CMK10

I'm still in hoarding/rebuilding mode though it's been a light travel year so my only really bragworthy balance is Hilton where I'm at 140,000 and should be at 150,000 after my latest stay posts. I think this earning mode will continue through next year.

Kagehitokiri

re not spending DL/etc - there are ALWAYS partner airline/etc awards..

GUWonder, there are always expensive redemption options (for quality, not "standard" awards etc)
also outside the box like - SPG has an 11-room property where one could buy-out the whole property

EuropeanPete

I collected what outside of FT would count as a crazy large balance of miles and hotel points whilst working as a Management Consultant, particularly as it was out of Europe and based on actual use.

Since then, my earning has gone down by ~90%, but I've been trying to spend miles wherever it makes a difference: generally either for European/ American flights using BA's RFS saving me ~£200 a pop or when I want to fly longhaul in premium classes (a mix of J and F).

I've found hotel points to be much better value than I had previously understood and unfortunately have now just used up my remaining Hilton and all my SPG points. It was a good way of cutting ~£500 out of the cost of a weekend while it lasted. I tried hanging onto the points, but my 240K Hilton points saving me $1,500 for 5 nights in Manhattan and my last 60K SPG points getting me 2 nights at the Gritti Palace (lowest standard room rate €1,050EUR for that period) with a double suite upgrade were certainly a good way to go out.

I've got another 2 years of air miles at current burn rates (admittedly this is 20+ flights a year), but we'll see if I can get myself back in the air for work before then.

rufflesinc

Eh, unless the rooms are all connected, not as awesome as buying out an entire intl F cabin. No you don't have to use standard awards, CX had 6 awards available July 4 weekend for ORD flight.

sanFF

I am hoarding DL Miles with about 400k right now with the hopes that once they convert to a "Southwest/JetBlue" system that it might be fewer points to fly to HI from the west coast. I am not holding my breath however. Southwest I burn them via old style awards which will be going away soon.

Kagehitokiri

thats 405K AA miles / 780K CX miles for 6 seats, from EWR is 16 hour flight for example

vs ~100K SPG per night for exclusive-use (no other guests) of 11 room hotel with pool/etc

rufflesinc

What hotel is this? Less than 10k spg per night per room?

BTW, EWR doesn't have F to HKG ;-)

rtraveler

I like to earn and burn. I've burned 3.2 million points and miles. I currently have 2.6 milllion points/miles and I'm still increasing my balance through MS. I try to take one 2-3 week international trip with a few local trips as well every year.

morerum4me

By any standard, I'm not maximizing the value of my miles and points, but my strategy of using miles when I just do not want to or cannot spend the money at that moment works for me. I almost never book premium tickets unless I find saver space.

I seem to accumulate AA miles without really trying and thankfully, they're useful for my most frequently visited destinations, but I tend to cycle between high earning years and high burning years to give my bank account a bit of a break. I also prefer to use miles for trips for which I need flexibility since I can always fiddle with the dates if I need to.

I've been accumulating Delta miles through CC signups with no particular trip in mind (Australia?). I plan to blow them sometime in the next couple of years though.

UA miles I don't really give a damn about. I combine them with one ways on AA when I don't want to use my AA miles for a whole trip. I focus on accumulating Chase points to transfer to UA if I really can't get out of flying with them. I really ought to try harder to use partners, but I hate calling airlines.

Hotel points I guess I would say I hoard just so that I know I can get a free night or two in emergencies or experience a fancy schmancy hotel I would never otherwise consider staying at. SPG are most valuable to me to transfer to AA, but I also recently used SPG points to book tickets to a World Cup match.

powlan

Neither my wife nor myself were FT during our "working years" however we definitely were mileage accumulators. Churners, portals, brokers, meals, hotels, gas, miles purchase, coupon connection, surveys, etc. Anything over 1$ went on the CC. Thus we both were easily able to accrue several hundred thousand miles per year. We used them to take the FC trips when we traveled. Now that we're retired we're glad we hoarded all those miles since we can travel where we want, when we want and usually how we want. Burning isn't for everyone.

pointsjunkie53

i am of the same mind set. been hoarding AA,USAIR,jetblue,delta and SW and Starwood so now that our retirement is set for next year we can go where and when we want to go. have over 900,000 starpoints, over 1.5 miilion when usair and aa merge and enough to fly the kids in to see us on delta , jetblue and SW.

rtraveler

I like to earn and burn! Between my parents and myself, we've burned about 4 million miles/points and still have another 4 million miles/points balance. We're spending about $50k-$60k/month on business expenses so we are still earning at a great rate.

NJFlyer42

I use cash back for credit cards. So all of my points are the hard way.

After watching the value of my Dad's miles erode through inflation, my philosophy is to burn.

I also find it hard to use miles/points. My personal life does match opportunities (surprise, surprise, not much chance to use points during the kid's school vacations).

FrequentSleeper

I burn whenever I can. Every year my points/miles are worth a little less (although I'm expecting/hoping my USAIR miles will soon be worth more to me when the merge with AA is complete), so I use them now instead of waiting. This year, I will have taken 3 international trips in F or B, and my daughter went "free" with me on a BA B Class trip to Europe (that's "free" for only $1000 in fees but still a good deal), thanks to the Chase BA Companion ticket deal. I got at least 70% of the miles for these trips from CC bonuses, some from spending on CC's, and very few from flying on purchased tickets.

ucrunner

I have 425,000 SkyPesos but I've used more than 800,000 over the last several years. Generally I am not going to burn miles just to burn miles. I save them for trips I actually want to take and only at a redemption rate that makes sense. At the end of the day the value of SkyPesos can not get any worse than worthless!