Originally Posted by
JohnAx
That issue being beyond my Economist horizon, do you recall how they valued a mile? (And will I spoil a secret by mentioning that one can get a year of the magazine for about 3500 NW miles?)
It was in Jan 2005 and still in the subscription part of
http://www.economist.com
They counted 14 trillion FF miles issued and recognized that the value differed considerably between plans and even with types of usage. They picked a dubious USD 0.05 value per FF mile, giving the staggering USD 700 billion in FF miles outstanding. But even at 1/4 that valuation, it is still a huge number (or rather, a number that the airlines have no intention in giving out as a benefit).
From the article (which was classic British humour, btw):
"But what is a mile worth? Airlines sell them to credit-card firms at an average of just under 2 cents a mile; their value when used to buy a ticket or to upgrade to business class can be anywhere between 1 cent and over 10 cents per mile. Using the mid-point of this range means that the global stock of frequent-flyer miles is now worth over $700 billion, more than all the dollar notes and coins at large."