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3 times when it makes sense to buy miles

May 9, 2017 By Trevor 2 Comments





Frequent Flyer Programs are big revenue machines for airlines, and those 40% off promotions generally aren’t a good deal, but believe it or not, there are a few cases where it makes sense to buy miles. That said, I would offer that there are fairly limited times when you should and should not buy miles.

#1 Reason to buy miles

Here’s the situation: You’ve either applied to credit cards, flown, or otherwise accrued miles for that amazing trip, like Emirates First Class, but your short miles.

when to buy miles

The Emirates Shower is just calling your name!

If this is the trip you’ve dreamed up, well, buying miles to top up your account is not a bad idea, especially because you already have a purpose, and hopefully, you’ve already identified the availability.

#2 Reason to buy miles

You have that twinkle in your eye of a trip you plan to make. You’ve started to look for award availability, and you see something that might work. You might have some of the miles, but not enough. Your trip is far enough out, that you have some flexibility, that is key. That’s when you start looking for opportunities to buy miles at a discount, since you already have a purpose. 

Examples like Alaska Air’s fairly regular up to 40% bonus:

buy miles

Also American Airlines has hopped on the bandwagon:

Note: this only makes sense when you have a trip in mind! Never buy miles speculatively!

#3 Reason to buy miles

Lets say you don’t fly often. Lets say you only fly internationally once or twice a year, and you don’t churn credit cards or manufacture spend. Maybe you’re a reseller leveraging cashback cards. So, how much would that cost? Well, if you buy AviancaTaca LifeMiles on a 1×2 promotion like this:

Lets say you do this, and effectively buy miles at a 125% bonus, you’d be paying ~1.47 cents per miles (based on One Mile at a Time’s calculations). 

When we take into account the Life Miles Star Alliance Award Chart, we can start putting some cost to the fare:

For example, if you consider a trip to North Asia from North America, at 75,000 each way in business class, your cost is: ~$2,205 plus an booking fees. 

Weekend in Taipei

You could fly in this layflat seat to Asia!

While you might say – Wow! That’s expensive! consider for a moment, the occasional flyer that may have the funds for a big annual trip, but doesn’t want to pay the alternative, lets say, what Cathay Pacific (a different alliance than Life Miles) of:

cathay pacific

To further press home the point, here is a collection of business class fares from Washington, DC to Hong Kong:

hong kong

My point here is that you can effectively buy miles and thus get business class travel–assuming award space–for just over half the price of booking an actual ticket.

You could do it for even less from the US to Japan by purchasing Virgin Atlantic miles, if you have ~10-20k miles already; you could purchase 100,000 Virgin Atlantic miles for only 1,515 GBP or ~$1966 at current rates. 

There are considerations though – for example, you won’t earn miles, and you may have award booking fees. If you need to change your trip, there are likely fees as well–but most revenue fares also have fees.

Wrapping Up

Often times I would not recommend folks buying miles, but there are at least 3 situations when that makes sense. For infrequent international travelers, I think the value proposition is a much bigger difference. When you consider the kind’ve experience that you’ll enjoy in a layflat seat vs. an economy seat, its a big difference! Of course I’m much more focused on the journey than the destination, but when you can arrive rested and refreshed to the destination, then I’d imagine it helps you more fully enjoy your entire trip. 

Have you bought miles to facilitate a trip? 

 

Filed Under: Airline Programs, Awards Tagged With: Business Class Travel, Buy Miles, editorial, Unconventional Ideas

Could Basic Business Be Coming?

September 25, 2016 By Trevor 9 Comments

Gary Leff, among others, have written a bunch about Basic Economy, the concept that Delta has embraced, where customers essentially buy the seat. They get no advance seat selection, in fact, if they are elites, they are not even eligible for an upgrade. American is embracing this idea as well.

From a consumer perspective, I think this is just bad news. I’ve already had a few friends that have mistakenly purchased these “basic” fares and not realized it until they boarded. All have regretted the experience.

A recent Skift article, interviewing Emirates CEO Tim Clark, reveals even more concerning news with the trend of “basic fares.”

Emirates Basic Business Class

Credit: Travel Codex

Basic Business Class

Skift asked Tim Clark if he would focus on selling discounted business class seats. Here is Tim Clark’s answer:

Clark: I know certain segments will take [premium economy] straightaway. Baby boomers, the aging population of Europe. No mortgages, money in the bank, spending the inheritance of the children, that kind of thing. But they would prefer to have a bed.

You might just say, ‘OK, I’ll give you a special price, just for the [business class] bed. I won’t give you the incentives. I won’t give you ground. You’ll get the business product in the air only, and that’s it.’ No chauffeur drive, no business-class lounge, no expedited [security] search. No uplifting your baggage allowance, et cetera. You just pay for the bed. I’ll give you a price for that. Maybe, if you’ve got business class seats going begging, that’s the easy way to go, rather than create a completely new product, which is going to upend the distribution systems, upend service delivery and upend the logistical management on the operational side.

My read of Tim Clark’s comment is that he’s thinking of something very similar to the concept of Basic Economy, perhaps not as dire, but still concerning. We’ve seen that Emirates has already instituted fees for advance seat assignment. In fact, Tim Clark even mentions the unbundling of airfares, in a separate statement in the interview:

You could offer premium check-in. You can offer expedited [security] search. [We can offer] our chauffeur drive, on a pay basis.

My read is that many of these comments are pointed to unbundling Business class, in fact, embracing the trend that US and European Airlines are doing for economy passengers, and extending it to business class passengers.

A single statement as to why they might do it

While this quote is taken completely out of context, I think it is still very much a statement of the Emirates Business model. Furthermore, I think Emirates has proven that they are willing to buck the trend, and in some cases–such as the Shower on the A380–to lead the industry. That said, this statement makes me think that Emirates just might be ambitious enough to consider an industry shocking “basic business” approach:

The whole Emirates business model has been a complete destabilizer, disruptor to the aviation world.

And if you don’t believe me, just read what Tim Clark says about the onboard bar for Business and First Class on the Emirates A380:

Clark: [They said,] ‘No, no, no, we can’t do it.’ I said, ‘Watch. It’ll happen.’ People said, ‘No, nobody will use it.’ I said, ‘You’re telling me that nobody will want to get up and stretch their legs on a 16-hour flight?’ [They said,] ‘they’ll never use the bar. It’s waste of space. Put business-class seats in there.’ [I wanted] an upper deck of quality — a premium offering. A bit like a cruise ship there, on the top decks. The collegial, convivial atmosphere is great.

Wrapping Up

I hope I’m wrong. I sincerely do. But as I read the Skift’s interview with Tim Clark, so many things resonate with me. Perhaps even more concerning; I would be seriously considering this “basic business.” The idea of having a layflat at a discounted cost is great! Losing lounge access? Well, perhaps I would just arrive at the airport later. No Chauffeur? I’ll take Uber. If I’m going to fly business (which would be a first for me on Emirates), the thing that matters most to me, is the onboard experience. I’m talking first about the aisle-access, layflat bed–something that is lacking on everything but the A380–and the meal, perhaps even the bar experience, when on the A380.

Emirates Basic Business Class

Credit: Travel Codex

What do you think? Would you embrace a Basic Business fare?

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Business Class Travel, Emirates, Tim Clark

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