Do you hoard miles/points?
 

We are writing a cover story for InsideFlyer on miles/points hoarders and would like to hear from anyone out there who is a self-described hoarder.

Do you consider collecting miles/points to be a hobby or obsession? Are you saving your miles/points for a particular award or is collecting them more important than spending? Are you a collector of other things also? If so, what?

Thanks!

Hi Darcie-

Might be helpful to define your terms in a bit more detail.

What is your story's threshold for 'hoarding? More than 250K? 500K, 1MM, 2 MM, 3 MM+?

I might add that with all of the volatility (enhanements/devaluations)of the FFP over the past 3 years, I think a consensus has slowly coalesced among FTers I know and respect, that too much hoarding can erode the value of your remaining mileage balance, so it is likely far less prevelant than a few years ago.

While many programs have devalued points/miles, I still feel it is worth holding onto the points/miles until I get the award I want. However, that is because I know that eventually I will get enough miles for that award, even if the award costs 25% more when I want it. I try to get about 6-10 cents/mile when I use an award ticket (like IND-JFK-FRA-CPT-JNB-VFA-JNB-MUC-IAD-IND in business class, which would cost $8k-$12k, for 110k miles), so using miles on a very cheap coach ticket just for the sake of using them (I have a friend who will use 25k miles to fly STL-MIA when a ticket would cost $150) does not make sense to me. However, to someone who does not earn many miles and just wants a free ticket somewhere certainly can justify this because they might never have enough miles for, or need, a "real" award.

I tend to hold onto my miles until I have enough to take an international trip. I don't fly that much so it takes a long time to earn enough. I booked LAX-NBO for a safari with friends to Kenya/Tanzania last year. This year i booked SFO-DEL for a two week trip through Northern India. These are all in coach. Since it takes me a long time to earn milles, my thinking is I'd rather go twice in coach than once in first class. Makes for a long, tough flight, but worth it all the same.

The minute I hit 100,000 miles in my one account I book two tickets to Europe. In my secondary, as soon as it hits 50,000 two tickets to Canada. Miles are miles but a ticket is a trip!

I dont hoard, I maximize!!!

My spending habits are for OW All Partner Awards in the upper tiers and premium cabins. Though i have been know to burn 20k on inter-european travel when fares are crazy and i NEED to be somewhere. I have never used a mile for US travel or on my carrier AA.

I'm sitting on a lot of miles, but I'm also looking forward to retirement not too far down the road with vastly reduced opportunities to go somewhere on someone else's nickel (or even deduct the cost of trips I pay for myself from taxable income). I don't expect things to change dramatically enough in the near, if not immediate, future to make this the wrong thing for me to do. I use some miles for high-value awards, "burning" in excess of 100,000 miles a year, but fly enough to build up my balance despite that.

So, in my case I think some "hoarding" makes sense, though it may not for many others. As with so many other things, in travel and out, it depends on one's specific situation. It's a bad idea to pontificate about how one answer, no matter how thoroughly someone thought it out for his or her own situation, is right for everyone.

I am considered by my family as a hoarder because I don't use miles for family trips. We fly coach, and I can buy a ticket for less than the equivalent value in miles. So I still have almost 200k of the AA "original" miles, and almost 1 million Marriott points, etc. On the other hand, I have lifetime earnings of about 3 million Marriott points, 3 million AA miles, and probably 2 million other points/miles between all the programs. And I currently have only about 2.5 million between all those programs. So I have used them when there was a good value.

I'm currently sitting on over a million membership reward miles. I'm waiting for another 25% transfer bonus to CO.

Sorry, Darcie: no hoarding for me. I spend 'em as fast as I get 'em; anytime I get to 15,000, I upgrade another coach res. to F on HA!

Garnering ff miles isn't a hobby or obsession, it's an avocation. I like to have lots of miles in my accounts (right now 275K in my primary account, and a total of about 140K in secondary accounts). It means that I can travel whenever I chose. But more than that, I enjoy the chase. I would collect ff miles, even if I gave them all away.

Sign me contented when I am earning miles!:)

I don't hoard. Miles are devaluing too fast to hold onto for long.

If I had more money, I might consider "hoarding" miles (to save up for C/F int'l tickets)... as it is, I spend my UA miles on Saver Y awards to see my folks back east pretty much as soon as I earn enough. I don't have significant hotel points to speak of, and all of my CCs are cash-back cards because IMHO they have a better rate of return (for my lifestyle, anyway).

