MileagePlus - I just hit 10M Miles (RDMs)
Feb 13, 2019, 11:33 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2018
Programs: Marriott Ambassador/United 1K
Posts: 68
MileagePlus - I just hit 10M Miles (RDMs)
I've been waiting for this day for so long! I finally hit 10M MileagePlus miles after this month's Chase points posted! So excited and just wanted to share it 
Feb 13, 2019, 11:46 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 21,362
I hope you have a wonderful time using them. I would start sooner, rather than later, though. Miles are a rapidly depreciating currency. United could change award costs at any time. The introduction of Premium Economy awards with no chart is particularly ominous. Now that you've collected the miles, here's hoping you can collect some memories to go with them.
Feb 13, 2019, 12:26 pm
#4
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Francisco
Programs: UA MM Plat, UA 1MM, Hilton Lifetime Gold, Marriott Gold, Hertz Gold, CLEAR, AS MVP Gold
Posts: 3,614
Impressive number but definitely start using them, I purposefully use mine as my account starts to get above 500K. Most here will tell you the value of miles continually decreases as the number of outstanding miles increases.
Feb 13, 2019, 12:32 pm
#5
Join Date: Mar 2012
Programs: Mileage Plus 1K; Marriott Platinum; Hilton Gold
Posts: 6,355
So by burning our miles and reducing the total number that are outstanding, we are actually contributing to everyone's utility by lowering the pressure for future devaluation!
Feb 13, 2019, 12:38 pm
#7
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: San Francisco
Programs: UA MM Plat, UA 1MM, Hilton Lifetime Gold, Marriott Gold, Hertz Gold, CLEAR, AS MVP Gold
Posts: 3,614
Now I wouldn't go that far....LOL... But the number of unused airline miles out there is staggering. I haven't seen the number recently but I am sure someone has a recent estimate and can post.
Feb 13, 2019, 12:48 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AS 75K, DL Silver, UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Platinum + LT Gold
Posts: 10,462
Earn and burn is always a good practice. Stockpile transferable credit card currencies before most airline miles/hotel points - the reward is much greater.
Feb 13, 2019, 12:52 pm
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2018
Programs: Marriott Ambassador/United 1K
Posts: 68
Definitely burn a lot. Took my family to Asia for a while and it cost nearly 1M miles. Earning faster than I can spend though, so this is inevitable. Will focus on a new airline soon!
Feb 13, 2019, 12:53 pm
#10
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 622
Going from <10M to >10.3M on a chase point posting must be your monthly spend on the chase card is impressively high. You must hit the PQD waiver immediately. Too bad you can't use miles to get $0.01/mile refunded on accelerator PQM like you can UA tickets charged to the card. Otherwise you could buy 80k PQM for ~$8000, then use 800,000 miles (~3 mo of earnings on the CC) to refund it all and you'd qualify for Plat without needing to set foot on a plane.
Actually, with that many miles you could get $100k in tickets refunded. Designed right, you could spend 1.5M miles to get 15k pqd and 100k PQM (and earn somewhere between 120-165k of those RDM back in earnings. That's a net of 1.3M miles, which seems to be about 3 mo points earnings for you. Really, with 10M miles and earning 300k/mo, I would never do an award redemption -- just buy straight tickets (And J/F at that) and use the miles to get the ticket price refunded.
Actually, with that many miles you could get $100k in tickets refunded. Designed right, you could spend 1.5M miles to get 15k pqd and 100k PQM (and earn somewhere between 120-165k of those RDM back in earnings. That's a net of 1.3M miles, which seems to be about 3 mo points earnings for you. Really, with 10M miles and earning 300k/mo, I would never do an award redemption -- just buy straight tickets (And J/F at that) and use the miles to get the ticket price refunded.
Feb 13, 2019, 12:57 pm
#12
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75K, UA Gold, Marriott LTT, Avis President's Club
Posts: 1,539
I have around 300k and want to burn them. Never know when the next devaluation is. On the plus side I'm sure you can get a real nice toaster from the MP catalog 
Feb 13, 2019, 12:58 pm
#13
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 622
Okay, so with that many miles per mo you could qualify for 1K every year without spending a dime out of pocket. Actually, if you really wanted to, you could get GS through $50k of travel using 5M miles, which you'd earn back every 4 mos or so. Geez.
Feb 13, 2019, 1:35 pm
#14
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: TPA
Programs: UA GS; Marriott Titanium / LT Plat
Posts: 653
Actually, with that many miles you could get $100k in tickets refunded. Designed right, you could spend 1.5M miles to get 15k pqd and 100k PQM (and earn somewhere between 120-165k of those RDM back in earnings. That's a net of 1.3M miles, which seems to be about 3 mo points earnings for you. Really, with 10M miles and earning 300k/mo, I would never do an award redemption -- just buy straight tickets (And J/F at that) and use the miles to get the ticket price refunded.
Feb 13, 2019, 2:01 pm
#15
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Virginia, USA
Posts: 4,506
Use Chase points to pay for flights booked through Chase Travel (operated by Expedia)-either all points or points plus cash. Same as a revenue ticket.