People Wasting points on redemptions?
 

My father told me today that the travel agent he called said his 155K Starwood points can save him $1000.00 on a cruise ticket. YIKES! :-) That is .6/10th of a cent per point. I wonder how many people have no clue the correct way to use miles and points and when they finally do redeem end up cleaning out their accounts. In a way that makes the programs even more lucrative as when people finally accumulate a decent amount of points, they end up wasting them on a poor redemption. I tried to tell him the true value of Starwood points which I value at 2-5 cents each. The absolute worst case is 1.25 cents each standard transfers to airlines and getting standard economy domestic seats. Its like somebody telling you they did great spending 50K miles for a common standard coach ticket and thinking it was a hot deal. He said that he wanted to ask me first if it was a good deal.

Rob

Be happy he bothered to ask you - he could have agreed to the deal and then told you after it was too late! I hope you were able to prevent it.

And, yes there are many people that have no clue as to the value of the points they are sitting on - how many people do you know who will redeem Amex MR for gift cards at 1 cpp or SPG points for gift cards at a slightly better ratio, but still a pretty awful value? Well, if you don't know of any, rest assured there are plenty out there and there are those that will even redeem points for merchandise which is an even worse value than gift cards.

Even my dad who does have some sense as to the value of points and will only redeem for airfare (he uses mostly MR points), does not understand that the best value is in redeeming for J or F seats - he sees it as a "waste" of additional points that he could have used for yet another coach seat. After a while I realized it was pointless to keep trying to convince him and that he is an old-timer that just doesn't want to get with the program so I gave up. At least he's not flushing them on some cruise at a fraction of their value!

I was one of "those" people before I was introduced to flyertalk. I found it quite intimidating to find a research the right redemption and wanted to finish the 'task' in a hurry lest I'd forget about the stash if points, login details etc.

So, aren't you glad you found FT and can finally maximize the value of those hard earned points ;)?

Well, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you don't care so much for J/F, it is a more economical use of miles, and allows you to take more flights.

Of course, I love traveling in style that I can't pay cash for. :)

Before FT I redeemed 28k Amex for a Bose Soundock, and 38k for a driver/golf shoes. Those were my my worst redemptions, but at the time I always carried over 300k Amex points due to business spend. Now I mostly stockpile UR but DO NOT redeem for merchandise anymore of course!

This is only technically the best value. Some value more vacations as being greater than fewer vacations in J/F.

You WANT people to do that so you can take the first and business class award seats!!! :D

Agreed... but knowing fully what your points can be worth allows you to decide the best use for yourself. Someone who has a fear of flying might love that Bose Soundock after all...

Never ceases to amaze me that so many people are relatively clueless about the value of their FF miles. I've had more than a few coworkers say they spent 50K miles for a trip to Texas or some other mid-con distance equivalent large metropolitan city... all in order to save $300!

When I ask why did they spend 50K, the response is typically: that's the only one available, or we preferred this flight, even though it was twice as much, or I don't know what else I can use them for (the worst I've heard). Or just as bad are the ones that redeem for gift cards at a hyper inflated redemption amount.

When I point out that a roundtrip to Europe is around 50K-60K for economy, the most clueless response was: well, I didn't know where to go and thought it would cost a lot more.

Ignorance and lack of effort can be costly... then again, if they want to blow their miles on all the "high" redemption rates, who am I to stop them :)

Well in truth, the actual value of a mile or point is subjective, so whilst some of these (like the 155K SPG) are way out there, nobody really can give a solid answer that fits all. Avios points can be worthless if you only fly TALT but priceless if you fly domestic...

Sadly not as cookie cutter as we would like.

And you don't want to become the guy who knows how to use the miles... or else you'll have everyone bugging you. Keep your head down and let them waste their points. Doing so allows us to extract 3-5 cents per. SHhhhhh...

I wonder how this topic came up in conversation with the travel agent. Unless the OP's father asked about using his hotel points this way, it's hard to imagine a travel agent asking about all points balances and trying to use them to reduce fares. I don't think the typical novice traveler would ask about using hotel points (from one type of company in the hospitality industry) for a cruise (operated by a different type of company in the hospitality industry). Most people just wouldn't think of using hotel points this way and more than they would ask about using hotel points at a gas station, drugstore, or grocery store.

In addition, I wonder what the travel agent would gain from this transaction. Is the idea just to sell the father a more expensive cruise or some particular cruise (for which the TA gets a bigger commission due to some special deal to give incentives to TAs to move particular cruises), or could the TA be getting some sort of a direct "kickback" from such a transaction.

If the TA is suggesting this, it is the responsibility of the TA to be vaguely aware of the value of the points, so I would say either unethical or incompetent, maybe both.

:) Meanwhile there's an older gentleman on another forum typing, "my fancy pants kid blows his MR points on J or F seats. I tried to explain to him that he could take twice as many trips if he used his MR points for coach tickets. After a while I realized it was pointless to keep trying to convince him and he is a kid that just doesn't want to get with the program so I gave up.

+1

How and when someone uses their points or miles is a personal choice. If you have a family emergency and have to travel somewhere and the only availability is 50K for a coach ticket, it may be better for someone to use their miles than pay for a last minute ticket. There are many other scenarios that one could cite where it makes sense to use your miles or points at a rate that is less than the theoretical optimum. I admit I have done it on numerous occasions.