Originally Posted by
guv1976
I'm pretty sure that, at least as used in Post
#1 , "cpm" means "cents per mile," not cost per mile.
The value of miles can vary widely, depending on how you use them. If you hold a qualifying AA credit card and can make use of the reduced-mileage-award destinations, you can go cross country in Economy for 8,750 AA miles, one way. If you traveling to or from a smaller airport that usually has high fares, this can be a great deal.
And, if you can live with the non-refundable, non-changeable nature of IB Plus awards on AA, you can do very well on short-distance trips requiring a connection: a roundtrip in Coach involving up to 1,000 flown miles costs just 12,000 IB Plus Avios. (Unfortunately, there's a software problem at the moment that prevents redemption of IB Plus Avios on AA; presumably, that will be fixed eventually.)
1. Yes, cpm = "cents per mile"
2. US domestic awards are strong suits for legacy airlines
-don't bother with F unless Y is sold out; the food still sucks, and the seats aren't much better
-use your bullets for destinations that are generally expensive cash wise (e.g. DCA, JAC, PSP, SNA)
3. It's kind of difficult for me to rack up AS miles these days. It was much easier when I was based in PDX
-but, the chance to fly CX F certainly justifies a credit card sign-up or two
-while some of you have minimal interest in HK, since we all love airplanes, CX F is well worth it (especially compared to 10x SEA-LAX trips)
4. @
all please tell me more about hotel points; I told you in my OP that I don't stay in branded hotels, but I certainly could