I don’t consider myself a super fancy guy in general. Yes, I have flown first class around the world (on JAL and Emirates first class), and we just got back from flying LAN Business class to Peru. On really long or overnight flights, having a lie flat bed is super awesome (though I have tips to survive a red eye in economy), but for most flights, I’m really quite fine flying in the back of the plane. Here I am on my last red eye – getting ready to try and catch some shuteye
Recently, a few examples have really underscored how bad most miles and points redemptions are for economy travel, and I thought I’d share some of my findings.
Example 1: US to Sweden
My son and I are planning a trip to Sweden for later this summer. I scoured fare deals for awhile but finally ended up finding a roundtrip cash ticket for about $550.
If I wanted to book this as an award ticket with United, it would cost me 60,000 United miles (US to Europe one way in economy is 30,000). Instead, I used 30,000 US Bank FlexPerks flex points (before they change their program later this year). Even adding 10,000 miles per person for positioning flights from CVG to EWR, that’s still a way better deal than 60,000 United miles, unless you have United miles to burn.
Another way to think about it is looking at it in terms of Chase Ultimate Rewards cost. If you don’t have a stash of United miles, you might be transferring your Chase points to United. In that case, an award flight booked with United would cost 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards (transferred to United). Compare that with booking your $547 flight through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, which would cost 43,760 UR if you have a Sapphire Preferred or Ink card, or 36,467 if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve. I’m not saying this is the best use of Ultimate Rewards, but it would be better than transferring them to United
[Why it pays to check the Ultimate Rewards portal before transferring points]
Keep in mind that if you book the cash ticket (even with Chase points), you’ll also EARN miles on your flight.
One other thing to consider is that with an award ticket, you could potentially add on additional connecting / positioning legs, open jaws or take advantage of the United excursionist perk.
Even an AMAZING points deal fails
After I shared an example of the amazing lie flat business class availablility to South America, a commenter suggested one sweet spot was the LAN flight from New York to Guayaquil Ecuador (JFK-GYE). Because of British Airways’ distance-based award chart and the fact that JFK-GYE comes in at just under 3000 flown miles, it only costs 12,500 Avios to fly one-way, or 25,000 Avios roundtrip
Again, comparing this to booking cash flights through the Chase portal, 25,000 Avios for a roundtrip ticket is equivalent to a $312.50 or $375 roundtrip cash ticket. That would be a good deal, but not an unheard of deal, given the cheap cash fare deals we’ve seen lately
Perhaps a few exceptions to this rule
Of course, any “rule” worth its salt wouldn’t be a rule if there weren’t a few exceptions, right? When cash tickets are incredibly expensive for various reasons, like close-in or one-way tickets or
Here are a few times where I’ve felt like I’ve gotten a pretty good return on my miles, even flying economy
- We flew our family of 8 on Delta from Cincinnati to Sacramento with an open jaw returning to Cincinnati from San Francisco. This cost 22,000 miles roundtrip (times 8), compared to cash tickets over $400. (SEE ALSO: How our family of 8 stayed a week in California for under $600)
- After we took the Amtrak Empire Builder train from Chicago to Seattle, we flew back to Cincinnati again on Delta. The nonstop tickets were again 11,000 miles each (again, times 8) whereas the nonstop cash tickets were near $250. We could have flown with stops for cheaper it is true, but with miles being (relatively) cheap, it was worth the premium
- Speaking of Delta, I am currently looking at going from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City at the end of September for my 20th mission reunion. Cash tickets are ranging around $400 for the flights I’d prefer, or I can spend anywhere from 22,000 to 29,000 miles
I’ve also made what I might classify as “mistakes”, such as when I used 20,000 US Airways miles to fly from Cincinnati to Miami instead of either using Avios for a direct flight or paying cash.
And of course, the whole “point” of points and miles is to get you where you want to go for as cheap as you can. So don’t let me or anyone else tell you that any redemption is a “bad” redemption. If it gets you to where you want to go, and you’re happy, then go for it! Plus, with signup bonuses being one of the best ways to get a lot of points, it’s easier to get a lot of miles and points than it is to get a ton of cashback bonuses.
What are your thoughts? When (if ever) does it make sense to use miles and points for economy tickets?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Not everyone is rich or has disposable income. Even a simple small domestic roundtrip can be out of reach for someone who has a family or living paycheck to paycheck (most americans).
So …. in majority of cases its better to save your cash and redeem miles on economy instead of hoarding and spending miles on aspirational stuff.
The blogs tend to forget that people with lower incomes exist.
