offered me 20,000 miles (instead of the $400) for the "inconvenience." Just seems that if they wanted people to choose the miles, they would need to seriously increase the amount of miles they offer.
The value of the miles varies significantly based on when/how you uses them. If I want to fly round-trip from Maui to Houston at the last minute, UA may have only a $1600+ round-trip fare left. I can book a saver award (45k miles r.t.) for the same flights. The value of 27k+20K is now $1600+. Of course, the ETCs are usually much more valuable if you plan to use them and book in advance. I think the only people who would ever take the miles are those who don't know better or those w/ few miles in their account and who often book at last minute.