Frequent Flyer tips

webmanco says on Dec 2, 2008, 19:22:

Frequent Flyer tips

...A yo, déjenme queto y no me jodan má! ...

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Poorbutsnappy says on Dec 2, 2008, 20:58:

webmanco... just a quick word of caution that "freebies" from frequent flyer miles do NOT include taxes... So, after 5-10 paid tickets, you get one free ticket and you still have to pay $200-$300 in taxes... .

Colombia tierra querida, himno de fe y armonía!... Cantemos, cantemos todos grito de paz y alegria!...

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El Piloto says on Dec 3, 2008, 10:35:

I've redeemed AAdvantage miles for award tickets USA-Colombia and the taxes and fees have not been more than $100.

A general rule of thumb for those of us that play heavily in frequent flyer programs is to shoot for at least 2.5 cents worth of value out of every mile redeemed.

Example if you save $500 by using 30,000 miles instead of paying cash for a ticket to MDE, you are getting 1.67 cents worth of value for your redeemed miles and you are better off just paying cash to buy a ticket. If, instead, that 30,000 miles is getting you a ticket that would otherwise be $900 in cash, then that's redemption value of 3.00 cents per mile and an attractive use of miles.

Similarly, if you can "buy" miles cheaply enough, you should consider doing it. I've been known to take unnecessary trips solely for the purpose of earning frequent flyer miles. If I can earn miles paying less than 1.5 cents per mile, I do it. Those of us crazy folks that arbitrage ("buy" miles for less than 1.5 cents, redeem for more than 2.5 cents) FFPs in this way are known as Mileage Runners.

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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Dec 3, 2008, 10:40:

Same here. I get free tickets on AA from actual flight miles and my taxes for Houston - Miami - Bogota are always under $100. I get free tickets on Continental from the miles I get on my debit card and usually pay around $50 for a Houston - Bogota flight.

Interesting rule El. I use 30,000 miles for my AA trips. It normally costs me about $750 - $800 when I buy the ticket so the ratio is 2.5 to 2.66 cents per mile so it falls within your recommended parameters.

On Continental, the ticket is 35,000 miles whereas the normal fare is $800-900 for a ratio of 2.28 to 2.57 cents. However, I get those miles exclusively from purchases on a debit card that only costs me $65 a year. Wouldn't the ratio rule be different in that case?

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paisa29 says on Dec 3, 2008, 10:45:

The best program for air miles is Onepass.

"Fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality" Conrad Hilton

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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Dec 3, 2008, 10:49:

I disagree. OnePass charges 35,000 miles for a trip to Colombia whereas AAdvantage normally charges 30,000. Also, AA doesn't charge anything to change a miles reservation, whereas Continental charges $50 each way. Also, there is a much higher availability of rewards flights to Colombia on AA than on Continental.

The only reason I use the Continental Airlines debit card is because it is through Chase and AA is through CitiBank. Citibank doesn't have branches where I live, so I use Chase.

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El Piloto says on Dec 3, 2008, 10:54:

CG - I use the same rule of thumb for all my miles. Mine come from a mix of flights taken, credit card purchases, car rentals, etc. so once posted to the airline account they're all mixed together. Look at it as opportunity cost - there are enough opportunities to redeem miles for 2.5 cents or better that redeeming for much less than that (even the miles that were earned for "free") represents lost opportunity in the future.

Different Mileage Runners have somewhat different thresholds for redemption value and how cheap miles need to be before they'll take a pointless trip just to earn miles but for me I personally find the 1.5 vs. 2.5 cent rule of thumb works pretty well.

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Poorbutsnappy says on Dec 3, 2008, 19:55:

Avianca simply are crooks... .They have the ONLY direct NY-MDE flight and they charge an arm and a leg... As I said, you need to fly 5 times to get a freebie that will cost you around $270.

Colombia tierra querida, himno de fe y armonía!... Cantemos, cantemos todos grito de paz y alegria!...

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