I wouldn't say that I hoard miles. I just save enough for two business/first class tickets to Europe and then I spend them on the girlfriend at the time. Every girl I know likes to spend her birthday in Rome and doing it in style is even nicer.

I am not worried about how many miles I have in my account at any one time, I am more worried about lifetime miles counting toward lifetime plat. (it is a long road).

I'm a little different than most FTers; as my signature eludes to, I don't fly much (and have only ~160K UA miles and only ~11K combined SkyTeam miles as of now). But, I put 99% of my personal spend on my AmEx Plat, and it looks like at current levels, I'll be running ~110K pts/year on that (which, IIRC, will xfer 1:1 on SkyTeam, and even more with some of the periodic bonus offers).

But say, by this time next year when I'm over 200Kpts(mi), I'll still be a bit loath to spend 'em- it seems like it takes forever to make 'em, but they're gone fairly quickly (esp. since for all but the most expensive flights I'll just buy the ticket(s) outright).

I do sometimes wonder what's the best benefit with the miles I do and will get, though.

I'm a hoarder too . . . .
 

I hoard miles because I just want as many as possible.

I am a bit of a travel addict. And, the more miles I have, the more options I have.

On my 3 major airlines (UA, AA, DL), I probably have 250K miles.

And, I have been saving points for and mentally planning a dream "around the world" trip. . . It's probably 2 years out.

I also have an oppty to go to Europe every year for personal reasons and I use the miles for that.

When I do fly, I build in as many long layovers or stop-overs as I can into my itinerary. I've spent time sightseeing in between flights in Germany, Vienna and I've had a few side-bar trips using that strategy.

I guess I would be considered a "Hoarder" (CO: 1,300M +, UA 400M+, QF 350M+*, SPG 190M+, Hyatt 300M+ ), but not for the same reasons as others on FT. I value the perks that come with elite status--upgrades, better rooms/views, reservation availability, recognition etc) more than using points for trips/hotel. Thus I will always look to book the cheapest rate and when necessary use my points for an upgrade for hubby (keeping my fingers crossed for my own CO EUA;) ), or if I am at an expensive hotel for more than 1 night (my max is generally 3 nights at one hotel) I will pay for one night for the points/stay credit and use points for the other one or two. I am not particularily concerned about future devaluation as I don't see my 'spending' pattern changing much.
(*QF was acquired by moving SPG points to QF during a promo awhile back for BA/Concorde flight-- of which I did take 2 R/T, and thats my balance)

I'm a hoarder, but with varying reasons.

Initially it was for a round the world to celebrate turning 40, but work plans meant that the 3 months that had been agreed in principle 2 years ago, got reduced to 2 weeks.

Now I'm keeping them for "emergency" travel. I live in the UK and my family live in Oz. If I had to go home in a hurry, I'd have to stump up a lot of cash to buy a last minute ticket. Having the miles gives me at least the possibilty of a getting a flight at short notice for less than what I would have to pay otherwise.

I would say by my actions I am a hoarder but definitely don't intend to hoard miles. I tend to want to save them for expensive trips in premium cabins, but inevitably the tight capacity controls on awards, combined with my not-that-flexible schedule force me to hoard rather than spend.

It is definitely bad because the miles get devalued over time.

The other factor at work is the desire to fly on paid tickets to maintain elite status. It is very easy to tell yourself 'I'll fly now for the miles, then use the awards next year.' Somehow, next year never arrives.

Regards,
Traveler

guilty as charged
 

1,750,000 AA
400,000+ DL
870,000 SPG
65,000 Hyatt
75,000 LH
250,000 TYN
30,000 SQ
20,000 NW
30,000 UA


NOTE: not willing to sell, barter or trade. Thanks.

I keep them for very expensive trips got lots of AA UAl DELTA IG and HH points

Over past 5 years mr and mrs ned have accumulated over 4 million miles (airline and hotel equivalent). We have used about 2 million including one trip booked this year and one next year. Do we hoard?

Sorry, not a hoarder.

Burned over 2million AA miles, over a million US, over a half-million DL. I have a half-million PC points and about 100,000 HHonors points, but will burn a substantial chunk of this in 2008.

Highest level I have now is 230,000 US miles only because I need 240,000 for Mrs. outoftown and I to go to Fiji or Bali, which will be burned as soon as I can book this award.

