You know, a thread asking the question "should I
upgrade" and some of the responses got me thinking.
I got about 250.000 miles on NWA, about 100.000 on
AA, 100.000 on UA, 150.000 on DL, 40.000 on CI. I
am always trying to get status and therefor don't ever
use any miles. I am always looking for mileage runs
to increase my miles. And of course I am also not half
as savvy as most of you finding fantastic routings and
using your miles. If I can't find it on my first try i forget
about it. Until Schmutzig brought it up I did not even
know about the "open jaw" option. Am I doing the right
thing, am I out of my mind? What's the right thing
to do???
My apologies if another thread has addressed this situation
before and I ask the moderator to remove this post in that
case. Thanks!!

I use mine to upgrade whenever I can .... still get miles, but travel in style. I also give trips as gifts to friends and family members that would not otherwise be able to travel. The enjoyment they get is so worth it.

I've never burned miles for upgrades. I might on a very long international route, but the pricing has been so much above normal coach (Y or B fares), that I haven't done it yet.

You have enough miles to get a lot of stuff. Enough for 1 RTW ticket in Biz on NW, another 30k and you'll have enough for 2 in coach.

I might splurge and "buy" family members ticket with my miles, in FC is it's available. I very rarely use PerkPass, as it's a waste of miles.

I'm along the same lines a Jamito Cartero. The only NW award I will buy in a premium cabin (for now, at least) is the 30k intra-Asia deal in C because I think it is such a great deal. NRT-KUL-DPS RT on Malaysia in C, all for 30k? Now that's a deal. ^ And it's just one example of how you can really stretch your miles with some of these awards. Plus, that example doesn't even take into account that you could do a stopover in KUL and/or an open-jaw and visit Indonesia overland and depart from CGK, perhaps.

EXLEFTSEAT: I might suggest reading up the NW award rules very carefully to fully understand which awards allow open-jaws, which awards allow stopovers, thinking about what a "forced stopover" due to flight schedules might due for you, those kinds of things. Then think about a possible trip you might like to take and think about ways you can exploit the awards. Generally speaking, routing rules, backtracking, # of transfers, etc. are much more lenient on an award ticket compared to a regular revenue ticket. Basically, if you can propose the idea and justify it at least half-logically, the agent will try to price it out for you and see what they come up with for the number of miles needed. If you've done your homework correctly, you should be able to get the award for the standard "PerkSaver" level, further rationing your mileage.

Or, you could be completely bland and uninspiring and blow it all on a "PerkPass" WBC award to Japan or something.

Personally, I've only scratched the surface of what I think can be done with miles as far as awards. I just haven't had the time to travel, but I've been able to do alot with my miles when I've had the time. I have more miles banked than you and I'm in no hurry to blow them on a PerkPass or a WBC trip. I value the different destinations I get to go to more than a slightly better meal and an electronic seat.

SCHMUTZIG : I have adopted you as sort of a guiding light in my traverses
through this difficult environment and appreciate your advice. Maybe ( or may
I say : hopefully ) one of these days I will have the knowledge you guys display on a daily basis. It's been too long that I was in this business and now
that I am retired I try to catch up as good as I can. Thanks for your ideas.

It was not to long ago - in the 90's when a RT business ticket to Europe was 60,000 miles on most carriers and now they are typically 90 - 100,000.

I use to hoard miles, but in light of how easy to are obtain, devaluation will continue. NWA's rule buster awards now don't even give you open availability.

I keep 200,000 in NW as a minumin, so I can always do a RT to Europe at no notice, but have used over 1,000,000 miles in the last 12 months giving to family, friends and using them.

Still have 800,000 AA orphan miles...waiting for the day I can use on BA to LHR from DTW

This is spot on. Devaluation is an incredible problem with the frequent flyer world. I'd use the miles. Plus, as a NW elite, you're still earning a nice 50% bonus on all your paid flights, so the bank does keep building even when burning, so long as you're not flying only on award tickets.

I think many of us do mileage runs just to get elite status or go from SE to GE, there are easier ways to get miles (think World Perks University, the mall etc).

