Originally Posted by funtotravel
Can anyone help me make a decision? I have seen where people state the cost per mile and what the best decision is, but I'm not exactly sure how to calculate that and to determine what the break point is.
Which is better - to use miles (with the 25% off going on right now) or purchase a ticket or one of each? It would be 18,750 miles per person Coach ticket (exit row) or approx $325 per ticket. I have the award tickets on hold currently. I have also never used any of the one-way automatic upgrades I received for becoming Diamond, if you want to throw that into the mix too.
I am Diamond and the other person travelling has no status.
It would be an RJ (< 500 miles) to JFK and then JFK to SJU and the return. If it matters, the outbound is on a 757 and the return is on a A300-600.
Asumming I calculated it correctly, I would get the min 500 miles (*2 for status) + 1597 (*2 for status) each way = 4194 miles or 8388 total miles if I used cash for the ticket.
I hope that is enough information. And thanks for your help.
FYI - Flyertalk rocks!
Hi, funtotravel.
Your mileage difference would be the 8388 miles you would earn if you bought the ticket, plus the 18750 you would need to burn for an award ticket, or 27, 138 total miles. The cost is $325/ticket (I assume that includes taxes, etc). That puts it at about 1.2 cents per mile. My rule of thumb is this: less than 1 cent per mile, spend the money. 1.0-1.5, lean toward spending the money. 1.5-2.0, lean toward the award. Over 2.0 cents per mile, get the award. This one is pretty far toward the buy the ticket end of the spectrum.
I assume that you are talking about automatic upgrades because of EXP status. Your diamond status doesn't really do much for you on AA. You would be eligible for space-available upgrade, as would your companion. Yours would be free, you would have to buy 500 mile upgrades for your companion if you do not have them in your account. I am not real conversant with the EXP program, but it is my general impression that there is no upgrade for award tickets. I know that there is no upgrade for Plat and Gold flyers with 500 mile upgrades.
What you should do depends on your alternative uses for the miles.