-outoftown

Started saving miles in about 2000 for a honey moon, changed my mind and burned them all in about 2005, been building them up again now. Mindful of airlines going bust and devaluation, so have been topping off accounts with enough miles for a decent trip in C, i.e AKL-LHR etc, and then moving on to a new FF plan to hedge my bets. Do still use some for awards, but trying to get enough to 2 decent C or F tickets again.

tht

I'm not a hoarder. I burn hotel points when I get enough for the vacation I want and keep enough miles in my UA account for upgrades and an occasional gift award.

Wow. What is 'TYN?'

Not a hoarder -

Been a FF for many years so I have seen too many "program changes" not realize it is better to use them when you can.

Peace!

Thank You Network. It's a home-grown points program from Citibank.

I've never hoarded anything up to the million mark or even close. Right now, I'm sitting on 500k Marriott and it has me a bit itchy. 200k HH, 100k SPG as well. In the airline world, I have about 440k AA and 240k UA, plus four or five WN award tix that I have earned through Hertz.

And I'm a bit of a noob to the Thank You Network, with about 60k there. Yes, I realize I missed out on some outstanding awards in the past, but I figure TYN can still function as a 4 to 6 percent rebate card on a subset of my spending, so that makes it a might complement to SPG Amex.

I'm likely not the kind of person this kind of article focuses on... I'm in my first job out of school and traveling about 25-30 segments per year (based on the past 18 months), all domestic. Right now I've made Silver Medallion on Delta and should be HHonors Diamond very soon.

Because ALL of my flights are domestic, and few are transcon, I build airline miles pretty slowly. This makes me a bit skidish of letting them go (sitting at 30k Skymiles right now, only redeemed once for a confirmed transcon upgrade). I also fly ATL-TUL more often than any other route, so my company most often books me on AA through STL or DAL. Sometimes I get CO through HOU if the rates are close, but they'll never pay the $1350 a Delta Connection direct flight costs. I have around 10k AAdvantage points but no real way to use them since AA options from ATL are pretty limited.

It's also hard to make myself pay for ticket on a legacy carrier for short-haul domestic leisure. We go ATL-MCO about once a month as WDW Anual Passholders and have yet to fly anyone other than Airtran or Spirit. The cheapest DL fair i've seen is $320/ea for L/U/T. Next weekend we're flying Spirit for under $100/TOTAL w/ 2 confirmed BIG LEATHER SEAT upgrades. I'd love to be able to pay the premium to fly legacy/mainline but right now being 25, just married, w/ a mortgage it's impossible to justify the difference just for miles. Someone in a DL forum thread rolled their eyes at me for supporting lowcost carriers and not building miles, but at this point in life a $550 difference considering it's a 1.5 hour flight and a 3 night trip is a HUGE difference, more than a car payment and almost half of a mortgage payment.

Now w/ HHonors it's a different story. I've built around 200k points in less than 6 months and only 15 stays, mostly at Hamptons and Embassys. I use the HHonors AMEX for everything I can and average around 20k per month from that. Because I know I can build the HHonors points quicker, It'll be ALOT easier to let them go for a 6 night in Hawaii next spring/summer. Since I work on-site at Delta TechOps 2-3 days a week and know alot of folks there we'll be getting Buddy Passes and flying through CVG, leaving a flight/hotel trip cost of around $400 total. Because of the way I fly (basicly making it impossible to build large amounts of miles), building hotel points yields the best returns from my business travel that can be directly applied to my personal travel... there's always a Hilton property somewhere near by.

I've got over 1.6 million AAdvantage miles in my account at the moment (from nearly 2.5 million earned in the program) but I don't consider myself a hoarder.

I'm saving miles just as I put money into my retirement savings accounts, so that when I retire in a few years I'll be able to travel freely despite having a lower annual income than I do now.

That doesn't mean I won't spend miles now, however, as I'm planning another visit to Australia for late 2008 and I'll be using miles for my business-class Qantas ticket as soon as the reservations window opens later this year.

earn 'em and burn 'em baby!

At work I am known as a mile-whore. I get asked almost everyday about maximizing miles. I do have over 500,000 HHonors points and over 150,000 Continental miles but do have trips planned. I do burn my honors points at a local hampton inn in hopes to reach Diamond by the end of the year.
Oh ya, I am 23 and have only been doing this for about a year now.