Umm I’m pretty sure that I’m aware of people with lower incomes exist! While I don’t consider myself “lower income”, I do have 6 kids so I have less disposable income than many. My point was that if you want to fly economy (which is totally fine and how most of my travel is), you’re better off using cashback or using your “points” as cash vs. redeeming them for an award ticket. That is what all the examples in my post were about
Not always and not often enough. The airfare deals often have inconvenient travel dates outside of good weather or vacation seasons. I spent 35k Alaska miles on premium economy on Cathay and it was a great experience. Good luck getting a $400 one way to asia in premium economy.
Well premium economy is not economy
That may be a bad example, but I still would say your sweeping statement that MOST coach redemptions are bad value is false.
The example you give is very rare, the majority of people pay higher fares for various reasons:
Many don’t live in a large city, out of which most sales happen, hence it won’t be so cheap once connections are factored in.
Most of us can’t just arbitrarily travel on a whim. Most airfare sales (outside of mistakes) are sales for a reason….they’re for off-season or low travel times. I for one have zero desire to enjoy cold and rain in Sweden or Iceland in late September…and so do many others. I also have zero desire to fly all the way somewhere far for just a weekend like you’re doing.
Finally, most people would prefer the convenience of open ended trips where I don’t have to shoehorn my plans into the discount ticket dates. I just book one-ways when I please. Good luck getting a sub-500 one-way to Asia on one week notice.
I would say there are many more cases where coach does make sense. By the same token I could argue the vast majority of business redemptions are a bad value. Why would I care to pay exorbitant mile prices for 7-8hr business class cabin from East Coast to Europe? There’s barely enough time to take off and enjoy it.
Rick – those are good points, and maybe you’re right that ALL or maybe even MOST economy miles redemptions are bad deals. My point is just that in many cases using your miles and points to redeem as “cash points” is going to be cheaper, and so don’t forget that.
Two clear examples I’m going to take advantage of: BA Avios PHX – OGG for 25K roundtrip vs $700, and AA reduced miles 15.5K roundtrip to my hometown vs $550-$700. I generally argue that it’s better to pay cash when you have the option for economy at the moment (and that AA miles aren’t worth much), but sometimes it clearly makes sense.
As a father of three girls (5,5,8) I use my mile redemptions to show my family the world. Miles take all of us annually skiing in Colorado, beach vacations (such as Mexico, Florida, Hawaii), one big family exchange with family in Europe along with side trips. Most of this is done in Economy and we take the kids always with us. It’s more important to have my family with me & go more often then to sit up front by myself. To each their own.
Michael – I don’t disagree with your sentiment – I’m a father of 6 and agree that there is value in traveling the world with your family. My point is that in most cases (not all, as I mentioned in the post and other commenters have shown), you’re better off using your miles and points to book cash tickets than redeeming them for award tickets.
I’m pretty sure the writer’s message here is that YMMV in regards to what’s the most efficient way for YOU AND YOUR SITUATION to use your miles (hence, “don’t let me or anyone else tell you that any redemption is a “bad” redemption”). 🙂
When I first started learning about miles, I was very puzzled by all the advice about transferring Chase miles to partners for this exact reason. I’ve now realized that with prices being as low as they are, for us it usually makes the most sense to book directly with the Chase points. There are four of us and lots of places we want to get to (we have moved to Europe on a temporary assignment) so my goal is getting as many places as possible on the points we have versus trying to pursue a fancy flight for just one trip. Of course, now that I’ve pretty much exhausted the Chase cards I can get I have to learn about other programs!
And sometimes using miles for First Class is a giant rip-off as well! In Sept 2016, my wife and I used UA Mileage Plus to book non-stop “first class” (NOT!!!) for travel in Feb 2017, IAH to HNL (UA 253, 252). 90,000 each way per person or 360,000 total. The ancient 777s United uses on this route had to be the original 777s built by Boeing. Replace the 2 jet engines with 4 props, and they could pass for oversized World War II B-29s. The “first class” seats didn’t recline properly — had to yank the seatback to move it— nor did the foot rests fully extend without yanking them with my feet. No TV screens on the back of the seat in front, and the seats weren’t lie flat. This was despite the flight time of 8+ hours (longer than from EWR to LHR where they use newer 787s with lie flat seats). And the ancient 777 on the outbound to HNL “broke down” before leaving IAH, resulting in a stop and change of planes in SFO. That was the SECOND TIME that week this happened. Arrived 8 hours late! ! ! If anyone is considering that trip in first class, BUYER BEWARE! ! ! Check to see what type of aircraft is used before you book. And check flight status of that flight at Flightstats.com
I am reconsidering my non-bonus category/sign up bonus spend. I can move a 100k IRA to Bank of America. This will enable me to earn 2.62% on any purchase. If I need Alaska or United miles, I can periodically purchase them when they are on sale.
PS The Bank of America travel card and the Premium Rewards card do not have a foreign transaction fee.