yk

http://www.fodors.com/news/story_3463.html

While I agree with most of his points, I disagree with a few.

<i>1. Always use miles for upgrades on long flights. Unless you are a high-level frequent flier and get free upgrades, you have to use a hefty number of miles to get one. Still, it's always worth it on a long flight overseas. You get a better meal, more room to stretch out, and more and better entertainment options. New York to Hong Kong? No question. New York to London? Of course. New York to Chicago? Not unless you're a frequent flier and get the miles for free. My rule of thumb: 6 hours or more in the air, and I'll consider spending miles to upgrade. It's a lot of miles, but I know I'm always getting the most return on my investment.</i>

I don't think <u>always</u> is right. AFAIK, apart from using miles for upgrade, one has to pay a co-pay for the upgrade as well for a NON domestic flight. For example, American Airlines charges 25,000 miles PLUS $300 co-pay for a trans-atlantic upgrade, <u>each way</u>. For a roundtrip ticket, we are talking about 50,000 miles PLUS $600. I understand this is still a "bargain" way to get a Business class seat, but not everyone can afford the extra $600. Perhaps this is worth it for travelers from the West coast to Europe; but I don't feel it's worth it for me flying from the East Coast.

For me, the 50,000 miles and $600 saved = 2 additional trips to Europe in economy.

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<i>5. Consider using miles for last-minute trips.</i>

Depends on how expensive the ticket is. Some airlines (AA for sure), charge fee if the award ticket is booked last minute. AA charges $50 if the Award ticket reservation is made within 7-20 days of departure; and $100 if reserved within 2 hours to 6 days prior to departure. Therefore, it's important to keep this fee in mind when figuring out the total cost of the last-minute flight.

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Another reason to Pay Cash instead of using miles:
I'd say if the airlines is offering bonus miles, it's always worth considering paying cash for the ticket.

thursdaysd

I won't waste miles on upgrades, at least not for Trans Atlantic flights from the east coast. I save my miles for RTW business class One World awards, which gets me business class for all of a long trip, including the Trans Pacific leg.

bettyk

We always try to upgrade when flying from Houston to Frankfurt on American via DFW. If I can get upgradeable tickets for under $700 per person, I am perfectly willing to spend the extra $600 and 50k miles to fly Biz Class both directions. Most times, however, we're only able to upgrade in one direction due to availability.

I still feel that Biz Class for $1000 - $1300 is more than a bargain. It makes flying enjoyable vs miserable -- for us anyway.

november_moon

I just use my miles for flights - I'll cram my way into coach class for free tickets. Business and first class are fabulous, but I'd rather put of with cramped quarters for the opportunity to go more places.

Carrybean

I agree with BettyK. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to use miles. It's up to the person who earned them & if you can afford the co-pay.

annw

I'm in agreement with Doug. To each his or her own with using miles, but I'm in the camp that uses them to upgrade, even if I have to pay a substantial price for the upgradable tix. IMO that way the vacation begins when you get on the plane, not when you recover from the flight at the destination.

From the west coast to Europe & back it is just too miserable for this middle aged traveler to fly economy. West coast to Hawaii, OTOH, economy plus or even economy is bearable, for the 5 hour trip, though if a day of travel cheap upgrade comes through I sometimes purchase it.

november_moon

annw - If I had more money, I think I would use the same stragegy as you - and that is one of the things I am working toward

travelgourmet

I am partially in agreement with Doug. I think using miles for a coach ticket is almost always poor value - sometimes awful value. But, upgrades are sometimes not a great value either. Co-pays or buy-ups to eligible fares can be substantial. Paying $450 each way + 20k miles is a lot to spend on a 7-hour flight if flying from the East Coast. For the daylight flights from Europe, I think it even worse value. I save my miles for full redemptions to international biz class and usually only on 10+ hour trips.

In the interest of full disclosure, though, I do upgrade on international flights, but I use my Platinum upgrades on Delta. If I didn't have them, I wouldn't bother, but since it is now maybe $300+ each way + 0 miles, it is worth it to me. The miles are just too valuable to me.

As for using miles for last minute trips, I agree that you should consider the entire cost. I always consider the cash out of pocket for the "free" ticket against the cost of a purchased ticket. In other words, if I am spending $100 + 25k miles, vs $400 for a ticket purchased outright, I consider the value to be $300. I would never redeem for $300 worth of value. I seek to get upwards of $0.03 per mile, but again, this is because I use my miles mostly for international business class tickets.

If your travel patterns don't make high-value redemptions, such as international business class, likely, then you should adjust down the value you seek to get from your redemptions. However, you should also adjust down how much extra you are willing to pay for miles. As I usually get over $0.03 per mile, I will pay an extra $0.015 or so for miles. In other words, if I am flying on a ticket that will earn me 10k miles, I might pay $150 extra to fly on my preferred carrier, Delta, or one of their partners. If I mostly flew domestically and redeemed for coach, where I might get $0.015 per mile, I would only pay an extra $75 (or $0.0075 per mile) for those 10k miles.

bettyk

One other thing that's nice about upgrading versus a "free" ticket is that we get some of the miles back that go toward the upgrade.

With AA, on a IAH-DFW-FRA route, we get a little over 10K miles back towards the 50k we would use for a RT upgrade or 25k for a one-way upgrade.