As a result of a number of bank mergers, I ended up with a First USA Value Miles Platinum Visa. Has anyone had any experience redeeming "miles" thru Value Miles? I am interested in a RT ticket to Caribbean, but the award is limited to $600 so I will have to come out of pocket for the excess. Any rebate if the fare drops? Also, have you had any luck requesting a specific airline?

Value Miles is good - you should get full details with your card.

Sorry for the vagueness of my last post.

FUSA shells out cash to pay for the tix. Therfore, you are treated as a fare-paying passenger, because no one knows it was a reward ticket.

If the fare goes down (at least on CO), they will send you a TC for the difference.

I usually get good luck in requesting airlines - never had to fly on anyone else but my preferred.

ALSO, the tickets are upgradeable with miles or certs.

CactusPete,
FUSA ValueMiles program puts LIMITS in dollar value for their trips when you want to redeem.

FUSA World Mastercard also falls/blends into the ValueMILES program but is MUCH MORE GENEROUS. THEY DO NOT POST $ LIMITS ON THEIR MILES!........CAse in point: I bought a East to West tix for the going rate of $760 for Xmas with my 24,000 miles. Had the tix been $1000, they would be obliged to pay because of the NO $ LIMIT clause. Plus I earned frequent flier miles!

The no $ limit rule applies ONLY to the WOrld Mastercard or VISA Signature. The World Mastercard has a $50 annual fee. It's definitely worth it. [if you call up to SWITCH, you may get the runaround. FUSA does offer it. I'm currently a member...so don't take their crap of excuses...insist to speak to a supervisor]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/000065.html


Mac

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Via con Dios!

Regarding availability and airline preference: I've received whatever airline I've requested. And since it's a paid ticket, I haven't had an availability problem.

Having said that, think twice before using your miles for an airfare. Here's why:

A $600 ticket cost 28,000 Value Miles, or a redemption rate of 2.14 cents/mile.

But if you look closely at your membership info, you'll see that you can get one night at many Ritz-Carlton hotels for 12,000 miles. Ritz rooms can start at $350.

So if you use 12,000 miles for a $350 room, your redemption rate increases to 2.9 cents/mile, or a 36% increase over the airfare rate.

Keep in mind that the 12,000 miles will get you a night at Ritz's resorts like Amelia Island, FL, where the rates can be much higher than $350.

Another way to compare: 60,000 miles will get you a $900 ticket or five days in a hotel (which cost much more than $900).

Thanks for the comparisons. One thing that should also be factored into the redemption equation is that you also receive FF miles for the airline travel.

I still have not redeemed for airline tickets, and have considered the Ritz option. Do you have any idea about which hotels participate, availability (I assume no problem), restrictions?

[This message has been edited by cactuspete (edited 10-30-2000).]

FYI, you can now redeem for Value Miles awards online at www.valuemilesonline.com . Participating Ritz properties are listed there. Also, Hyatt now participates (12,000 "miles" per night).

Thanks for the info Cactuspete. This makes it really easy to see my points!

Two more reasons to consider the Ritz certificates: taxes and breakfast.

I just used Ritz certificates in California, where the tax is 11%. That added about $30 to the value of my room rate.

And the certificates include breakfast for two each morning. At the Marina del Rey property, breakfast for two costs about $48 a day.

So when you're considering the value per mile, add about $80 to a Ritz room rate.

I will be using my Value Miles Ritz certs at the Ritz Carlton St. Thomas in a few weeks. The rack rate for this type of room is $375 - 425/night , although on my reservation it shows a room rate of $220/night. This property is running a promo, breakfast and taxes included, for $311/night. So even using that rate it's a good value - - I figure about $.026/"mile".

Another way to compare ... Seven nights on a Ritz certificate costs 84,000 miles/points. A category 5 or category 6 Marriott would cost between 115K and 130K.

Have a great time.

Well, "Last USA" is monitoring this board.

They took away a good value of the Valuemiles program.

The Ritz-Carlton reward has been increased from 12,000 pts. to 20,000 pts!!!!

Where did you find this increase? I just checked the website and it still lists the Ritz award as 12,000 miles.

CactusPete:

When you go into the "Redeem Miles" menu, it lists as 20,000 pts. In other parts of the website, it's still wrongly listed as 12k--I guess they have gotten around to it on the other web pages.