Finally hit by RR devaluation

Old Mar 5, 2019, 12:05 pm
  #16  
 
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@ursine1, how is it- I guess I'm being dense today- that some of those DEN-LAX are $121 or 7111 points and some of those are $113 or 7161 points if the redemption values are fixed?
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Old Mar 5, 2019, 12:39 pm
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Originally Posted by kennycrudup
@ursine1, how is it- I guess I'm being dense today- that some of those DEN-LAX are $121 or 7111 points and some of those are $113 or 7161 points if the redemption values are fixed?
The point redemption value is calculated only on the base fare.

On a cash booking, you pay base fare plus taxes and fees. And those fees change if, for example, your flight has a connection (you pay 2x the Flight Segment Tax vs a non-stop).

On a points booking, many of those fees aren't charged.

Picking three random dates all with a different cash price, you can see below that in each case the points cost is 78/$1 of base fare.

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Old Mar 6, 2019, 6:09 am
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I'm going to be linking to those two posts in the future. Excellent job breaking it down.
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Old Mar 8, 2019, 5:55 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by ursine1
We need more info. City pairs & date? Which fare? And what is the cash cost exclusive of taxes and fees?
SAN-SFO. 2517 points. When I've paid the common $59 price for SFO-SAN, the cash base fare is $40.98. I guess it is possible I repeatedly booked during $49 promos without realizing it, but I doubt it because those usually require more advance booking than I normally do, which is booking 3-4 weeks in advance. Looking at my records, I've paid about 2500 RR points for this flight many times both early this year and several times in 2018. This flight was frequently 2517 or 2524 RR points, but one time was 2,323 RR (booked in March 2018 for travel in May 2018)

Thus is does look to me like for whatever reason SW delayed its devaluation in my case by about 10 months. But it is a wake-up that earning 1RR/$ is no longer a good use of my credit card spending.

EDIT: I looked at my records: it looks like I indeed got lucky and booked many $49 flights in 2018 for ~2500 miles, which is why I assumed I was still getting 2 cents per RR point.

Last edited by humesd; Mar 8, 2019 at 6:11 pm Reason: more info
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Old Mar 10, 2019, 7:45 am
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Originally Posted by humesd

EDIT: I looked at my records: it looks like I indeed got lucky and booked many $49 flights in 2018 for ~2500 miles, which is why I assumed I was still getting 2 cents per RR point.
As we've discussed, lower fares can be a better value than higher ones, giving the appearance of better redemption rates, while actually maintaining 78/$1.

Originally Posted by nsx
2517 points is a $49 cash fare, of which $32.26 is base fare. 32.26 x 78 = 2516.28.
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Old Mar 10, 2019, 9:10 am
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That factor actually makes it difficult for me to decide which flights to use points on - the points are worth more on short flights, of which we take many, but those are the same flights I'd prefer to pay cash for to earn segments for A-List. Decisions, decisions...
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Old Mar 10, 2019, 11:41 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by synergistic
That factor actually makes it difficult for me to decide which flights to use points on - the points are worth more on short flights, of which we take many, but those are the same flights I'd prefer to pay cash for to earn segments for A-List. Decisions, decisions...
Pay cash until you reach your segment count target: 25, 50, or 100. Then use points for cheap flights and pay cash for expensive flights.
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Old Mar 12, 2019, 8:59 am
  #23  
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Originally Posted by synergistic
That factor actually makes it difficult for me to decide which flights to use points on - the points are worth more on short flights, of which we take many, but those are the same flights I'd prefer to pay cash for to earn segments for A-List. Decisions, decisions...
And of course pay cash for those flights tax-deductible or reimbursable.
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Old Aug 18, 2019, 2:50 pm
  #24  
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I just applied for the RR credit card in anticipation of a big non-travel expense ($5000). So, I will get the 40K sign up bonus. However, I am now having second thoughts on where to charge the expense (merchant can't split the charges to multiple cards) as the valuation is not so great, it seems.

- Citi Costco Card gets me $50 back
- AMEX MR gets me 5000 MR points (I have no time to get a new card or force the 20% bonus with 20 charges on my Everyday card)
- RR card gets me 5000 points + the sign up bonus although I can achieve the sign up bonus through other means since $1000 for 3 months is not terribly hard to do.

I don't have the immediate need to use the miles / points.

Thoughts? If we determine I have applied the card prematurely, would I be able to call Chase and close it (as if I have never applied so I can get the bonus some other time)?

Thanks.

Last edited by username; Aug 18, 2019 at 2:57 pm
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Old Aug 18, 2019, 5:33 pm
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Originally Posted by username
I just applied for the RR credit card in anticipation of a big non-travel expense ($5000). ....Thoughts? If we determine I have applied the card prematurely, would I be able to call Chase and close it (as if I have never applied so I can get the bonus some other time)?....
I would leave it alone. Once the process starts, you are pretty much gonna get the card along with the credit pull, etc. Some CSR might TELL YOU it can go away, but you never know what the system(s) will do. Done. Move on.
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Old Aug 18, 2019, 5:44 pm
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Y'all talk about the .78 number. I actually look at it another way.

Every point is worth $1.57 when booking a flight. (varies a bit based on base fare, taxes, etc)

Using an earlier example, a flight that costs $113 cash, only costs me 7,161 points. Said another way, each point is worth $1.57 in fare.

Anytime I get over $1 per 100 points is a good deal these days.
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Old Aug 18, 2019, 6:54 pm
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I think you mean 1.57cents per point, or $0.0157, not 1 dollar and 57cents, or $1.57.
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Old Aug 18, 2019, 7:44 pm
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Originally Posted by shadow520
I think you mean 1.57cents per point, or $0.0157, not 1 dollar and 57cents, or $1.57.
Yea... decimals and wine.....

1.57 cents per point.

But in my "head", I look at 100 points equals $1.57 in airfare.
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Old Aug 18, 2019, 10:42 pm
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Thanks. I just did a little math myself on a cheap fare and an expensive fare and got over 1 cent per RR point. So, I guess 5,000 is better than the $50 Costco Citibank Card 1% rebate.
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Old Aug 19, 2019, 6:38 am
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Originally Posted by username
Thanks. I just did a little math myself on a cheap fare and an expensive fare and got over 1 cent per RR point. So, I guess 5,000 is better than the $50 Costco Citibank Card 1% rebate.
You should always get better than 1 cent per RR point. The refundability of points reservations also raises the value of points above the straight math in my mind.
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