goingtomiami

I have an award ticket on hold until today, I am debating if I should buy a ticket and earn miles or use an award ticket.

The ticket I need will cost $1000, including taxes and fees. I am flying from Toronto to Lima on AA. I am a platinum member and I earn double miles, so I will earn about 16,000 miles. The same flights are availble on an award ticket, (30, 000 miles) taxes and fees are $70.

What should I do?

Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks.

AAFrequentFlyer

There are some questions you need to ask yourself.

1. Will the 8K elite qualifying miles help you retain Platinum status? if so the 8K miles are worth a great deal more than the 8K elite bonus miles. Very important to consider when doing your cost/expense calculation.

2. Do I earn miles at will? If so, then do the award, if not, save it for a really nice trip in first class to some exotic, far away place.

3. Can I afford the ticket?

4. What value do I put on each mile?

5. Get the calculator out and do the math...

You need to answer the questions one at a time in the order I presented and only then you will come to a satisfactory conclusion.

Gardyloo

To me, it would be right on the cusp of award v. purchased flight, but I would tend to go the purchased route in order to accumulate miles for better deals later in terms of cost/benefit.

That said, I personally would use the (to me, at least) glitch in the AA award charts that allow one-way mileage upgrades to northern S. America for 12,500 miles - less than on all-North American routes. It's a long way in coach, even if your Plat status allows you to pick exit row seats.

If the upgrades don't clear, you don't lose the miles.

BTW I believe the N. America - n. South America coach redemption is actually 35K miles, not 30K.

mrwunrfl

Spend 30,000 miles for a $930 ticket? That is no-brainer for me. I think this is a very good use of miles - for a free ticket. You are getting a good value.

You could look at it as spending 46,000 miles vs $930. Even at that price you are getting two cents per mile.

The only exception to spending the miles for this trip would be if I needed the elite qualifying miles.

If you don't use the miles for this trip, then when?

goingtomiami

Hi AAFF and Gardyloo, thanks for the comments.

AAFF, I have been asking myself the exact same questions, my biggest incentive for paying for a ticket is to earn the miles, and to requalify for Platinum. Unfortunately, I very much doubt that I will be able to maintain Platinum status. So, then, it really boils down to ...do I want to spend $1000 and earn 16,000 miles.

I have a few hours to keep debating, (and torturing myself.) I am leaning to redeeming the miles. The way I see this is 25K (5k less than what I'm redemming) is a free domestic coach ticket, which will never cost anywhere near $1000.

I have had Platinum for several years, over the years I have been to just about every place I wanted to visit, using miles (even in Premium cabins) and paying for tickets. Either way, AAdvantage has been good to me.

goingtomiami

Gardyloo, Sorry, I forgot to mention that a reward ticket to Peru is either 30K, 35K, 60K or 70K in economy, depending of dates of travel and availbility.

mrwunrfl, sorry i was typing when you were posting your reply. Thanks for your input.

P_M

Excuse me for hijacking this thread, but I remember AAFF telling us you reach a new level after earning one million miles. Is it platinum or something else?

AAFrequentFlyer

1MM = Lifetime (AAdvantage lifetime) Gold (Domestic members get 8 500 miles upgrades, international members get 4 e-VIPs, system wide free upgrades)

2MM - Lifetime Platinum (all members get 4 e-VIPs)

AFAIK there is no Lifetime Executive Platinum unless it's a super secret club that I have not reached yet...

thursdaysd

Is that 1MM actual flying miles? I'm acquiring most of miles in other ways these days.

AAFrequentFlyer

AAny miles, all miles.....

AA seems to be the exception in that dept. Most programs require butt in the seat miles....

P_M

Thanks for the scoop AAFF. I've been an Aadvantage member for several years but about a year ago I decided to give CO a try. I'm now reconsidering that decision, especially since rkkwan mentioned how hard it is to get award tix thru CO.