tmount
Administrator
Yesterday, Dan, the infamous writer of Points with a Crew posed the question: “Can you fly First Class Too Much?” My answer was pretty simple:
Of course my comment was tongue in cheek. Of course, I prefer the pointy end of the plane, everybody knows that about me! But, I happened to see more comments on twitter, like this:
@PointsWithACrew @Drofcredit @tmount Agree. Rather take 3 trips in coach to cool places for same points as 1 trip in 1st to one place.
— Christine Krzyszton (@CKaway) January 28, 2016
and I felt like maybe this was a chance to share what has been a rather central point to my life.
I can’t tell you when I first read this statement, but it was years ago. Maybe even a decade ago. It rocked my world. It should rock your world too!
I wrote about how how Miles and Points can influence your financial planning strategy, because they can, and should influence your strategy. But the logic is still the same. You can only save so much, and really, when it comes to miles and points, you just shouldn’t. You never know when your favorite airline is going to go ahead and devalue their program, and unlike saving greenbacks or gold, miles more often lose value, than gain value.
All that said, I totally get why folks like Dan would normally be saving his miles. He’s got a crew! like, most folks have a kid or two, he has six, I think… he’s got like a basketball starting line-up, with one back-up, plus him and his wife! A few more, and he could take over entire business class cabins (and he should!). Or he could just go for the gold and go for the starting line-up of a football team. I hear the Baltimore Ravens may be looking for some new prospects (bad local joke, had too!). But eventually, that crew of his will be eligible to apply for credit cards of their own right, and contribute points to the family trips.
That aside. My point is this: focus less on saving miles, and rather focus on your earning power. I get that not everyone wants in the post-RedBird world wants to go buying Money Orders–and in fact, some shouldn’t! But, I would at least hope that folks would acknowledge, your earning potential is significantly higher than your saving potential. Saving is important. I’m not advocating that you go out and burn all 250k AAdvantage miles on a trip to Hong Kong, like a FTer did (and shame on me for not having a link). But, at a certain point, you can only travel so much, why not spend the miles, and travel comfortably, so you can hit the ground running in your destination, and when you come back, you don’t come back exhausted, but rather, you come back with amazing stories, not just of your flights (like me), but of an amazing weekend, week, month, away from work, that was restful, relaxing, and exciting!
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Of course my comment was tongue in cheek. Of course, I prefer the pointy end of the plane, everybody knows that about me! But, I happened to see more comments on twitter, like this:
@PointsWithACrew @Drofcredit @tmount Agree. Rather take 3 trips in coach to cool places for same points as 1 trip in 1st to one place.
— Christine Krzyszton (@CKaway) January 28, 2016
and I felt like maybe this was a chance to share what has been a rather central point to my life.
I can’t tell you when I first read this statement, but it was years ago. Maybe even a decade ago. It rocked my world. It should rock your world too!
I wrote about how how Miles and Points can influence your financial planning strategy, because they can, and should influence your strategy. But the logic is still the same. You can only save so much, and really, when it comes to miles and points, you just shouldn’t. You never know when your favorite airline is going to go ahead and devalue their program, and unlike saving greenbacks or gold, miles more often lose value, than gain value.
All that said, I totally get why folks like Dan would normally be saving his miles. He’s got a crew! like, most folks have a kid or two, he has six, I think… he’s got like a basketball starting line-up, with one back-up, plus him and his wife! A few more, and he could take over entire business class cabins (and he should!). Or he could just go for the gold and go for the starting line-up of a football team. I hear the Baltimore Ravens may be looking for some new prospects (bad local joke, had too!). But eventually, that crew of his will be eligible to apply for credit cards of their own right, and contribute points to the family trips.
That aside. My point is this: focus less on saving miles, and rather focus on your earning power. I get that not everyone wants in the post-RedBird world wants to go buying Money Orders–and in fact, some shouldn’t! But, I would at least hope that folks would acknowledge, your earning potential is significantly higher than your saving potential. Saving is important. I’m not advocating that you go out and burn all 250k AAdvantage miles on a trip to Hong Kong, like a FTer did (and shame on me for not having a link). But, at a certain point, you can only travel so much, why not spend the miles, and travel comfortably, so you can hit the ground running in your destination, and when you come back, you don’t come back exhausted, but rather, you come back with amazing stories, not just of your flights (like me), but of an amazing weekend, week, month, away from work, that was restful, relaxing, and exciting!
Continue reading...
