GetSetJetSet

You might regret it if there's a new chart post-3/30 though.

Kagehitokiri

and its not like US where some are waiting to do oneworld awards

jjmiller69

Had 600K DL miles and burned 200K so far. Will look to burn more, saving UA and AA for now.

yuel

For some reason all these burn'em post sounds like co-workers that will burn 8 hrs of leave when they accrue 8 hours of leave
I guess there might be some that are right, that there might not be a tomorrow

uhclem

In the last 10+ years, can anyone point to a FF program where miles have increased in value? They don't earn interest, and they only depreciate. Hoard them if you want, but it's not the behavior of a rational actor.

lwildernorva

And burning them simply because there's a change in the award chart, and not because you're flying someplace you would have flown anyway is hardly the behavior of a rational actor either. FF miles are a currency of a sort, yes, but I've yet to be impelled to make flight plans that I wouldn't have made anyway because one of the airlines (or a stay in the case of hotel chains) announces a change in their redemption program. Of course, it makes perfect sense that if you're contemplating a trip and a program tells you that the redemption that now costs x will cost you x + 50% more in six weeks, you should make the booking now under the current rules, but I've never seen any reason to burn if I weren't contemplating a redemption anyway.

By the way, the unspoken argument is that money, invested wisely, increases in value. Which is why while interest rates on savings and checking accounts have basically flatlined, interest charges for credit cards are about where they've always been. Whether it's FF programs, banking, investments, or Vegas, the house always wins.

Boraxo

Burn, baby, burn!

After hoarding for years (could not use them for the saver awards I wanted) I'm cashing in. For 2014:

4 tix to DEN (using WN points) + 5 nights at Marriott Vail (using MR)

2 F tix TPAC to Japan (using UA miles) + 4 free nights @ Park Hyatt + free night @ Intercon Osaka

2 UA E+ seats SFO-OGG (using UA miles) + 5 night on Hyatt timeshare deal

And that's just the first half of the year. Alas, Mrs. B and I still have 6 figure balances with BA, DL, UA, and AA ...

Exiled in Express

I have a pile of about ~500,000 points over various air/hotel/rail programs, that number is the peak in my " FT career" and too high for my comfort level. I was already planning on burning about a third of it in lieu of revenue tickets this year. After Delta's program change, even though I have only an orphan balance in Skypesos, I am going to see what I can do about increasing the burn rate before other programs follow.

pricesquire

Have 1.25mm in the bank. I know I gotta use them, I literally just don't have the time. Churning for now, burning later. I know I wait at my own peril....

jandmmom

This...except the 1990s, not the 80s

zgringo14

That is an interesting strategy. I mostly use my miles for the family summer vacation (4 people), but I have more miles than I need for that, so I was looking at some other ways to use them. I am always short on hotel points, so using them for hotels would be an attractive option, if the prices are right.

zgringo14

I was fortunate to get plenty of award space to Italy with my AA miles just after it became possible to book US flights with AA miles. That will still leave me with plenty of miles for 2015 family vacation, including mine and my wife's US and AA miles.

The UA miles, we burn about as fast as we earn them. Usually for family members or even the occasional domestic flight. I would probably do well to develop a better UA strategy.

I have never done much of anything with Skyteam, so I have no DL miles at all. Nothing looks too appealing on the DL side either. at least not for me.

vxmike

I can't use my miles fast enough. My plan for 2014 is to avoid flying revenue flights whenever possible and use miles/points. I've given up DL status, and will probably only attempt to maintain AA EXP if feasible.

Presently I have over 2 million miles in just AA/DL/WN/UR with < 100K amounts in other programs. At this point I'm not putting forth much effort to add to the pile, but it's not that hard to break even on earn/burn with normal spending plus CC bonuses (too easy and cheap to not do).

mahasamatman

Most existing major legacy airlines started their programs around 1981 or 1982.

Tpa-flyer

Tsk, tsk, tsk, Grasshopper. Best to check Wikipedia before expressing such confidence. For example, as regards IHG: "IHG Rewards Club is IHG's worldwide loyalty program, which replaced Priority Club Rewards in July 2013. The loyalty scheme was first introduced in 1983, and now has 74 million members around the world." Or, as regards DL SM: "When the frequent flyer program was first established in 1981, new members were awarded an enrollment bonus of 10,000 miles." I'll leave the others for you to research, but I assure you, that, yes, I am that old, and my memory goes back even farther than the '80's.