Welcome, REB, from another (relative) newbie.

I got an offer a year ago for magazines for miles through my AA acount. Don't fly them hardly at all, so it seemed like a good use for my measly 5000 mile balance. Got all the subscriptions with no problems, and felt the value for miles was reasonable.

Most folks here value miles at between .01 and .02 each; my number comes in at .015 per.

Rationale: a 25,000 mile award equates to about a $375 ticket. If a fare is much less than that, I keep the miles in the bank, buy the ticket and earn more miles on the paid fare. If the ticket is way more than that, I just smile and book the award travel.

Hope you have fun and learn lots on this board. I do.