EXplaining to Kettle: "Why Don't You Use Miles?"
 

I am looking for a nice way to explain to a Kettle why "I can't just use miles to go to LAS"

How can they understand that:

1) Spending $300 for AUS-DFW-LAS (3,000 EQM) is a bad use of $$$ I
would use on MR.

2) I won't use MR funds until AA offers fare sales and DBLEQM to bounce
back after an FA Strike.

3) I will not use 25,000 miles for a $300 tkt, because:
a) I won't sit in coach and its not worth 50k for FC
b) Chances are milesaver is not available and I won't pay double
c) I only use miles on a 3-1 cost if I have no other choice- . ie: AUS- PTY $500 tkt (ow) = 15k miles
d) I need 100,000 BIS EQM miles to requalify EXP.
e) If I burn miles I prefer 10:1 spend, such as 100k miles for $10,000
J or F ticket.

3) You (mr / ms Kettle) telling me how to use miles is like me telling Donald Trump how to renegotiate a real estate loan.

PS- and I want to say it NICELY!!!

Thank You

Explain to Mr/Mrs Kettle that miles actually have monetary value so wasting miles is the same as wasting money (if no milesaver availability). I'm sure they'll understand that wasting money is bad

It sounds more like trying to come up with reasons for not going to Las Vegas since you say that you won't pay for the ticket either. Seems a reasonable question about using miles if you have said that the $300 fare is too expensive.

Wouldn't this same general line of reasoning be applicable to any airline with a frequent flier program and not just AA?

Cheers.

You'd rather spend 100K miles on a $10,000 ticket than one fourth as many miles on a ticket that's a one thirtieth of the cost. Twenty times value seems pretty simple to me.

I don't have a problem flying in coach to Europe OR Vegas, but I completely concur about redemptions- use it for things that are particularly valuable.

That being said, I mostly don't MR per se (the only MR I did was in December of last year, SEA-BOS-SEA same day turn), so I might well spend $300 to go to Vegas (though it's a bit pricey on the tickets- I like it closer to $200). AS doesn't do DEQM or offer quite the EQM deals AA does, though...

I hope I don't sound this conceited when I converse with the lowly peasents....

DW's sister, a Kettle, spent 50K miles to fly from DEN-DFW-SHV RT and then bragged to me about how shrewd she was. :rolleyes:

I just shook my head.

I'm sorry, did you say something?;)

Calling someone kettle is usually not a good starter for a discussion, no?

Touche. ;)

In the end it sounds like you can't justify the opportunity cost to go to LAS. So just say a LAS trip is not a priority or it is just not that important to you. No need for lengthly discussion that a $300 for a ticket is a lot to fork over or you'd rather use your miles for a bigger trip your planning.

I've never felt the need to justify my travel habits to anyone, including whether to use a revenue ticket or award.

I'd also suggest that any explanation involving nine talking points (such as you've outlined) would be lost on someone who doesn't travel much.

I'm OP

If I really wanted to go to LAS, I would buy tkt. When I said something along lines of; "Its NOT worth the $$$ to go" then the "why not use miles" statement was made.

We have all been there. We have a different monetary value on miles then the Kettles.

Just looking for nice, maybe even cute way of explaining.

I've always felt that telling the truth was the best policy. Try this:

"It's worth the $$$ to go, but not with you".

What is a "peasent"? :confused:

Is it something sent by a pea?

Oh... this is simple. It's what All American Flyer said... miles = money. I'm assuming you're planning a trip where you're going to be using them. It's as simple as "I already have a trip planned with those miles."

Can't you just win the $300 back while in Vegas, and then some?!

I think you can't afford NOT to go. :p

You're wrong. You CAN use the miles to go to Las Vegas.

Or, you can use them for something you consider more valuable. Why do you feel obligated to justify?

The airlines market their programs with the hook of 25K miles/points being enough for a free domestic ticket. That is what sticks in peoples minds.

Based on my experience as a Kettle, we would latch onto that idea and have enough miles for a free trip every 2-4 years. 100K miles seemed almost to be an unreachable goal.

Thanks to FT I have learned that miles have a far greater value and am rapidly closing in on enough for a RTW award in J, something I never though possible as recently as 18 months ago.

I have found that very few people "get it" when it comes to doing something more exotic than cashing in miles for a domestic redemption.

