Points, Miles or Cash

Hanoi IG

Level 2 Member
So if a mile is worth 2 cents and it takes 50,000 for a trip then the fare should be at least $1000 or you should pay cash and save your points? I'm fairly new to the points game and am finding my way.

Like on SQ they have Saver for 57,500 and standard at 80,000. the difference w/online discount is 20,000 but bottom line even standard is ok for $3000 fare?
 

Josh F

Level 2 Member
Charity Forum Mod
There's no single answer to this question, depends how much cash you have, how many points you have, how often you want to travel etc.. For my personal situation, I accumulate a fair number of points relatively easily/cheaply (and faster than I can use them), so I'd use points for airfare in just about every situation, unless I come across a mistake far or a dirt cheap domestic fair. However, if maybe I was a bit shy on points, I might choose to instead save them up for an international flight... rather than blow them on a $300 domestic ticket (for example).

In general 80K points a good value in terms of cpm for a $3K fare. However, this also comes down to valuation. For example, is that a $3K biz fare, where you could find a $500 econ fair... Or could you take a slightly different flight that might only be $1K. As an example, we're flying this fall from US-Italy RT for 63K Points (50K points in biz there, 20K points in ecom back, 10% rebate back), which is about a $2,500 ticket for that exact scenario. So am I getting 4.0 cpm? I say no... because there's no way I'd spend anywhere close to $2,500 on that ticket (I could actually fly econ both ways from an airport 2 hours away for $700 RT). Other people will say that yes - it's 4.0 cpm and you can get up to 10 cpm with Global First Class...

Not exactly an answer - but there is no one answer here.
 

Hanoi IG

Level 2 Member
There's no single answer to this question, depends how much cash you have, how many points you have, how often you want to travel etc.. For my personal situation, I accumulate a fair number of points relatively easily/cheaply (and faster than I can use them), so I'd use points for airfare in just about every situation, unless I come across a mistake far or a dirt cheap domestic fair. However, if maybe I was a bit shy on points, I might choose to instead save them up for an international flight... rather than blow them on a $300 domestic ticket (for example).

In general 80K points a good value in terms of cpm for a $3K fare. However, this also comes down to valuation. For example, is that a $3K biz fare, where you could find a $500 econ fair... Or could you take a slightly different flight that might only be $1K. As an example, we're flying this fall from US-Italy RT for 63K Points (50K points in biz there, 20K points in ecom back, 10% rebate back), which is about a $2,500 ticket for that exact scenario. So am I getting 4.0 cpm? I say no... because there's no way I'd spend anywhere close to $2,500 on that ticket (I could actually fly econ both ways from an airport 2 hours away for $700 RT). Other people will say that yes - it's 4.0 cpm and you can get up to 10 cpm with Global First Class...

Not exactly an answer - but there is no one answer here.
Got it. Yes it's business and yes could get economy for 20000 or $500 but at this age comfort is more important. We don't really fly domestic so not a factor
 
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Josh F

Level 2 Member
Charity Forum Mod
Got it. Yes it's business and yes could get economy for 20000 or $500 but at this age comfort is more important. We don't really fly domestic so not a factor
I ultimately say if you're satisfied then it's a good use of points regardless of what your actual cpm is...
 

Benjamin

Level 2 Member
Keep in mind cost in time. Booked a pretty funky itinerary to the Mediterranean last summer and took likely about 6 hours of hold time and calls. Pretty rough. United had super slow agents and the system they must have been using just slowed everything down. Searching myself online I found everything I needed in 30 mins, but as a result of intricacy, had to be booked over the phone.
 
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