Guava

As I have repeated over and over again in this thread, the condition to make this buy Lifemiles business worthwhile is that LH F is bookable. Nothing else will work, not even with ANA F. I have shown the why and how with concrete numbers earlier in this thread, apparently, many people also agreed and seeing that, Lifemiles somehow relented on this deal breaker. So let me re-qualify my position: "As long as LH F award being bookable again is not a Christmas teaser, then buying Lifemiles at 150% bonus may be justified again." The key word is "may". Personally, I am not buying because I have no need at this time but it's interesting to see that Lifemiles actually backpedaled on this restriction, it does make you wonder if they follow this forum and the posts here...

AA_EXP09

I disagree.
Domestic USA redemptions at (25000/2.5*33)=USD 330 in Y is still good value.
I have seen X class space when the fares are 300+ each way (i.e. SFOBOS)
Same thing with flights from Canada (i.e. YYZLAX)

Guava

You are welcome to disagree however you want, once in a blue moon exceptions don't make the rule. US domestic transcon are rarely priced at $330 each way in coach. When and if that happens, it usually signals scarcity in available seats and award seats are naturally almost never available in that case. Yes, there are rare exceptions but generally speaking, airlines aren't stupid. There is a reason why a one-way flight is pricing that high and on a transcon, unlike say two point to point short-haul where prices can be even higher. It's either scarcity of available seats or the fact you are not doing fare search properly or limiting yourself only to *A carriers when sensible alternatives are available. As an example, I search SFO-BOS for the next month on ITA. Even over the very busy holiday period, here is the result:

https://matrix.itasoftware.com/#cale...esearch=SFOBOS

It's rare that the lowest price will go above $200 on any given day. The fair benchmark of an economy class award is the lowest price available on the desired date of travel provided they are of same of number of connections. Take SFO-BOS as example, there are two other airlines that fly direct on that route other than UA - Jet Blue and Virgin America, both of which must be considered as potential alternative when assessing the value of the economy class awards. Instead of paying $300 to fly UA one way, flying Virgin would be just fine since award travel doesn't earn miles.

In certain city pairs, such as LAX-YYZ-LAX, you also need to factor in the taxes where they become more significant whereas quoted airfare are all-inclusive. The $330 example you cited above omitted the taxes, and the mandatory Lifemiles surcharge of $25 on partner booking.

In the unlikely event that you can find award seats on a direct transcon flight that is selling at above average price for its market, by all means, it makes sense to buy points for them. But I contend such opportunities are rare and to buy points pre-emptively in hope to accomplish that is too speculative and inadvisable.

AA_EXP09

Sorry, I meant $330 round trip in mileage cost (AV's reward chart shows 12,500 miles each way in Y. 12.5*33/2.5=$165 each way, or $330 round trip.)
Revenue fares can regularly be above that amount (though, I did forget about the partner booking fee.)

Tokyoite

so...yet another promo, or is it an extension? 2x1 + 40% till Dec. 18th. email just arrived.

BA Humbug

By the wording it looks like an extension:

Guava

The $330 needs to add partner booking fee + taxes. Like I said, in your YYZ-LAX-YYZ example, that will add up easily over $400.

Plus, revenue tickets generate miles while award tickets don't. The value of the miles flown, depending on elite status of course, can significantly offset the cost of the revenue ticket. Last but not least, revenue tickets can be elite upgraded without additional charges for most major U.S. carriers whereas an award ticket through Lifemiles cannot. On long transcons, free upgrade can be a big plus. Both are important considerations that you failed to include in your analysis. For example, LAX-BOS-LAX over the holiday season, departing Dec 30, I found on ITA that AA is selling a return trip for $256.20 - direct flights non-stop both ways. Not only this is already below the cost of purchasing Lifemiles, this ticket booked in O class will generate 5222 base miles or 10,444 miles for AA Platinum and Executive Platinum members. Chances are also good that those elites will also ride in the front cabin by paying such low fare. 10,444 miles is worth, assuming each AA mile is only worth $0.019 using a historical cost based method, $198.44. Keep in mind I am understating the value of the miles earned given that the current sales price of AA miles is higher than $0.019 - in fact, the current promo puts the cost at $0.02 a piece ($3,994.06 for 200,000 miles link to aa.com) assuming one buys them at the bulk price of 200K+ miles per transaction, otherwise, the cost is higher. If I re-value the 10,444 miles earned using the current cost method, then the value of the miles earned = +/- $208

So the actual cost of the revenue ticket = $256.20 - $208 = +/- $48. I am not even assigning a value to the elite upgrades, which they should because you will be paying economy class fare to ride in premium class. If you value those upgrades on a total of 11+ hours of flights in front cabin at more than $48, as most people here surely would, then the effective cost of your revenue ticket is actually below zero.

Even if the ticket is not actually selling at $256 given that O class is a deeply discounted fare, say it's actually $450 in total, the same logic still applies: $450 - value of the miles generated - elite upgrade benefits. $450 - $208 = $242, already undercutting the base cost of Lifemiles. The elite upgrade benefits' value is more subjective but it's whatever value you assign to it, some may value it at $50, others are willing to pay $200 for it.

In other words, the cost of the revenue ticket will have to be quite a bit higher than $450 for the Lifemiles purchase to make sense but then there are always some cheap fares around, even if it's not your preferred carrier or if you have to make an extra connection somewhere. And outside of peak seasons, transcon fares are highly competitive whereas award tickets are generally not readily available on direct flights and will more often than not, require you to make undesirable connection somewhere if available. Lifemiles will also treat domestic U.S. First Class on 2 class aircraft at the cost of actual First class ticket. All said and done, Lifemiles is a poor alternative for North American travel, despite the low taxes on most awards tickets out of the U.S.

macssam

normal tickets are much cheaper and you are free to select any destination
airport taxes seem to be much higher with LifeMiles
when there is a problem forget LifeMiles altogether

BA Humbug

Show me where you can consistently buy one-way business class tickets for $950 in points + ~$100 in taxes between North America & Europe on short notice (<10 days)?

mlqsko

Mods? Where is this thread getting to?

Tokyoite

now now now, if you are looking for value, book this and tell me it is not worth it! two long hauls in F, AND the LH FCT to top it up.
simply use the LMs correctly* and there are gems to be enjoyed!

Cheetah_SA

Totally awesome!! Did you get it ticketed?

Tokyoite

of course.

mlqsko

Share your dreams. When you transfer LifeMiles to friends and family they´ll receive double miles transfered to complete their next experience.

This offer is available from February 9th until the 23rd 2016.

Minimum to Transfer: LM1,000
Maximum to Transfer: LM75,000 per calendar year
You must transfer miles in multiples of 1,000

The miles must be transferred in multiples of 1,000. Maximum transfer miles per member per calendar year: LM 75,000 (excluding additional bonuses). Maximum LifeMiles to receive per member per calendar year: LM 75,000 (excluding additional bonuses). Transfer fee for each block of 1,000 LifeMiles: USD 17.70* including taxes for each country**.

oneworld82

Awesome!! Anyone wants to share back and forth? I have zero miles but I am eager to build up some points here!