Originally Posted by
bbison
It's terrible, but the what are the UA miles worth in comparison?
At this point I'd personally value them at parity, possibly even giving a slight nod to UA miles. I have little interest in Y redemptions, and even less faith in AS partner J availability.
Originally Posted by
Flying for Fun
How does the RDM and "miles" required for a redemption compare? Can you please price out a JL F award SFO-DEL with international connecting flights from Canada, with a stopover in TYO for comparison? Thank you.
No I cannot, because that's not the comparison I'm making, and it's not an itinerary that I have any interest in flying. Furthermore, I suspect it could take a long time to find availability at a time that would work for me, which is the exact reason that I don't place a super high value on RDMs.
If status is more important than awards, your point is valid.
If your question is do I value 1 EQM more than 1 RDM, the answer is absolutely yes. It's not just me — the market values EQMs much more than RDMs. RDMs get handed out like candy; take a flight, swipe a credit card, make a service complaint, get a late bag, rent a car, rent a bike, stay at a hotel, buy something online, eat at a restaurant, and we'll give you RDMs! I could go on ad nauseam. EQMs, OTOH, only accrue with flying and, in limited cases (though not AS), very high credit card spend.
I get that many people on this forum are self-selecting onto AS because they value RDMs more than most. That's fine. But this is a discussion of people contemplating switching away from Mileage Plan. If you're thinking about leaving Mileage Plan, you probably don't assign an exceptionally high value to RDMs.
Originally Posted by
jinglish
UA's premium cabin redemption values aren't as good as AS's, and of course you're not earning nearly as many miles on cheap economy tickets. But there's a decent bit of availability across *A, and the values aren't that much worse. A one-way saver award to Europe in J is 57.5k on UA or 70k on partners; those 135k awards are at the anytime level. And while those are certainly a poor value by comparison, they're at least an option if you have enough miles, while AS is solely at the mercy of partner saver inventory.
Right. I don't think it's fair to compare anytime awards to AS partner saver awards. If I'm willing to be very flexible with times and routings — as I would have to be with an AS partner award — I can likely find a paid J ticket to Europe for under $2500 RT. But if I want to travel at a time and place of my choosing, then I have to pay significantly more, whether in miles (which isn't an option on AS partners) or cash.