Burning miles. Why and when?
 

We all accrue miles at a fantastic pace. When and why do we burn them?

I sent a friend to Alaska with miles so that she could see her son.
Now I am actually considering using miles on myself since all trips from ORD-LAX seen to be expensive but there is lots of award availability.

And I need to be in LAX!

This thread is perhaps better suited for our TravelBuzz! Forum so we'll transfer it there.

Please follow and contribute at its new location.

Thanks.

___________________

Cholula
CommunityBuzz! Co-Moderator

I've used miles for lots of different things:

1. JFK-HAM for a friend's wedding. The flight was going to be $900 and as a grad student 10 years ago, no way could I afford that. Miles for a Y ticket were fab and I was one of the few US friends to make the wedding

2. Gave miles to family for 4 Y tix US-LON for my parents 35th anniversary. I, of course, earned miles on my flight. It was a great trip

3. Gave miles to my brother and his family so that they could attend his brother in laws wedding. They could not have afforded the 5 tix from CMH to Maine otherwise

4. Gave 2 tix to a friend so she could take her sick child to a specialist doctor LAX - DEN

5. 2 J class tix US-BKK for a fun trip with a friend

6. Ticket to my mom so she could come out and take care of me after surgery (no way was I going to make her pay for that!)

7. Ticket to visit my parents in NC at high season. I hate using miles for domestic tickets for myself but couldn't afford the trip at that time and the whole family was gathering at the beach and I didn't want to miss it.

8. 2 J class tix LAX-NAIROBI (coming up this fall) for a safari

I'm sure that I'm missing one or two redemptions.

Used 140K for a First Class seat and 120K for a business class seat on SQ from LAX-NRT in Dec 07. I still think we were lucky to have the award seats available

Always for international C and F period. On quality carriers like BA, SQ, CX, QF, LH etc.

All my miles are used for either premium class upgrade rewards or premium class award tix.

I redeem only for Premium Class Awards.

Last year I burned about a half-million miles on the following:

US-England/Ireland in C
US-England/Germany in C
US-Africa via Asia in F

This year I've redeemed one already and will redeem two or three more:
US-South Africa/Namibia in C
US-?? (Posted a thread in TravelBuzz asking for suggestions)
US-Dubai or Bombay in F
US-Australia/New Zealand in F

Just A test - Delete if you must

I've burned on Y tickets, but better use of miles IMO is upgrading Y to C.

Like everyone else I will only use miles for the following reasons:
1. Upgrade from Y
2. FC Award but only after I have made sure that I will EQ

Keba

Last minute tickets for my Aunt's funeral for my brother and myself.

Last minute trip to China with a UA mileage promo.

First class USA to Asia each fall...135K miles.
FANTASTIC!!!
The VAST majority of my flying is in coach, so this is a real special treat.

As miles can have many uses, an even better forum for this topic is our MilesBuzz forum. Please follow it there. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz

I used miles to get 2 awards for my sister and her fiance to attend a friend's wedding in PNH.

I use miles anytime the implied ticket price (at .015 or .02 per mile) is cheaper than buying a ticket. Usually only for intl J or last minute Y does this work out.

Traveler