bklgafly

So I am fairly new to the whole points game but my take after looking at redemption ideas for the last few months, when you are booking econ - as we are a family of three: two adults and a 2+ yo, is that you either book with southwest via transfer (which is limited destinations even for us in NYC) or to just book through portal with CSR....

Only times I came across an econ ticket that had a value of more than the 1.5 cents was for sweet spots and there aren't many out there. Not to mention the fact you earn miles on that portal booking....

Maybe another exception will be in the future when we have to on fly in high season when prices are high so maybe transfer to partner will beat out.. but for now, when we are flexible - I pull up google flights to see best times to fly in terms of pricing... it is always significantly better to just book with CSR on portal for those cheaper dates.

It feels like the whole transfer to partners thing is only really worth it (econ booking) for sweet-spots, high season (and then you are probably in trouble to even find availability), or southwest...

Anyone else came to this conclusion?

iamflyer

For economy domestic I agree, 1.5cpp is hard to beat. The better value comes for those flying international in upper classes.

bklgafly

Upper classes for sure... but econ is almost always better at 1.5cpp

I even looked at TLV on air france which is a sweet spot.

Looking at July - XL airlines has a NYC-TLV (stop at paris) for $886.... Air France is 50k points (sweet spot) but like $240 in taxes and fees. so you really are looking at a hair under 1.3cpp.... so even a sweet spot isn't working here.

So granted that Xl price here is really low and all other airlines (sorry but I do not look at aeroflot and turkish) are well over $1000.

I guess this is a good and bad thing. Booking on chase portal is super easy and you earn miles but sad that 1.5 is really hard to beat for econ.

jcp3rd

Booking through the Chase travel portal with points to earn frequent-flyer miles in econ can be a great deal; it can be price-equivalent to (or less than) a revenue ticket, with the following big caveat for the legacy carriers that market BE (Basic Economy) fares: the Chase portal currently offers no way to filter BE (or consolidator) fares out from other economy fares, so if booking on an airline like DL, AA or UA, you can either: (1) complete the points transaction through the Chase portal, and then check the fare class on the airline's site, cancelling the ticket if necessary within 24 hrs; or (2) call in to Chase's travel provider and specify no BE ticket.
Calling in can be tedious, so, after having been burned once, I first search for the carrier's non-BE econ fares for a route, and then if the Chase fare is within that ballpark, it's probably not a BE fare, and I'll book it online without calling in. But these days I *always* check the fare class once the ticket's issued.

Kacee

The exceptions are last minute flights and discounted short-hauls (e.g., intra-Europe flights booked via UA for 8k miles).

If you need to fly somewhere within the next few days, there's a very good chance a redemption will net you well over 2 cpp.

mia

Another exception is if the origin or destination is an airport served only by commuter airlines. Limited competition leads to higher prices, but the award mileage requirement is typically the same as on a competitive route.

bklgafly

JCP3rd - as tonei mentioned you can filter it out.

Mia - I agree. In really special locations it is true. I forgot where but somewhere in Colorado I came across this.

mia

Discussion of ability to exclude Basic Economy fares from Chase travel portal search results moved:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...ts-2017-a.html

Need

I wouldn't say it is always significantly better, but similar pricing. One thing about award ticket is that you could cancel it. You may have to pay a fee but usually you can cancel it, where the ones from Chase Travel portal are usually non-refundable.

Gig103

I agree too, and add that using URs as cash equivalents results in earning Elite miles with your respective FF program, awards do not.

But I did want to add that last minute flying in economy is another area where points can beat 1.5cpm, unless you have to pay last-minute award booking fees. I landed a 12,500 saver award on AA (not a Chase partner, just an example) on a fare that was > $300. But then I'm not earning miles either.

milypan

I think the only exceptions would be if you know you are traveling during high season (e.g. Thanksgiving or Christmas) and book 330 days in advance (as soon as award availability opens), or sometimes if you have to book a last-minute ticket for whatever reason. E.g., I once used ~35k miles to book an economy ticket for a friend with a family emergency, when it would have cost close to $1k to purchase the ticket outright. The other case would be if you live in a market that has little or no competition and thus stubbornly high fares.

bklgafly

Yes absolutely. Another exception is last minute.

All these mentioned here just show more what we all know... that accumulating transferable points is the way to go vs. miles accumulation at an airline as you can do either portal or transfer when you need to.

Another thing to mention is that airlines have been devaluing and devaluing their currencies which basically raises value of this 1.5 CSR option

hightide

These days for Economy flights, even 1.25x portal redemption through non-Reserve cards win.

Before the UA devaluation, my favourite redemption was Southeast Asia - Australia (stopover) - New Zealand - Southeast Asia for 35K miles + US$100ish taxes in Y. Now the cost for this itinerary is 50K miles and in my opinion, it's only worthwhile if one wants to go from South East Asia - NZ (stopover) - South Island NZ - South East Asia as flights to Australia from SE Asia can often be had for under $500 return.

tmiw

I seem to remember getting fairly decent value (above 1.5cpp but I don't recall exactly how much) for Southwest points on fairly short flights before. I imagine that'd really depend on the flight, though, and also won't help if you don't want to or can't fly Southwest for whatever reason.

bklgafly

Even sweetspots seems not be able to beat it.

Just looked up flying blue air France usa to TLV. Famous sweet spot for 50k. But it also has around $300 in taxes so I rather spend 60k through portal without $300.. which isn't hard to find. plus I get miles...