We use ours for just upgrades and usually have to do a MR or two each year to make SE --

There's nothing wrong with keeping the amount you have -- they're always good for emergencies -- for example, we've used some of ours to bring family members home for funerals.

Bob H

IMO, miles are not an appreciating asset and should be used whenever convienent. I do agree with these other posters that one should use them in a wise manner to maximize value. For instance, in the last year I burned 82,500 upgrading my and my parents tickets to HNL, which I thought was a great value. I also bought a domestic reward (the horror!) with the old 11 hour advance purchase saving 800 bucks.

I think the key is to learn as much about the program and redemption as you can to further maximize your value. For instance, I booked (but later cancelled) a coach ticket with a stopover in Tokyo to Singapore open jaw to Bangkok. For 60K miles, one can book at a ticket that sees many of the highlights of asia...

EXLEFTSEAT, might I suggest something. You said in another thread that you are going to FUK for something (business maybe?). I think that for 30K, it would be a great deal for you to fly MH (Malaysian Airlines) Business class anywhere in Asia.

MH flys FUK-KUL, so you can connect literally anywhere in SE Asia.

Just an idea!

There is a clear distinction that needs to be made before this thread progresses any futher:

The only way (on Northwest, anyhow) to get upgrade awards (i.e. upgrade an already purchased revenue ticket) is if your revenue ticket is in B/Y class. These upgrades are really only worth it on longish international journeys. However, international B/Y fare tickets tend to be very expensive (usually at least double whatever discounted economy is, although often times several multiples more).

As a Platinum elite, I earned my status and built up my cache flying discounted economy. I've never purchased Y/B tickets and have no real expectation to do so (unless a massive fare sale, mistake fare, or someone else pays for my trip). Since that is the case, using my miles to fly a premium class is usually quite expensive out-of-pocket.

If you fly a lot on someone else's dime, or your own dime for that matter, and are paying what it costs to fly Y/B class, then perhaps upgrades are worth it. Otherwise, spend the miles on trips rather than upgrades. Unless you've already been to every corner in the world or have no interest in going somewhere new, take advantage of the fact that you've got a form of currency that will cost you next to nothing to visit almost anywhere on Earth. Upgrades are nice, but once you get to the destination, the value is lost. If you use the miles to go somewhere you weren't already planning, you get the flight and the memories/experiences created by a new trip. ^ Although, there is one biz-class award I might consider, someday: the RTW in biz for 220k is not a very bad deal. Then again, for 120k, I know of a way to get nearly around the world and back, in biz class no less, and visit 4 continents in the process. So . . . there's always a little more you can squeeze.
I know it's short notice, but next weekend in Ann Arbor, MI (DTW), there is a FlyerTalk DO. One of the events there will be a Mileage Run seminar where we'll talk about all things earning revenue miles. But part of the discussion is likely to include strategies for redeeming miles. If you've got nothing else to do that weekend and it wouldn't be much of a burden to go, maybe you want to consider attending. Just a thought I'd pass along.

yea... i hoard them too... but I'll burn them when I want... all depends on the situation... for example, my when a soldier in my brothers unit was killed in Iraq and was being buried in Arlington, I used 50k on a domestic PS ticket to fly my brother to DC... some may say "not a good use of miles" but it's one of those times when you just do it... also, I just used over 100k to book an award ticket on the last DC-10 flight.... personal interest... I've been flying alot for work and have the miles to spare, though I try to keep about 250k in all my accounts... just in case.

That's really the key to this whole discussion. Determine what a frequent flyer mile is worth to you in terms of time, money, and availability. Proceed from there. There's nothing wrong with keeping a cache around for emergency-type situations, either. I've got a portion of my miles I won't touch for that reason alone.

I completely agree. I have taken my family on two vacations (Disneyworld & Hershey, PA) in the past year & just booked a trip to Hawaii. These trips wouldn't have been possible for us without free flights. On each of the trips, I have used $300 bump vouchers on my ticket so that I still get EQMs.

I use my miles when I (or my family needs them)

And when I look for personal trave, I use thr +/- 300.00 cost as whether or not I use miles or buy ticket.

I have around 650K Slymiles and 350 WP Miles