twitch76

beckoa

I used to use the $25 ones once in a while... but they started stacking up. And my mileage balance started to decrease.

I do miles most of the time these days. 2500 miles is a nice shot of miles. Haven't been able to collect as much in 2018. Which means bags have been more punctual ^

AKLifetimeFlyer

Always miles for me.

missamo80

Always miles.

twitch76

be_rettSEA

If you follow the common valuation of ~ $.02 per mile, the 2500 miles are double the face value of the discount code, but it depends where you find value and will use them more.
In my experience, these are pretty much just codes that are entered on a separate site that are then credited. There may be some other controls that I'm not aware of, but when I got one two weeks ago, the agent pretty much just handed one to me without getting any information from me, so I bet you'd be able to deposit both to a single account with no issue.

NoLaGent

They are not and yes, you can. I've done exactly that many times.

milypan

ctporter

I flew last week from MSP to SEA with two checked bags, (if I check my tools I figure I might as well check my carryon as well) My 22x14x9 pelican when arriving at SEA always comes out in oversize bags. At other airports it comes as normal bags most of the time. On this flight, my checked carryon arrived quickly, so I went over to oversize near 14 where the pelican normally drops but it did not drop. So I went to the baggage claim agent next to 14 and she started looking for it. We walked back down to 12 and sure enough, it had dropped on 12 that day. She handed me a voucher "for having to wait". I tried to turn it down a, but she said it was because I mistakenly waited where it should have been. I forgot about it, but will now select miles

rune87

Always miles. Alaska has been kind enough to add about 40k miles to my account this year from late bags.

PABE

PVDtoDEL

Because the discount codes also reduce tax, the real tradeoff is 1.075 cpm.

Agree that the miles are still the better deal.

channa

Usually the miles -- they're the better value and have fewer strings. If I have a high balance and a ticket to book imminently, sometimes the money. Remember the money is off of one ticket, cannot put 2 pax on the same PNR if the other pax is also using a voucher, cannot combine vouchers if you have more than one, etc. If you need to cancel, you lose the voucher, so you have to change it to preserve it. It expires in a year, and all sorts of strings.

Miles are just simpler. They add to the balance and you use them when you use them.

flyupfrnt

I prefer the $25 discount more often than not. Nothing makes me happier than saving over 25% (Tax reduction) on a $100 one way. Not to mention stacking the discount with wallet credits from Fare drop's (oh how I'll miss thee, bye bye). I earn plenty of miles flying and don't redeem them nearly as often as I should. That's just me and clearly I'm in the minority opinion here. YMMV

MJMLBBtoCPH

To the OP... it really comes down to your flying habits and who's paying for the tickets. If your company is usually buying your tickets, then certainly the miles are the best deal. But the miles are RARELY worth 2 cents as someone above stated. Usually they are worth a little north of 1 cent, unless you are booking a last-minute award ticket or an overseas ticket, particularly in business class. Of course, Gold and 75k don't pay a close-in booking fee. I don't know what the rules are for the regular folk for last minute award tickets on AS, because I status-matched from AA a few years ago. But, I also find - not infrequently - that when I need a last-minute booking, there is NO availability on AS or its partners to where I need to go - i.e. the miles are worthless in those instances - and I end up using AA or UA miles on a saver award ticket and paying the close-in booking fee since I don't have status with them.

Take AUS to PDX as an example. You can find prices in advance for this route that are only 10,000 miles, but then again, you can also find fares in advance for this route that are $119 (occasionally this past year I've seen the route priced at $99, though I think those times are gone). That $119 translates into about 1.2 cents (rounding up) per mile IF you get the 10k award ticket. If you are not gold or 75k, you have limited options to change an award ticket once booked.

But, if you are like me and you have to purchase all of your tickets for every week you travel AND you have a ton of miles, well gosh, I'd rather pay less than $100 bucks for the AUS to PDX route than put miles away to add to the 100k plus I already have. I think the question you ask kinda depends on what your current and future needs are in travel. Incidentally, I've never had trouble having a phone agent issue a new $25 voucher when I've had to change my itinerary.

My point is regarding miles vs. money voucher is that it really depends on how you use the miles, how many miles you have, who buys your tickets, and how often you fly.

Of course, it's been awhile since I checked a bag, so I've stopped getting the vouchers, but I used to get them all the time due to late baggage.