Miles Plus Money - Why?
 

So I'd been looking at burning some orphan miles that I had. Miles plus money looked somewhat useful, so I punched in some dates and this is what I found:

YVR-LHR (05/08-25/08)
Using M+M: $1354.31 ($733.00 + 2000miles + $621.31 in taxes (N class))
Just cash: $1280.31 ($659.00 + $621.31 in taxes = (O class))

YVR-LHR (11/09-25/09)
Using M+M: $1264.31 ($643.00 + 2000miles + $621.31 in taxes = (N class))
Just cash: $1180.31 ($559.00 + $621.31 in taxes = (N/O class))

Add to that the fact that one can upgrade to PE for $115 (in September) on the cheaper cash fare, and the fact that you can't earn miles on an M+M booking, makes me wonder about what the point is of offering M+M is.

This is a regular 'complaint' (though its not a complaint at all)

M+M fares can be good value but if there is a sale on there is little point in going for an M+M fare as opposed to an ordinary all cash ticket.

So it pays to check the prices of ALL options before booking.

BTW the biggesrt part of those 'taxes' is the VS fuel surcharge which is not a tax at all!