<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
Personally, I get mad when someone uses 25K for a domestic ticket that you can do on a advance, cheapie.
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Not all 25K domestic awards are bad ones. And hoarding your miles for whopper awards isn't always the best bang for the buck.
It depends on whether you want maximum *enjoyment* from your miles or maximum *real cash value* from your miles. For example, a 25K or 40K domestic award used for a flight you need to be on tomorrow might net you 3 to 5 cents per mile in real cash that stayed in your pocket.
On the other hand, a long-haul F award for your vacation is much, much more *enjoyable*, but probably delivers less real cash value back to you (unless you are the type that actually buys $10,000 tickets for your vacations). Spending 120,000 miles for F when the cheap coach ticket was available for $700 makes sense for you because it's FUN to be in first-class.
I like both types of awards. I especially like it when I can upgrade off of cheap international coach fares. I think international premium class is a LOT of fun. I also hate paying $1500 for a domestic ticket.
But those are just my preferences. They aren't any better or worse than anyone else's.