Originally Posted by dhuey
My math is about that. Three times I've gotten Virgin Upper Class awards using 100k miles on Delta (actually, the first was at 80k). I'd probably be willing to pay $2.5k for those tickets. 140k for RT F on Singapore. I'd spend 50k miles just to spend a few hours with those FAs.
If you only value at $2.5K the ticket you pulled down as an award for 100K miles, then you are at best breaking even with the purchase of those miles at 2.5 cpm. (Buy them now at 2.5 cpm; hold them while subject to risk of devaluation through changes to FFP or airline problems; and at some time in the future redeem them, not necessarily when you want to?) When I "buy" miles by using my credit card to pay taxes, I am not looking to break even or just come out marginally ahead later when I "sell" them back, I am looking to get a doubling or more of my upfront cash "investment" in those miles.