Originally Posted by
irishguy28
Miles are better spent on business class long haul - unless you are making a last minute economy booking where the cash price is huge, or buying a one-way ticket for a route where they charge a premium for one ways.
Originally Posted by
NickB
That and also intra-European economy can be an OK use of miles.
That used to be true but it is becoming less so with the introduction of the dynamic pricing model for awards.
Exactly. European trips for 8,500 miles + 28EUR tax (one way) is often available, and quite a good deal. Also Europe-USA in J for 62,500 is good, even for 75,000. Also, as Platinum you have access to Premiere awards. If you have enough miles, then 200,000 miles to fly Premiere to California is a good deal. Trouble is that if you are limited on specific dates you may find that the award prices out at much more (the J award to the US suddenly costs 175,000 miles).
But of course all of this is not to say that overall loyalty programs are a great deal for customers - they are not. And indeed it takes more spending to get an award seat. Dynamic pricing has led to FB claiming that there are more award seats available than in the past . which is true - but also to awards typically being more expensive than in the past.