Originally Posted by
MauiSeeker
I make it my practice to always fly my preferred carrier for international flights when the difference in fare is $300 or less. The extra mileage and elite perks far outweigh any marginal dollar difference.
For me, as for some others in this thread, status is a key factor - so what I'll pay depends on where I am vis-a-vis status that year. If I need 50,000 miles by the end of the calendar year, it's January, and I can reasonably expect 70,000 no matter what, I might pay a bit for bonus miles and early boarding, but not very much. If it's December and I'm at 47.6 - as they say in the Mastercard ads, "priceless."