There has been a fair-amount of hand-wringing in the points & miles world, some of it from me, about how things aren’t as good as they used to be. I know that it’s still possible to generate obtain enough points and miles to satisfy any reasonable person, but it’s not as easy as it used to be and the 5/24 rule is only the latest in a string of setbacks. Andy at Lazy Travelers had a good post on this recently:
Everyone else should do a simple mental exercise. If you could (or do) sell all the miles and points you earn with manufactured spending, how much would (do) you make? And no, that first-class seat doesn’t count, because it isn’t really worth $10K. The real cost of your miles and points is how much you could get for them on an open market. Even if it’s a gray market, it works for this exercise.
If you spend one, two or whatever extra hours a day doing this thing, are your hourly earnings comparable to your real-life wages?
If the answer is no, you need to ask yourself why you’re wasting your life doing this instead of making more money. And if the answer is yes, why are you wasting your life instead of growing professionally, instead of trying to start a new business, or even instead of playing ball with your kid?
Exactly! Even if you can still manufacture spend, it may cost more (in either time or money) than it used to. So you can expend more resources for the same amount of points and miles, or you do a better job of using fewer points and miles.
Andy offers up a couple of ideas of how to change up your approach, one of which is hoarding:
Here is the thing. If you really love to travel (which is different from loving to travel in luxury), then this “earn it and burn it” mantra (of which I’ve always been skeptical anyway) makes no sense anymore. You might want to dust off your old “hoarding” box from the days when miles weren’t so easy to get, because if we are honest to ourselves, coach has devalued very little in the last two decades. If anything, international coach availability has considerably improved in the recent years across all airline programs.
I think hoarding is a good idea because for all we know things could get even tighter in the future. Hoarding has worked out well for me in the past as well. And yes, your points and miles can get devalued, but if they get harder to earn then devaluations are less likely. Plus, as Andy pointed out, coach hasn’t been devalued as much as business and first–which, of course, is what a lot of travel hackers have been redeeming for. Although it still saddens me that I can’t use my Avios to fly coach to NYC for 4,500 miles anymore.
Speaking of coach: flying it more often is another suggestion Andy offers up:
I hereby declare my personal moratorium on booking first class award seats, unless there is an offer I would be stupid to refuse.
In other words: lower your expectations! Which, c’mon, isn’t really all that terrible. With all the first class braggadocio I’ve seen over the years, I wonder if anybody’s lost sight of the why of travel? The “why” will vary from person to person, but for me it’s to see new places, experience new things, relax, and take a temporary break from my usual routine. It’s possible to do that without traveling to the Maldives in Etihad first class (or Vendoming).
Heck, there are plenty of places within a few hours’ drive of my house I haven’t even seen yet and I’m sure that’s true for some of you as well. I’m currently considering a trip to Helen, Georgia to take in some nature and some ersatz Bavarian architecture. There is a category 2 Hampton Inn (speaking of which, see “Three Cheers for Category 1 Redemptions!“) nearby with good reviews that will net me over one cent per point which is just peachy for HHilton PPesos. I won’t be flying, first class or otherwise, and I won’t be pampered like an 18th-century monarch, but the kids will still be able to jump on a hotel bed, swim in a hotel swimming pool, and see a new place.
A change I’ve made recently is making the Freedom Unlimited my primary spender. I consistently get at least 2 cents of value per point from Ultimate Reward points, sometimes more, thus the switch. I had a Chase Sapphire Preferred whose annual fee was coming due and I was able to convert it, so no 5/24 issues for me. I currently have two Chase Inks, and because of how much Chase has tightened up I plan on keeping both of them. With all the money I save on plane tickets, it will still be worth it.
Another possible change to make: scour a little harder for opportunities you may have passed up before. I’m currently investigating something myself as time permits. Maybe there’s something interesting at a local credit union or maybe there’s a points and miles meet-up nearby you could check out. Or maybe there’s some opportunity which has nothing whatsoever to do with points and miles that you need to check out.
Have a great weekend everybody…
on one hand i don’t disagree, on the other if you do this opportunity hourly cost model, it also implies you are in a position where another hour of your labor will yield you another hour of your current pay. given that a fair amount of people that play with this hobby are salaried professionals, i wouldn’t think this is often the case. people also in this position probably realize that they can simply work extra hours and are probably already taking advantage of that as well if they’d like, i would think.
Hear, hear! Or is it here, here? Or maybe it should be here, there! The point is, after all, to get from here to there. I’ve always been more into hoarding than earn and burn.
I really agree with you, although in my own situation I am looking toward fewer coach flights and more business class ones, at least on a selected basis. But short flights and sometimes even long ones can be very doable in coach. We did just fine in a half full 16 hour flight JFK > JNB recently. No real reason to pay to upgrade when we could lie down across 4-5 seats. As for lower category, non-aspirational hotels, I have found that they are often nicer to elites than the top category ones and upgrades can be easier to come by because fewer elites stay there.
And some of my son’s best childhood memories are from central Oregon family vacations, including frolicking in a pool at a Comfort Inn after the drive from PDX. He actually traveled quite a bit internationally as a kid, but still found lots to love closer to home. And so did we.
Well, yes. And, no. For shorter flights, or even slightly longer ones, like MDW-MBJ, I’m fine with coach, at least if I can NOT sit in the bowels of the plane.
But part of an intercontinental vacation for me is knowing that I CAN book F or J, and reliably have a lounge to relax in, as well as reliably lie down and sleep. I’ve had my last flight in a crowded plane from MSP-AMS, awake all night because the seat is so uncomfortable, and the entire high school band seated around is too jacked with excitement to sleep, so are jumping from seat to seat and talking loudly all.night.long.
I want those kinds of vacations to start at the airport, and end by walking to the GE line in customs.
One thing that has changed for me, though, is that, by reselling, I can cut back on MS, make a better ROI (both in time and money) and still earn points and miles. We have enough income, and enough tucked away. What we need is time for more vacations. We hoard, to an extent, simply because we haven’t the time.
Hmm, all about perspective. I fly in Business Class or First on long hauls points for these reasons: 1) 6 foot frame in a decent sleep and to get sleep, 2) usually stocking up on supplies for the country I live in which is not the country where I shop, and 3) to pamper myself. I also love the award searches, and dreaming as a part of the process, in doing so, I am not spending money. And, yes, I am a geekette.
The landscape surely has changed. I still will continue to fly Southwest for most domestic flights, but if I can find a great saver deal for first class, I will look for those. The hoarding strategy is interesting I would consider that.
I just realized I can make more money doing something else besides reading this blog
Zing!
Great comments all around! And I love the zingers. Stop crying over spilled milk and get out there and o what you love. And ‘gaming’ the system through MS, status matches, fancy credit cards, and yes Business class tix around the world have opened a whole new world to me. And I he a fan of four that I have taken nearly everywhere.
I totally agree – I’ll accept Y for a 2-2.5 hour flight… More than that, I’m looking for more comfort…
You are still both overvaluing and undervaluing the market liquidation price for points and what that would equal per hour.
1) Overvaluing – imagine the amount of hours also saved by not reading points blogs and commenting! (but then life wouldn’t be as fun as well, so you have to deduct for that)
2) Undervaluing – when you use points to get a lie flat for your wife and she grants you a Hall Pass or Three Way for such luxury, I think that can’t be priced in dollars. (or for others in more sadder marital power positions, you get some fun on a day that isn’t your birthday or Valentine’s day)