The True Value of Miles and Points Collecting

[AlaskanTraveler]

I've been thinking about the true value of miles and points collecting. The true value will differ greatly depending on the persons individual circumstances including income, travel habits, hobbies, location, etc...

For me, I feel like travel hacking, churning, miles and points collecting; whatever you want to call it, has brought significant happiness to my life.

I am a value seeker, utility conscious, "cheap" some might call it. My first foray into churning was two CSP cards one for my gf and one for me that got us one way tickets from Asia back to the US in United economy. The rate of points collecting has grown exponentially over the past 4 years since I started the hobby. At times I've been a little obsessive, spending way too much time reading blogs and pouring of FT threads.

What did I get out of it? A few awards just as examples: 2 rt from US to BKK in Cathay biz class. Many nights at the IC Mendoza, Hyatt Mendoza, Econ flights from Buenos Aires to US. Multiple rt from US to Asia in Econ. Flights to Costa Rica in FC. 4 nights at the Andaz in CR. $500+ per night. 4 nights at the Hyatt Zilara in Cancun $500+ per night, several rt to Mexico, Vegas vacations, frequent trips to see my parents with direct shorthaul flights using BA miles. Giving miles to relatives to come visit. There are many others awards.

Now I am a little more settled and not traveling as much. We have a stash of 2.5 million points. Some of its hording, but I'm going to keep collecting to save up for more world travel after we take a sabbatical in the next few years.

For me, because I'm cheap, I would never afford some of the awards that I've gotten. I would never pay for 1st class. I would never pay $500+ for one night in a hotel. I would always consider the utility of what else I could get for $500. I probably wouldn't have visited my parents or my grandmother (who recently passed) as much. This has allowed us to travel more for less. Sure I spent money on those trips on other things, but it was worth it.

Now we have the equivalent of a $25k (conservative valuation) savings account that can only be used for travel. It's a nice feeling. As someone who is not a high income earner, this adds a lot of value to my life. We take more time off, travel more, and spend a lot less that many that make a lot more than we do.

Our next trip is cross country to NY for a small family reunion. Rt awards on Delta worth $600 each. Lounge access, 3 nights at the IC Timesquare $500+/night, free rental car with Arrival +. Not sure that we would have afforded to go at all if it wasn't for this hobby.

Thanks to everyone for contributing their knowledge about the hobby. I've come a long ways with this hobby and it enriches my life every day.

 

[DRD]

This "Hobby" has opened up many doors for my family and myself. For years I saved money trying to take my wife on a week vacation to Europe. I read a lot about the points and miles and had been collecting UR points to buy some stuff on amazon for years. After reading of a couple that took an almost 2 month vacation around the world and every flight was on miles and all but one hotel night was on points, I decided to give it a try. I said, if I can get economy flights over there, I can afford to pay for the hotel rooms for a week in a place nice enough to not have bed bugs. Two years later I was flying first class to Europe, stayed in some of the nicest hotels. Some of our tours stopped and took pictures of the hotels we were staying at. The flights home were in business class. Every flight and every hotel was on points. This hobby has opened up the world to my family and given us opportunities that I would have never been able to afford. I am very appreciative of all that have helped me in the learning process along the way.

 

[MickiSue]

In 2009, Husband and I flew coach to VCE, to visit Daughter and her (then) BF. We were in the rear 1/3 of the overcrowded plane, surrounded by a local HS band, who stayed up all night, jacked about their first trip to Italy.

We'd booked in a 10 hour layover in AMS, to go into the city and sightsee a bit.

It was lovely. But the combo of jet lag, crowded, noisy plane + no sleep meant that I had a terrible cold for the first three days we were there.

I'd traveled international J on miles before, when I was traveling a lot for my job.

That flight in coach made me decide that it was the last one on a long haul.

Thanks to travel hacking, we can now take two or three vacations, including flights, cars, hotels and food for less than what we'd have paid for coach seats on a plane for one vacation. The long hauls are in J or F.

When Husband can retire (2019, December, here we come!) we can use those miles and points more frequently. And, as they are accruing even as we spend them, we'll have them available to do just that.

We have four young adult kids. I'm self employed, with the up and down income that implies. And, because the need to continue to ensure a safe retirement for both of us is our highest priority, knowing that we're NOT jeopardizing that by having wonderful trips and creating amazing memories in the process is a wonderful gift to give ourselves.

 

[Hanoi IG]

I like finding out who the players are in this interesting game of points/miles. My wife and I have been traveling throughout our 36+ years of marriage. We began by getting consolidator flights from the NY Times travel page and gradually went a bit more upscale, paying cash for tickets except for when we had accumulated enough miles by flying(imagine that!) for a free ticket.

On the road in the US we stayed at AAA approved places but many of them were ghastly until we found Hampton Inn as a decent compromise.

We love hotels so many of our splurges were at fine hotels like the Adlon(Berlin), Ciragan Palace(Istanbul) Oriental Bangkok and now Mandarin Oriental Singapore. I looked for deals and packages and negotiated the best I could directly with the hotels. Repeat visits did get me a better deal than I could find online. Now we have a personal relationship with Sofitel so in a dozen or more cities we now have a "go to" place where, like at Cheers "Everybody knows our name."

When I learned about earning credit card points and buying points we expanded our horizons. I have only bought points once: Avianca with 150% bonus. I've leveraged those to JFK-IST business on TK, EWR-HAM business on (ugh) UA, JFK-NAR-JFK First on NH and quite a few economy flights within Asia.

I think we are somewhere in the middle of all this. I would buy a ticket, even business, for a special fare. I don't think I'd ever buy first or these days even waste $/miles for upgrade. It's nice but business is plenty good enough, especially on our carrier of choice SQ. I know they don't give any free upgrades but I prefer not to fly on US based carriers especially long haul. We even use LH to go to Paris! Then I layover in MUC especially during opera season.

I'm still learning and never turn down savings, though I wouldn't do this MS even though I don't work so theoretically have the time.

I am pleased to see that some agree with me that price may not be the only object and that perhaps one should look into the mouth of that gift horse.

 

[CoreyH]

My first use "was" going to be a trip to Thailand in business with a stop over in Tokyo with my wife. Return in First Class.

Then we found out my mom had cancer. Her dream was to go to Germany so we canceled the Thailand/Japan trip and took my mom to Germany two week before she passed away. Flying first class is great and I love it but it will never give me the feeling I got being able to give my mom her dream trip.

 

[MickiSue]

That is THE best use of miles and points, Corey. To be able to make a dream come true for a loved one is everything, especially in your sad situation.

Last year, I gave miles to my DIL to go home for Christmas. She and Son had been out of the country on Christmas for 4 years, and she really wanted to see her mom. She and Son had Christmas Eve together, and she left Christmas morning. We missed seeing the two of them, of course. But knowing that she got to see her family for the first time in several years at Christmas was worth it.