"Unfortunately, I have a prior commitment those days."

The prior commitment is saving money/miles, but she doesn't need to know that.

It's pretty simple. "I value that 25,000 miles more than $300, so I won't burn them on a $300 flight I wouldn't take anyway."

Presumably, they'll ask why, and you can introduce them into the cult of MRs and FT, and they won't be a Kettle any more. ;)

(Ironically, I just talked to someone who is so short on cash he's redeeming 25K CO miles for a $400 flight... but it's worth $2300 in business to him, so he has to do it. He's out of WN RRs.)

It's pretty simple. "I value that 25,000 miles more than $300, so I won't burn them on a $300 flight I wouldn't take anyway."

Presumably, they'll ask why, and you can introduce them into the cult of MRs and FT, and they won't be a Kettle any more. ;)

(Ironically, I just talked to someone who is so short on cash he's redeeming 25K CO miles for a $400 flight... but it's worth $2300 in business to him, so he has to do it. He's out of WN RRs.)

No need to mention money/miles at all, just say you don't want to go.

i find WN RRs to be worthless. i don't care about getting $200 tickets for free. I care about getting $40,000 tickets for free (RTW F)!

That's nice, but for some people, WN is perfectly acceptable for domestic travel, and they get more than enough miles to get travel outside the US as well.

FWIW, I find RR to be a very nice place to bank rental car/hotel airline awards. It's easy to get $50 of RR value back with a hotel room and car rental over a weekend. 50/100/150 miles at a click doesn't move the needle much compared to 1-2 RR credits.

Good point - although, I find hotel/rental car earnings useful for keeping my non-primary accounts active (to stave off expiration), or for topping up accounts to allow cashing in for a specific reward.

I think I'd just go with condescending.

As this is more about frequent flyer programs and the value of miles/credits, please follow the thread to MilesBuzz. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Whats DW?

DW=Dear Wife

you got a point but my main beef with RR would be that the credits expire one year after issue (not sure if you can extend once) and I don't like the fact that there's nothing i can do to stave off expiration whereas airline miles I can essentially keep forever by having activity every few months. Also my travel patters are extremely sporadic, I can fly 50K miles one year, not fly at all the next two, then fly 80K miles another year and then nothing. I think AA's lifetime benefit will help me the most, then i don't have to worry about maintaining status, achieving it is no problem for me, it's maintaining it that i can't seem to do very well...

When you want to be such an ambitious "educator", it's impossible to do it in a cute way. At least not to Kettle. ;)

If you would lower your expectation and just make one point (i.e. that's not the way to use miles), you probably could be cute by saying something alone the line such as:

"I like to use my earned miles to fly much longer distance, such as RTW trips, for free." Or,

"It costs too much to fly to LAS in 1st Class with my miles. I could have made it to Hawaii!"

I am sure even Kettle can tell the differences (or value) between AUS/LAS vs. RTW trips, & the attractiveness between LAS vs. Hawaii. :D

+1. It is a pretty derogatory FT term, no question. :td:

Actually, credits don't expire for 2 years. Awards expire after 1 year and you can pay $50 to get them extended another year. But your general point about not being able to keep them forever is well taken.

What is a Kettle? If I have to ask I'm sure it means I am one.

Well, I'm an even newer newbie than you, but I'll take a stab at it.

Ma & Pa Kettle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_and_Pa_Kettle

I'm guessing the term may be interchangable with "cattle", the folks who sit in the back of the plane. ;)

Reference to Ma and Pa Kettle. In FlyerTalk parlance, it's a bit derogatory and refers to highly infrequent travelers, often not earning miles or points at all, and are generally considered a lower class than the obsessive mile and point earning fools that comprise the majority of people on FT. :)

I never fly coach....
 

Nevermine - coach rules with the campfires, wine and dancing gypsy girls!!! The poor fools in first class just get stuck with a movie and airline food - back in coach we get fresh eggs from the chickens and fresh milk from the cows. :D

If I may be so bold to build on what you wrote:

who tend to gum up the system for the rest of us.
They usually carry overweight suitcases, wander into elite security lines and will run up to board while First Class and/or elites are boarding.

Inevitably they will board the plane with a BP for 34A and stop at row 1, and look at their BP, just to confirm that 34A in not in the front. They repeat the process every 2-3 rows.