GBobon

As you probably noticed, when you book hotels on booking.com via Aegean there is no option to log in, as you do have when book thru KLM or LH. So due to this reason, I cannot get my 10% off (genius s**t) but I get 2 miles/EUR spent, while KLM and LH gives you 10% off but 1 mile/EUR.

What are you choosing?

East_and_West

When it comes to such issues, I compare my monetary gain to the price of miles. In the aforementioned case, A3 sells 1000 miles for 25 euro. Knowing that, you simply need to do the math. Suppose that the hotel reservation in question costs X euro, or 0.9*X after your genius discount (or a secret deal, or whatever...). Unless there is some special reason (e.g. you need to reach some threshold on your M&B account to book an award flight), booking via LH (or KLM) is most likely the best choice for you. Let's see an example with X=300 euro.

Option A (via LH or KLM): 270 euro and 270 miles
Option B (via A3): 300 euro (30 euro more) and 600 miles (330 additional miles)

So Option A is definitely not worth it. You can go for Option B (book via LH or KLM), credit 270 miles to your M&M or FlyingBlue account, and then buy 1000 M&B miles from A3 for 25 euro, paying 295 euro in total. This way, compared to Option A, you earn 270 additional M&M miles, 400 additional M&B miles, and even save 5 euro. ^

Additional gains from Option B are higher for more expensive reservations.

GBobon

cool. i forgot about the option to buy miles from A3. thanks a lot

yurtripper

Good example, but I think in the explanation following the two options you got option A and B mixed up (it's option B that's not worth it here)

East_and_West

^

LacMajeur

In my humble opinion, this is a terrible comparison point. There is no way 1000 award miles are worth 25€.

100'000 miles give 500€ purchases at Fiorissimo shop. 30'000 miles give 150€ purchases at Ergon deli restaurants.

That means that 1000 miles are worth 5€.

Put it this way:

To get 1000 miles (value = 5€), you need to spend 500€.

With a 500€ hotels purchase at Hotels.com. you can get:
- One night for free for each 10 nights paid, the free night being of the average value of the 10 paid nights - That's 50€
- On top of this, cashback websites will give 3% (example: Topcashback UK) - That's 15€
- On top of this, once at the hotel you can pay with a credit card (example: Sapphire Preferred) that will give you a good 2% cashback - That's 10€

This applies to Booking.com as well, with the -10% discount code in lieu of the free night reward.

Bottom line: On one hand you get 1000 miles worth 5€, and on the other hand you get a good solid 75€.

East_and_West

I just used it as a standard of comparison. It basically depends how you see it. Last year I booked two tickets ARN-BKK on J for 55,000 miles each. The cost would otherwise be around 2,600 euro. So 1000 miles were worth more than 47 euro in that case.

Anyway, I would guess that the majority of frequent travellers (and especially people here) do not collect miles in order to spend them on flowers...

GBobon

@LacMajeur, I got your point, but if we talk strictly only about the case I mentioned on my OP, then from the case explained by @East_and_West is definitely better to credit that miles in M&M/FB and get -10offm then buy 1000 miles for 25EUR (savings from genius discount). on my prev booking I basically spent 15EUR for 214 miles?! (the room was 107EUR/night, or about 92EUR with Genius discount).

I really didnt remember about the option to buy miles :/

LacMajeur

True, but they don't buy them either. That's why I think that the "buy" price is highly misleading.

Yes, but a better deal would be to not buy the 1000 miles, and to credit to a cashback program, even the Amex one. M&M value is tiny anyway (as per my observations, around 5€ per 1000 miles as well).
Award availability is often scarce, so on average, this is accurate: https://thepointsguy.com/guide/monthly-valuations/
I would recommend to use these valuations for such price comparisons. And they are quite generous: almost 12€ per 1000 M&M.

Chr04

According to Aegean site:

1000 Award miles cost 25 euros.
500 Tier miles cost 50 euros,

LacMajeur

At this price, I'm more than happy to sell/transfer you the maximum allowed (50'000 miles), and I will even give you a 30% discount on the list price, including the 15€ fee

It makes no sense. It's easy to find an Aegean flight giving 1500 miles for 50€. We cannot use these valuations seriously.

:D!

Only if you were seriously willing to pay 2600 euros for that flight. Otherwise the miles are worth the lowest amount you would have actually paid.

LacMajeur

I agree, I don't think someone here would pay 2600€ plus taxes for a one-way ticket to Bangkok.

If we follow TPG's valuations, a return J ticket (110'000 miles) is worth 1300€ plus taxes. That's actually what I'm willing to pay for such a ticket.

(And a "good deal" would be 1000€: https://www.fly4free.com/flight-deal...ts-to-bangkok/ )

GBobon

I wouldnt call ”good deal” a fare that shows up a few times/year with quite limited availability...

East_and_West

That right, of course I wouldn't pay 2600 euro (around SEK 24000 at that point) for an one-way holiday trip. I just used that as an example to show that the exact exchange rate between miles and euro may depend on the individual case, person, and contingency. I wouldn't certainly value 1000 miles at 100 euro, but putting them into good use can definitely make them worth 25, 30 or 35 euro...

TG was the only carrier flying directly to Thailand that offered proper J seats and service, and miles came in handy exactly because we were not willing to pay 2x 24000 kronor for our tickets