It IS true that miles are often valued at only one cent apiece (this is REDEMPTION value, not PURCHASE value -- it is really erroneous to value them in terms of how much you pay to BUY them!!!). And there are a lot of ways to redeem them that yield LESS than one cent per mile. At the same time, you can in fact at times redeem them at a value of quite a bit MORE than one cent per mile (e.g., international premium class saver air awards).

Bottom line, though: even our illustrious founder, Randy Petersen himself, often uses the "one cent per mile" approximation. @:-)

Anyhow, the valuation of miles is something that has been discussed on zillions of other threads, on the MilesBuzz and various airline forums, so it's probably veering way off-topic for this forum. Go take a look at those forums for further discussion.

The point remains (it's a valid one) that e-rewards "dollars" are a "currency" that is usually worth less in real dollars than their nominal value. I value 3,000 HHonors points at about $20 in redemption value, but it costs $50 in e-rewards currency to get that $20 worth of points. @:-)

Maybe in your experience, and based on your departure cities. I've never had a mile valued at less than 2 cents, unless you are talking a short-hop award ticket (and I seriously hope people aren't gullible enough to redeem for a 1000 mile flight valued at $200 with their 25,000 miles).

I value my miles quite high, based on what you can get for them at their maximum value. For example, I fly a lot from Canada - Peru. Tickets on this route are ALWAYS upwards of $1000, but are a mere 30,000 miles to redeem on AA. Likewise, last year I redeemed a ticket to Ushuaia, Argentina (at the southern tip near Antarctica) for a mere 40,000 miles when the value of the same-itinerary ticket was available for purchase for $2,600 (a value of 6.5 cents per mile). And no, I don't measure value in how much I am *purchasing* the miles for, I'm measuring them in what the value of the product you are recieving in return for the miles (how much AA, for example, is "paying" you). So in that case, the higher the better.

As for me finding another forum to discuss this in, I'm not too sure I was interested enough in discussing it in the first place - I'm mainly just calling a spade a spade and challenging the rather pessimistic and depressing claim of 1 cent per mile.

You will note that I already cited some examples ("international premium class saver awards" as a whole) where miles are worth more than 1 cent each, so you are essentially just repeating what I already stated. You might try reading a little more carefully next time.

Also, you are contradicting yourself by stating: "And no, I don't measure value in how much I am *purchasing* the miles for," where a few posts above you stated: "The actual monetary value for buying miles on AA.com is 4 cents per mile." Hmmm.... @:-) (Actually, your math is wrong anyhow: $1,000 for 40,000 miles is a purchase price of 2.5 cents/mile. )

Nevertheless, one cent per mile is commonly used -- even, as I said, by Randy Petersen himself. If you want to challenge that valuation, have a look at those threads in MilesBuzz first.

Yes, I did the math wrong, if that makes you happy (as you seem to be!). Better get down to the engravers and get a nice trophy done for "Best Fter at making other FTers feel like garbage".

How about we agree to disagree? I'll just finish by saying I value my miles at $5.00 per mile. They're more valuable than life itself, and I would trade my house for 2,500 miles.

I'm a psychologist by trade, and I know pretty well that neither of our personalities will ever let the other be "right" when it comes to this subjective topic of value of miles.

As for your persistence regarding Ye Great Leader Randy Petersen's take on the topic, that seems hardly relevant. Again, it's a subjective value, and I don't think it can be set in stone by anyone (though I'd like to try). Just because we have Randy to thank for beginning the FT community does not make him some sort of demigod or ultimate authority when it comes to miles.

Have I blasphemed?

I stand by my 1 cent per mile, it is not an errant observation and there are MANY supporting datapoints and many threads on this topic.

And, BTW, off season, which is when seats tend to be available from NYC to Europe, redemption values are usually 50,000 miles on most airlines, and tickets CAN be gotten for less than $500. ... Peak season is more expensive, but the cheap awards tend to be unavailable or highly restricted ... and remember, awards don't earn miles. So thank you, what you though was a counter-example has just provided one more proof point about the 1 cent/milevaluation.

No way do I buy 4 cents per mile as a valuation; that is an outlier, and purchased only by someone who needs to "top up" a balance to reach an award. It is not comparable to the MANY ways of buying miles that are closer to 1 cent, or no more than 2 cents.

And even if you think miles are worth 2.7 cents, God bless your willingness to pay retail, eRewards values them at 5 cents ... even you have to agree their "currency" is inflated, at double your high valuation!

The point is that the eRewards "dollar" is highly inflated. While it doesn't approach the inflated value of, say, the Zimbabwe dollar, it is far from equivalent to the U.S. Dollar.

Put this another way: I just received a "15 minute" survey that would credit me with "$5" assuming I pass all the hoops. Never mind that a "15 minute" survey takes 30 minutes if you actually read the questions and answer honestly.

