Originally Posted by
sxpsxpsxp
I'm confused by this statement... For me, at least, the intention to fly an itinerary comes first. Then I look at the value proposition -- how much are paid tickets and how much are award tickets to determine whether I will indeed fly it, which airline, and whether I will redeem miles for it. It's not like I have so many miles to burn, I will book tickets just because they're available for redemption. Do people really do that?
If say redeeming for LHR-SYD , the mileage cost in business class is 185,000 and a paid ticket might be , say, GBP3500 ( c. $4300 ) . This would make it a value per mile of 2.3c - but imo only a valid value if the person would otherwise have paid the $4300 and not purchased an economy ticket or gone on another cheaper airline. If the person would otherwise have paid GBP800 and flown economy or GBP2000 and gone premium economy, then the 185000 would imo only be a saving against that lowe value