FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Basic question: miles vs. paying for ticket

Dec 19, 2018, 5:39 pm

#26

Boraxo

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Dec 2002

Location: Danville, CA, USA;

Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat

Posts: 15,722

I am surprised we don't have a master thread on this topic as this appears to be a common question that crosses all programs.

My current situation (which interestingly is not all that different than OP):

The trip: Business Class TATL (Europe->SFO) during peak summer season, very little flexibility on dates (+/- 3)
Cash cost of tickets: $1150 x 4 persons = $4600 – great itinerary with one connection and lie-flat seats, decent EQN + RDM
Mileage option: 70k miles x 4 = 280k minimum – at least 1 connection and probably 2, plus maybe a $$ positioning flight to the gateway city

At this point there is ZERO award space for <100k per person, though that may change. If I could find space at 70k the redemption value would be .014 per point.

Seems like cash is the right choice, except that I don’t particularly want to shell out $4k and my family does not need the EQN or RDM. On the flip side, I try to redeem for .02+ per point. And we already redeemed 280k for outbound TATL flights in C on LH, which was a big win.

Thoughts?

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