It would seem that I am a bit of one. I am currently sitting on the appx equiv:

2,600,000 on DL
2,600,000 on KL/AF
800,000 on BA
600,000 on LH
200,000 on BD
250,000 scatter in smaller airlines
1,300,000 points on Hhonors
400,000 hotel scatter

My wife and son, under my tutelage probably have close to 750k on various airlines.

When I started doing this a long time ago I was single, then I was married and then I had a kid. Therefore while the numbers grew and grew for years, I would say that my absolute numbers have not grown much over the last 5 years and have in effect been treading water, I am able to do this because despite burning anywhere between 350-600k a year I still fly paid BIS miles of appx 300-350 a year which in essence means that my balance(s) remain stable overall (i.e. my BA balance is way down from what it used to be because I don't like what they have done to their programe and have reduced flying with them, but my LH balance and KL balances have grown).

The retirement idea is a nice one, however if the hoarde can last me and my family into the foreseeable future for our rare "big" holidays and the occasional emergency I will be happy.

In some ways I would be considered a "hoarder" but I wait for the awards I want. I accumulate quite a few miles through my credit card. I am in the process of booking two business class tickets to China for the olympics next August and will most likely need to use double the miles as normal to do it. But I have the miles, it is my niece's first trip overseas at 18 and it will be next to impossible to get "saver" award seats.

I book quite a few trips to Alaska using miles but usually at the lower award level and maximizing use of stopovers with AA or DL, and often in F.

So I would say I accumulate, not hoard.

You are my new personal hero.:cool:

Well, I am not in the same league as hfly, but yes I am a hoarder. Always saving the miles and points for a vacation with the family that I never quite seem to find the time to take. We've talked about grand plans for years, but the last time I took a whole week off was 2002!:(

I've redeemed less than 10% of my miles from any program with the major exception of Alaska where I continually use the miles to bring my wife and daughter with me on business trips. I've never used hotel points in HH or MR. I hate to use the miles for myself since that means I am not earning EQM or nights/stays for elite status. A sickness I know, but at least I am a sicko with status!:D

Sitting on:

UA 770,000+
AS 148,000+
AA 88,000+
HH 260,000+
MR 220,000+
Many other programs 0-30K

Glenn

Glad to see other hoarders here. I don't fear "devaluation" and glad to say that if i lost my house tomorrow, i've got enough for almost two years of free hotels nights saved up....

I just don't want to travel when I'm not working since I'm always traveling while working. So we just don't use many miles or points right now.

DL 965,000
NW 835,000
HH 420,000
PC 320,000

What's that I read between the lines, squinting on just the right angle? 1 night free accommodation for attendees at FT's 10th birthday do? Very kind of you.


jk :p Now where did I put my glasses?

Someone taking a snapshot of my Frequent Flyer account totals might think I'm a hoarder -- over 1 million each in United and Flying Blue, over 600K in AA, 400K in Lufthansa, plus ~100K each in quasi-orphan Delta and BA accounts -- but I don't consider myself to be a hoarder.

The "Silas Marner" type hoarder is very reluctant to spend. I'm not. I do redeem regularly for myself and for my SO, and for friends and relatives, and not in a miserly fashion either -- toward the pointy end of the plane. Within the last year I've treated myself to a First Class Europe - Japan RT, V. and I will fly WBC to Cape Town this fall, and I've redeemed 3 US-Europe and one US-Pacific RTs for friends and relatives, some in business and some not. On top of that, I've burned quite a few United miles upgrading myself on Trans-Atlantic flights.

The thing is that I do fly a lot on business, and I earn lots of miles in a year (although this year I'll probably have a net decrease in my total holdings, which is all right because last year I had a net increase). Also, it's a problem sometimes finding award travel when we're free (CPT was actually our third choice, after BKK/KUL and EZE, for instance; finding two First or Business seats on the same flights over a complete itinerary is not always that easy).

Yes, I do maximize my mileage earnings, but I don't churn credit cards or pay (much) extra to do so. And yes, I'm frugal in redeeming (seldom pay double miles for an award), but I don't insist on the cheapest award flights just to save miles.

Like some, I do see the balances as a sort of "retirement travel account," and I even cringe with each "enhancement" that devalues the miles I have. But I live with it.

I sure do wish, though, that there was some way to earn "interest" on my mileage balances . . . :D