Hoarding miles
 

I just took the "Point Psychology" quiz and one of the question asked, "What do you do with your miles." I said I hoard them. Does any one else Hoard there miles. I do mileage runs to maintain my status, plus sign up for all the bonuses that NW does. However, I have yet to redeem any miles. The only miles I have redeemed was for my parents a couple of years ago.

Whenever a bump comes up on the flight I'm the first in line. 1) this will pay for my future vactions or 2) this will pay for my mileage runs. Thus, I haven't really seen a need to use them yet.

I've only redeemed NW miles once (20K for a FRA-EWR-IAH-SEA upgrade to BF on CO), and so far have hoarded the rest.

I only use mine for BC or FC tickets to Asia -- I could never afford to pay, but it sure helps to be able to sleep on those 12-14 hour flights.

With the current health of the airline industry, and the fact awards usually get more expensive/ harder to get at each program overhaul (witness CO), I try to keep my mileage balance low.

For most non-business trips, I will check if using miles would be 1) possible, 2) a good deal. I prefer $ in the bank to miles with an airline...

Two exceptions so far:
- DL, where 'old miles' are more valuable than new ones. I have yet to redeem any old miles from DL
- KL and its one-time 'mileage comp' offer at the beginning of the year: I sorely wish I had kept a large balance in a program where I had elite status

I buy my tix with cash so I can status, and use my miles to buy tix for family and friend. That way I can avoid any future depreciation of miles, while still earning status.

I've used about 1/2 of the miles I've accumulated over my liftime--which is a pittance compared to your average FTer (I just started flying a lot, and worrying about ff miles a couple of years ago.)

I've used them for 3 things:

-quick last minute trips to see family

-int'l J class tickets on which I wouldn't shell out the $$$$$$

-tickets/upgrades for family and friends--upgrades/tickets make great gifts as they make people really happy and cost very little out of pocket.

Though I am sure we all have different ideas what keeping enough on hand might be, I am amazed when I talk to people that say they have a million or more miles in their account. At what point do you just use them and either give tickets to family, or friends, or to your company? After all, when the airline goes belly up or shuts down their program, they will be worth nothing, right?

I start looking for opportunities to use miles when my balance starts creeping up toward 200,000. That is a sufficient balance to handle any "emergency". Once I've made status for the following year, I have no issue with taking free flights. I also use them for family and friends. It would be very disappointing to have a ridiculously high balance be de-valued, knowing I could have enjoyed greater value by making good use of the account. Particularly over the past year, we have enjoyed some wonderful times on award tickets and I don't regret it a bit.

I had horded some 112,000 miles (my wife has 36,000 miles as well) to used for emergencies and special deals. I am presently in Maine (live in Nebraska) because my mother is in the hospital. Flying with an Awards ticket means I can change my return date without penality. So far, I have changed it twice.

I also use it for an annual ticket for my father in law. He visits us for 60-90 days each year. All airline special deals are limited to 30 days. If I did not use an Awards ticket, we would pay the long price for his ticket.

Each of us will die some day.

Any miles not used by then are wasted.

I burn through my miles like fire on oil. What is the point of keeping something that loses some sort of value every year.

I use miles primarily to upgrade a purchased ticket for long haul haul flights (4 hours +). The only time in recent history we used miles for a ticket was to go to the caribbean where a coach ticket would have cost over $700/pp.

I don't think this is true. My partner's AS account is 250K richer because she inherited his miles.

In our wills, we have bequeathed our miles to eachother. If we die with a large balance, it'll go to some trust we end up setting up.

lala

AS is not among the six airline FF programs I am a member of. Most carriers do expressly provide in their terms and conditions that FF miles are not transferrable on death.

Of course, if a survivor acts fast to redeem miles before the carrier knows about it . . .

I wonder if the airlines check credit reporting agencies for notifications of death?

Sure, you might get them willed to someone else. But they do YOU no good, and if your spouse passes along with you, then he/she gets no value either.