miles vs. dollars
 

Hi,

Is there a rule of thumb as to what ratio of miles to dollars is worthwile? For instance, I hear of you all participating in different promos, special offers, buying gift certs, doing mile runs, etc. I'm just curious if there is a rule of thumb that most go by. Or, for you individually, at what point is it worth dollars spent to earn miles? I suppose this may depend on your goal?

Another related question is, for someone like me that always flies coach, how should I determine whether or not I want to use an award ticket or pay for the trip and rack up points/miles? Do any of you use a particular rule of thumb for this decision?

Thanks for your ideas and your time.

Julie the Newbie

There are a lot of posts on this subject. For the most part, it depends on where you're going. With $200-ish transcon fares these days, it makes little sense to use miles for such an award.

The best value for awards tend to be international, premium cabin flights. However, I've been known to use a 25K domestic from time to time, but only to expensive, odd-ball cities.

Of course, other factors play into it as well. For example, if this is going to be your last flight of the year and you're only a few miles short of elite status for next year, it might be worthwhile to spend the cash.

Julie

You will find diverse views on this issue

In general miles are valued at 2 cents each some more or less depending on how easy to use.

Some of use belive in spending miles vs cash if the miles are cheaper than the cost of the ticket. For example itf the ticket is $225 dollars but it would cost 25,000 x 2 cents each for the same ticket with miles or approximately $500 of miles Then we would buy the ticket

Another things some of us consider is would we be willing to pay the fare? This sis the reason many people use miles for F as they would never spend thousands for one ticket but would part with miles for it.

Another strategy many of utilize is saving some miles for a rainy day ie I needed to get somwhere for a family emergency the fare was $1750 because of 6 hours notice but with miles I got the ticket for 35,000 miles and a $75 fee or about $775. The ticket was priceless and the situation was such I would have bought the ticket and it was coach if I had to at that moment.

Some see F as the reward for all the time spent in the cattle car (coach) and try to give their family one great trip periodically

So whatever decision you make it based on your needs and priorities at that time. No one has to know your preferences unless you tell them.

All the best....

I had always used $0.02/mile as the value when figuring out whether or not to use my miles or purchase a ticket, but the changes the airlines have instituted the last couple of years have devalued the value of a mile, and now I use $0.01/mile. Reducing it by half was somewhat arbitrary (who knows, maybe it's $0.012/mile or $0.008/mile) but I don't think $0.02/mile is accurate any more. Just one FT'er's opinion! tls

See some past threads, for instance:

• What is the average dollar value of frequent flyer miles?
  
• Would you pay over $2,000 for 100,000 AAdvantage miles?
  
• The Value of a Point
  
• Value of Miles

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View from the Wing: A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets

Cool, thanks! gleff you've been quite helpful! I've got some good reading to do...

Julie

As thelostshark pointed out most of the past analysis may not be applicable with new rules of game. For example, previously AA awards even in coach allowed changes to dates and times freely. Now, you can only change dates/times of Biz/First awards and have to pay a fee for coach award changes.

However, the core principles do still apply (for example - consider the class of travel, the miles you would get if you paid for the ticket, the fare basis/restrictions of the purchase vs. award tickets, etc.)