But let's take 15-minute claim at face value. It means it takes 5 hours of your time to "earn" $100 in eRewards currency. You may think this values your time at $20 per hour. Which is certainly too low for most people. And if you evaluate this at the rate of 1 penny a mile, which is the MOST I would pay for a mile, it means you are earning $4 per hour. THIS IS BELOW THE MINIMUM WAGE. HARDLY AN INCENTIVE.

And when you really realize the absurdly inflated eRewards value, you just earned 2000 miles in 5 hours of your time. That is, if you can actually redeem the miles with the various Byzantine restrictions on frequency of redemption and expiration dates.

I'm happy for you that your time is worth that little, and that you have 5 hours to waste for a measly 2000 miles. Is your life really so worthless that you find working for an hour for a TOTAL compensation of 400 miles to be worth your while? I am so sad for you.

Add to that, the fact that many people who post on this board brag about lying on the surveys to "qualify" for the erewards, and to get through the survey faster. This means to me that the value to the SPONSOR of the surveys is compromised, and the net impact is that the person PAYING for the surveys is getting bogus data ... and the person DOING the surveys is getting compensated at a paltry rate.

I stand by my assertion: eRewards sucks, and deserves a miserable death.

I agree with you vsevolod that eRewards sucks, at least when it comes to earning miles. Personally, I don't pay much attention when doing a survey (I multitask) and give it whatever answers I think it's looking for, and eventually the money racks up in my account enough for a redemption - I definitely think it's un undervalued currency, though.

Some exceptions: The Borders $15 for $15 in-store credit that was around last winter (the new 3 x $5 sucks, since you can redeem it only once per month, so forget about getting a book for free). And, the FTD $25 for $25 gift cert isn't bad - I've redeemed it and have paid only a shipping charge for some gift items, which would have been full price on AA's FTD site (with the only difference of earning a couple hundred miles on AA).

I was being sarcastic when I said I value miles so highly. But, I usually stick to a maximum 2 cent per mile value in my head, in terms of what I would buy them for. The actual value of those miles is a lot more, at least 3 cents, based on the somewhat remote airport I fly out of with AA. Tickets are always extremely expensive, and as long as I book far enough in advance I can get tickets reasonably easy and for much less than their retail cost on AA.com

Point is, I just don't care for Kathy too much, and I was getting carried away. Sorry to get you riled up. eRewards does suck, but it is useful for SOME rewards...

They have other ways of extending your points for another year, which allows you to build up your balance. This is nice if you like to hoard and never spend. All you Adult ADD pack rats line up

I just completed an update 'survey' that extended my points another year.

Most people don't treat surveys like a part-time job. They take them because it's (for them) a fun thing to do in a few minutes of spare time.

Excuse me, when did this turn into a question of whose life is more valuable? Personal attacks, even if not directed at a specific person, are really uncalled for here. Some people choose to spend hours a week watching their favorite TV shows for ZERO compensation... I'd imagine even you do that. Is that worth their while? Please don't judge people for what they choose to do in their spare time, whether that's watching TV, watching paint peel, or filling out surveys for what you perceive to be negligible compensation. We all have our hobbies.

For me, I pity these people that take time to B**ch about a progam that they don't have to participate in. Who's time is being wasted by that? If you don't like the return, fine, don't play. This is a game and some of us enjoy it enough to continue. If you don't, it really says something about you that you lower yourself to complain about those of us who do. My response to you: Get a Life of your own and stay out of mine!

I finally qualified for a "big ticket" survey worth $23. Posted within minutes.

The time I wasted reading this thread I could have easily earned a $100 in e-rewards! I don't mind spending 1/4 th time listed at the begining of the e-rewards survey offers. I just earned $11 for about 5 minutes of my time to do a survey that I qualified for. (And I make every effort to answer honestly.) I earn about $225/yr in e-rewards for about 2 hour of my time. Not bad if you ask me. YMMV

Did anybody else get 12 emails today for the same survey?? Not that it's a big deal, but it was disappointing when I realized they were all the same one...I thought I'd hit a jackpot...pout...

I agree. I've earned about $275 this year for surveys I take while sitting and watching tv. Not bad at all.

Just curious....how much money did you make for writing this post? I'll bet it was below minimum wage. Yet, for some reason you chose to take the time anyway.

As for me, I have no quibbles with e-rewards. Over the past 2 1/2 years I've earned 6500 frequent flier miles that cost me absolutely nothing. I've never had miles expire. The surveys always take less time to complete than advertised...not because I lie, but because I am able to read, comphrehend and respond at a faster rate than their estimation.

Again: 6500 miles at no cost to me except a few minutes of time here or there. And you say there's no incentive?

I've been a member since March of 2003 and have earned 47,000 miles on various airlines (granted it used to be a lot better), 15,000 Hilton points and various magazine subscriptions. I'm pretty happy with the program.