Help me spend 100k miles
 

I was Gold with EK for over a decade, for a variety of reasons I almost never fly them anymore. I managed to spend most of my miles some time ago, but still have a tranche of a bit north of 100k expiring shortly. The problem is that there are no good deals. I have looked at Y redemptions to DXB, however the tax portion is literally almost the same as what I could currently purchase a cash tickets for................and I don't really need to go to DXB, it would just be an excuse to spend the miles, so spending that much money is frankly silly. I could do Muscat or whatever as well, but the economics are the same. While this is in fact one of the reasons that I stopped earning with EK in the first place, I was wondering if anyone had a good suggestion, or if there was a trick that I am missing to use these miles more effectively? Thanks,

To get the best value for your miles, you need to use them to upgrade from Y to J for long-haul flights. This has always been my strategy. To find out if an upgrade is available, look up the flight you want to book on Expert Flyer before you book your y ticket. I hope this helps.

Give us a clue... where are you based? 100K could be worth loads or next to nothing depending on your answer.

Oh sorry, IST.

ANYBODY?

Deal with the taxes and get yourself to DXB then the world is your oyster.

I.e. get a really cheap Y return to DXB, then spend the points on a separate set of flights ex-DXB. You might be able to get a J return to the Maldives for 100k

The taxes are in the neighborhood of $300. I can normally get a cash ticket for just slightly more! Also in an ideal world whatever I want to do I want to do for 2, if possible. Hell, I recently did Sharjah with TK for $169 RT! So ideally if I had a reason to go to DXB I would probably do this for 2 people, and get the $70 or so of savings. Last I looked DXB to the Maldives was 140k or so, so that is out............I may just let the miles rot, but it kills me to leave a 100 and change on the table!

I mean if you realllllly are stuck and will let them rot anyways I will gladly adopt them from you to give them another chance at life :D

I think paying for a Y ticket and using them to upgrade might make the most sense to be honest. Maybe position yourself to DXB cheaply on TK and then book a flight from there, upgrade it with miles?

Stick them on ebay. You're not allowed to, and some get caught and removed, but some sell.

I would consider taking a trip with transit through Dubai in Y and upgrade with the points. Not cashless, but best use of the points.

You can transfer points to someone at USD 1.5 cents per mile, but that's pretty pricey and doesn't leave much value. (for reference, you can buy miles for 3 cents per mile, but that's over priced in my opinion).

Since you only have 100k miles and are looking for two pax, you can also consider using these miles to position to a cheap POS (TN comes to mind) and book revenue tickets from there, giving you the flexibility to fly any airline.

I had a problem with expiring Skywards miles.

Don't forget you can give them to charity if you can't use them.

You can also spend them on hotel nights via Rocketmiles.

For example, 100,000 will get you one night at the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong or three nights at the Avani Riverside in Bangkok.

Better than nothing.

What / where is TN? Tamil Nadu in India?

TN is IATA code for Air Tahiti Nui, an EK partner.

POS TN = Point of Sale Tunisia, known for its cheap premium fares.