With miles devaluating, timing is key
 

Both from personal experience, and In reading many of the recent posts here, it is no secret that using accumulated miles is becoming harder and dearer.

Therefore, I though it may be a good idea to gather peoples thoughts on what they are doing to gain better usage of their miles. My thoughts are about plant now, harvest later...

Though I know that FF's have different rules and regulations, I think the best strategy is to spend the time now accumulating the miles, and utilizing them after say 18 or 24 months from today.

The programs Im in expire miles after 3 years of accumulation. Therefore, Im hoping, the lingering pressures on airlines now, will hopefully lessen within that time period. As a result, competition may kick start the miles race all over again resulting in better value. Oil has already plummeted from a high of $147 a month ago to $114.50 today !!! that's a whopping 22%

Its like everything else in the world, there is a right time to buy stocks or property, and there is a right/wrong time to sell. I think now is the time to accumulate, then spend those miles a little later when they can generate better value.

Im keen to hear others thoughts..

So you think you should hold onto and accrue devaluing asset (miles), which are harder to get (and use) and will be worth less in the future? Isn't this like buying high and selling low?

My wife and I have been burning all of our miles and I already have ticketed 3 r/t trips to Asia in the next year.

On the assumption that miles will be devalued, I use them whenever I have enough for an award and can find an award flight to use them on.

Indeed, Alaska and Delta have announced devaluations recently. At least that devaluation is in the open, unlike the hidden devaluation of stricter capacity controls on capacity controlled awards.

I think now is the time to accumulate miles via credit card bonuses and spending. AAdvantage/Citibank has a great offer, Delta/Amex has a very good offer, and NW/US Bank has a good offer. I would never try to leave more than a round-trip for the family on the table with each carrier, though. I was convinced there wouldl be many bankruptcies in the airline industry in 2009. With oil dropping fast, they may be spared, but if oil reverses, there is no way for the airlines to weather that storm, except for a few, like Southwest. I'm only a leisure flyer, once a year or once every two years, so I make sure I never pay for a flight or hotels for my family. I have a round-trip for 4 built up on Northwest, so I will use that next. I have a round-trip for 4 built up with American, and I can convert that to Priority Club if need be. I have a pair built up with Delta, and will hopefully merge those with some leftover Worldperks miles once they merge. I also have a pair of United for me and the wife. I have a lot of No Hassle miles as a backup too. So, considering I have enough flights saved up for the next several years, I don't want to go too far just in case of bankruptcy. So, I'm switching my focus to building on my hotel base now. This is a much more stable industry, and I'm more confident of their ability to survive a down economy.

I was watching the news not to long ago and I wish I could remember the airline but they will soon start charging for you to redeem miles. $50 for domestic flights and $350 for International flights.
I recently got Aisana Airlines Visa Card through BofA and I get mile fir each purchase and double mile for purchesing Asiana Airline Tickets with it.

I think the best strategy is to burn up all the miles now before they get devalued.

The devaluation of miles over the past 27 years has been amazing. And you have the risk of a program like US Airways going completely bust.

I try to save for a business or international first or business "saver" award, which in the past were "standard" rewards.

Pull out the old award charts starting in the early 1980s just to see how bad the devaluation is.

Mileage cannot even be used as toilet paper after s*** happens. And these days s*** does happen more often than ever. I wouldn't keep them for too long.

With ticket prices going up, aren't miles worth more now than they have been the last few years?

Only when prices go up, and airlines don't change anything relating to mile redemption.

Nowadays, there are much less seats on any give flight allocated for redemption. In addition to more restrictions being imposed on those who which to redeem their miles, hence the devaluation.

The strategies might need to be different depending on the program(s), even the territories. The OP is in a part of the world where un-extendable mileage expirations are common. Most of the replies, however, are from the US, where (except for some of the LCCs) most airlines allow to you to extend expiration "forever" with any "activity". So the concern is devaulation (or the carrier disappearing!) after the period of time that the miles would have expired in the OP's program.

I'm not concerned that AA miles are going to disappear, or tremendously lose value. I am concerned that they'll stop treating all AA miles earned from all sources toward Lifetime Platinum before I get to 2MM. (They're the only airline I know of that counts all non-flying miles toward lifetime status.) Meanwhile I want to maintain this Platinum status until I earn that, and need to earn some good chunk of it still by flying. So with that goal in mind, I "can't afford" to burn anywhere near most of my miles right now, because that would mean not getting enough paid flights in (virtually all my flights are leisure, yet I have limited vacation time each year, and no interest in "pure" MRs).

If I weren't collecting (primarily) with this one airline and trying to get to that one lifetime status point, my strategy might be totally different. And if I were (by nature of where I lived and/or by nature of where work travel took me) only able to collect with an airline with "hard" expiration policies, my strategy would be yet different again.

So I'm not sure how well it can generalized across all airlines everywhere in the world...

I think that this is the issue of the day. It's Delta who broke through re domestic "free" tickets becoming "discount" tickets. (Actually, it was the government, first. At one time, there were no taxed or fees on freebies.) Anyway, back on topic, not only does DL have the $49 surcharge, but they also charge a $25 fee for using SkyMiles on a partner airline. (Plus all the other close-in, change, reserve with a human etc. fees.) And nearly all of the 25,000 mi. awards left are on (I was looking on the web at going cross-country this fall) ....Continental! (And some on NW.) Otherwise, it's 35,000, 37,500 and up on DL metal.

In fact, one of the FF gurus has written that he believes that once the ice is broken on domestic flights, fees just for use (whatever they're called) will never go away. And they will float on their own demand curve.

I'm burning miles as fast as I can use vacation days from work.

I am now trying to use them up. Just booked a trip to Istanbul for two on AF using Northwest miles and another trip to Bangkok for two on UA using UA miles. Surprisingly, using the Internet I was able to book on the days I wanted to go at the lowest possible mileage use.

I'm moving in the same direction. Have stopped collecting CO & DL miles completely, other than an occasional transaction to keep the accounts active, and am looking for opportunities to burn those miles. (Recently used 200K CO miles for Virgin upper class tickets to London for next May.) With the dropping of the 500 mile minimum at US, I now look at Southwest and AirTran out of BWI to cities where they provide direct service and go with whoever is less expensive; a few hundred miles from US are no longer an incentive. Aside from the reduction in minimum mileage earnings, the increases in a number of program's award levels, the increase in additional fees for last minute award bookings (and in some cases any award bookings), and the tightening of overall award availability, it seems that some airlines (notably DL and CO) are throwing up new hurdles to flyers traveling on award tickets when schedules change or flights are delayed / canceled. I also note that UA award tickets state they are only valid on UA and provide no DBC in the event flights are oversold. This may have always been the case on UA (although I've never noticed it), but the high load factors in the industry at the moment make this a new concern. Flyers on award tickets would seem to be at the top of the list for denying boarding in oversold situations with little recourse but to take the next available UA flight, which may be several days out.