The best award redemptions are often the most boring.
I truly do make every effort to use my miles for aspirational business and first class redemptions that I would never otherwise be willing to pay for out-of-pocket. But lately, I have found myself frequently using miles for short flights in economy class. It reminded me of this post from a few years back that I am republishing today.
For example, I was in Bilbao, Spain and had to get to Amsterdam. A one-way economy class ticket on KLM was $458 for travel the next day:
But using points, the same ticket was only 7,500 Flying Blue miles and $11.29 in tax. What a difference! Since I value Flying Blue points at 1.5 cents each, I essentially paid $112.50 plus $11.29 or $123.79, more than 3/4 less. Put another way, I redeemed my miles for over six cents each of value!
You really cannot find a less sexy redemption than an early morning flight from Bilbao to Amsterdam in economy class. But to pay for this flight in order to redeem miles on a fancy first class trip would have been stupid.
CONCLUSION
I’ve written about this topic before and continue to be amazed at the great disparity we sometimes observe between cash prices and points prices. While the Flying Blue program can be frustrating sometimes, there are still several nice sweet spots. This is one of them.
> Read More: Pros and Cons of the Illogical New Flying Blue Program
image: Peter Maddison / Creative Commons
*thumbs up* soooooo true. These last-minute “get out of jail” cards are worth far more than yet-another-flight-to-some-overpriced-island.
Great redemption! Who wants to pay TATL cash prices for regional flights?
Agreed. It pains me to use miles for short-haul Economy flights. But, I’d rather part with those miles than spend $400-500 for 1-2 hours in the air.
Your valuation doesn’t take some aspects of using miles into account though.
No miles earn, no status earn and no earn from payment instrument spend (outside of taxes and fees) detract from the valuation provided.
you can include those all you like.. but it is still a sensational value redemption. Flying Blue isn’t quite revenue based for status so this ticket would have a very minimal contribution towards it, maybe 10% of spend back for award miles if you are an elite/have a high valuation.. even if we then assume you are spending towards a sign up bonus so get 15% back from that.. total discount 25% off makes the cash ticket still approach 350 dollars, which is still a cracking use of 7500 miles and 11 bucks
Truth.
My parents live at a smaller US airport that almost always has high fares and so I often find myself using miles to get there. It’s not a thrilling redemption, but it’s good value.
One-way flights in Europe are always outrageously expensive. The next time you’re in such situation, look for a return flight with a return far away in time. Of course you know you can skip the “return” leg, but don’t worry, you won’t be flagged by the carrier. 🙂
Hi Max, I did try that as well. You’re right, the return flight did not add anything to the fare, but also didn’t reduce it.
Snagged a DL 2 hour domestic flight for 11k skymiles RT * 6 pax, that saved me a chunk of change. Not glamorous but a great value.
Haha I redeemed 3K Starpoints for a night at Four Points that was going for $200 earlier this year. Not a ‘sexy’ redemption, but great cpp!
That’s a really nice redemption.
I think the most important factor that keeps me in the miles/points game is actually the flexibility I can achieve with certain programs to allow me to make refundable travel plans.
Yes, that’s it. I am holding an award ticket to come back from Mexico to England even if it requires me to connect both at DFW and CDG because the paid alternative (given that one-way tickets are super expensive) is a flight on TUI whose fares are very restrictive. TUI pricing is a very reasonable £500 for the direct flight in premium economy, and if it stays there (which I think is pretty likely because it’s got plenty of availability 6 weeks before departure and they mostly sell these as holiday packages to people booking months and months ahead) I will probably end up buying it and cancelling the award.
Similar experience last year, also using Flying Blue miles: travelling from Taipei to Tokyo one way, flights out of TSA and into HND are most convenient (compared to TPE to NRT). But more than $400 one way. So using 15000 FB points for a CI award in Y made lots of sense (maybe not the best deal in the world but I was very happy with it).
Agree. Having a chunks of points in several airline ff programs + Citi/Amex/chase convertible points has been super helpful for short haul situations. It’s also really nice when flights get cancelled. I have been able to cancel/rebook at the airport & get where I need to go on points without pulling out my wallet. Can’t assign a $ per points value on convenience.
Matthew,
You probably mentioned this somewhere before but what do you do with your phone when traveling? Just pay for international usage? Get an eSim for use internationally?
I’m going to get an eSim for our Europe trip so I can use data as needed especially since the cost seems fairly low.
Not Matthew here, but have had great experience using Airalo eSims around Asia and in the US.
We live in Tampa and have family in NC. Cash fares on the AA nonstop between TPA-CLT are ridiculous, yet there is almost always availability for 7,500 BA miles. For a family of 5, it’s a great redemption, even if it’s a short, boring flight.
I had the same experience this week with a one-way flight from Manama to Doha. Couple hundred dollars in coach for a 50 minute flight v. 7,000 Avios. Not a hard choice.
W h a t? You didn’t pay 39,500 miles for an intra-European business class flight?
Who needs to fly Air France premium economy to the U.S. when you have a whole middle seat to yourself?