50000 miles or $500 for a ticket.
 

I'm thinking about going to Europe right after Xmas. I can get a ticket for $634 or I can use 50000 miles. The mileage will cost $150 in fees. So should I use the miles or just buy the ticket?

That's an even swap to negative (based on lack of accrual during the flight). I would pay the cash almost every time at that rate, unless you really don't have the $650 around.

Pay cash. $0.01/mile is not a very good redemption rate.

Thanks. That's the way I was leaning since I also get about 12K miles for buying the flight too. So it's more like use 62K miles or pay $500.

im sorry mile freaks
 

We are in a global recession and the airline industry is contracting and who knows what miles will be worth soon enough

CASH IS KING

Use the miles, at .01 thats about what they are worth these days. $500 is still $500 cash and likely will be next year....

That is not what they are worth unless that is what you redeem them for. That is often considered a baseline of value, but a little bit of effort can extract much more value from them, assuming that you want to fly in a premium cabin or take a multi-stop trip.

And, cash is king, but if you have the cash to pay for the ticket and have a reasonable chance to use the points for another ticket in the near future it isn't such a bad idea.

Not the biggest bang for your buck using the miles but I tend to think that if you are on a budget, having that extra cash to do fun things while on your trip might make it worth cashing out the miles.

They ain't getting any easier to use....

Without knowing your financial situation, I would in general pay with cash for sure. Keep in mind that you're also losing out on the miles you earn for a revenue ticket, which can vary based on your status or route, but is probably somewhere around 10,000 miles, which would be worth another $100 at a conservative valuation.

I'm with the consensus: Unless you're really strapped for cash, spend the money and save the miles for future use.

I too vote for buying the ticket and saving the miles, all else equal and you can afford the cash. As you said, you would be earning 12K miles to boot.

I try to use my miles for things more valuable - economy class flights to Alaska or business class international flights. Not sure where you live but from the lower 48 to Anchorage usually costs a minimum of $500. You can travel there TWICE with 50K miles vs. once to Europe. Or you will have 62K miles after this trip to Europe. Get a NW VISA card and make a few charges to get you up to 100K miles and you can fly business class to Europe, the retail value of which is several thousand dollars.

If I didn't value miles at more than $.01 each, I would change some of my habits, e.g., the credit cards I use. That said, award tickets can have one advantage over purchased tickets, that being flexibility to change travel plans without $ penalties or redeposit the miles to one's account for less than backing out on a paid ticket.

I'm flying Continental. They charge $100 for any change, even with miles. UAL is great about that though, when I was in China, I changed my flight every 2 days for a month and they didn't charge me a thing.

The good news is while I procrastinated, I found a 10% coupon to use to buy the flight. The bad news is that the price went up to $1000. I'm leaning towards miles now.

$500 is way below my threshold for using miles. I would hold off and use the miles for a much higher priced trip.

Most airlines now charge a fee for redepositing miles or making changes, even to dates. But the advantage of an award ticket vs. paid ticket is that you receive all your miles back if you cancel an award ticket vs. only a credit when you cancel a paid ticket.

Is the fare that you saw earlier no longer available or just that seats at that fare are no longer available for the flights/dates you looked at earlier? Perhaps taking a different flight or looking at a different date you could find that lower fare?

Looks like the fare is gone. It was available for multiple days but all those days have gone up as well. I should have just booked since you get 24 hours to cancel.