Author Topic: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points  (Read 4813 times)

Offline ray lewis

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is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« on: December 09, 2009, 07:09:25 AM »
hi i was wondering if its worth it to sell mileage- most destinations i'd visit after paying the taxes for the free flight end up being more expensive than i can receive from these places that will buy my mileage---plus i accrue new mileage when i buy the ticket, instead ofusing the mileage for the bonus ticket
thanks whoever can help

Offline Dan

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2009, 11:46:05 AM »
Exactly why I don't redeem miles unless I get a value greater than 2 cents per mile.
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Offline mancunian

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2009, 01:04:23 PM »
Dan with the amount of miles you have why do you need to be frugal?

Offline Dan

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2009, 01:11:05 PM »
Dan with the amount of miles you have why do you need to be frugal?
If someone wins a million dollars in a lottery does he blow the money the spend it wisely?
Why would I blow a million miles when I can spend it wisely?
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Offline mancunian

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2009, 01:14:54 PM »
If someone wins a million dollars in a lottery does he blow the money the spend it wisely?
Why would I blow a million miles when I can spend it wisely?

you didnt 'win' you're miles - for you it's a steady income :)

Offline Dan

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2009, 01:20:01 PM »
you didnt 'win' you're miles - for you it's a steady income :)
Lol, well either way my point still applies.
Why would I waste steady income?
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Offline ray lewis

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2009, 04:35:34 PM »
thanks dan, so how much would you sell mileage at aa, amex or elal points thanks for your info

Offline steve2

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #7 on: December 09, 2009, 05:17:06 PM »
If someone wins a million dollars in a lottery does he blow the money the spend it wisely?
Why would I blow a million miles when I can spend it wisely?

 Its not the samething and what we need to becareful about is building up a large stash and then watch as the amountof Miles or Hotel Pts needed goes up. sort of like keeping your $$$ under the mattress as bad as the % is taht the banks pay its better then nothing. And the $100,000 you have today will be the samething next yr $100,000 yet you wont beable to purchase next yr what you could have this yr with 4100k

 Im not saying a person should simply blow thru their Miles & Pts but holding on to them for holding stake doesnt make too much sense. At 1 time, a few yrs ago it did make sense.

Offline Avid Reader

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #8 on: December 09, 2009, 05:38:33 PM »
Was thinking the same thing. The miles usually will be devalued as time goes on and the cost of everything keeps going up. The exception is when your looking for a great use of miles which gets you 5X + the amount it is normally worth, which Dan seems to do all the time. But generally, to just let miles sit for years is a bad idea IMO.

Offline Jay the PRESIDENT

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #9 on: December 09, 2009, 06:27:13 PM »
so where to sell?

and dan i understand why you dont blow ur miles away....
but why would ever pay for a flight or hotel out of pocket??

Offline Dan

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #10 on: December 09, 2009, 07:21:22 PM »
Its not the samething and what we need to becareful about is building up a large stash and then watch as the amountof Miles or Hotel Pts needed goes up. sort of like keeping your $$$ under the mattress as bad as the % is taht the banks pay its better then nothing. And the $100,000 you have today will be the samething next yr $100,000 yet you wont beable to purchase next yr what you could have this yr with 4100k

 Im not saying a person should simply blow thru their Miles & Pts but holding on to them for holding stake doesnt make too much sense. At 1 time, a few yrs ago it did make sense.
Agreed, but I have no problem going through miles on good values like Business class to Israel or Hawaii where the miles are worth about 5 cents each.

but why would ever pay for a flight or hotel out of pocket??
Who said I ever pay for flights out of pocket?
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Offline Yordai Dooma

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #11 on: December 10, 2009, 02:08:17 AM »
Dan,

if you dont pay for flights out of pocket, and you dont use your miles for short trips(domestic), how fo you fly domestically?

Offline steve2

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #12 on: December 10, 2009, 07:43:09 AM »
Dan,

if you dont pay for flights out of pocket, and you dont use your miles for short trips(domestic), how fo you fly domestically?

 well if Dan never purcahsed any tkts then he wouldnt beable to be Silver on CO or whatever he is on FL (AirTrans)

 As for getting 5 cents per mile. there are 2 ways to look at it. 1- the price of the tkt divided by the number of miles needed for a free tkt, and 2- how much will it be cost per EQM if purchased. TLV is 1 of the worst places to earn to, very rarely will it be below 9-10 cents per EQM.

 Then again what Must be taken into consideration is the \price of the tkt that you would have purchased with your $$ and not what the price is of the Class you flew.

 So Id never buy a Biz tkt anywhere, so when I want to decide if its worth using my miles. I simply see what a Coach tkt would cost me. So if a tkt in coach to TLV is $800 or 75k in miles, the fact that I can get a Biz tkt for 11k when the Biz fare is say $4000 doesnt come into play since I never would pay the $4k. So I then see I used 115k to save $800. Of cause not much to Brag about and it sounds much better beng able to say I saved $4k but unless you are willing to buy a $4k tkt all you really saved IMO, is whatever the price would hav ebeen for a Coach tkt

 That said, Biz is far better to be sitting then Coach and not bad for 115k

Offline steve2

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #13 on: December 10, 2009, 07:47:36 AM »
so where to sell?

and dan i understand why you dont blow ur miles away....
but why would ever pay for a flight or hotel out of pocket??

 sell why sell? use them I fly back from London today, been here for 4 days. I flew AA in coach for 40k and the flights are packed. Had I purchased the tkt it was over $1k. My Rome tkt (same deal) was also over $1k cost me 40k in miles. Europe usually needs a Sat stayover for a cheap tkt, great way to use your miles, since no Sat stay is needed and w/o being here for Shabbos you can travel with only a carry-on!

Offline ray lewis

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #14 on: December 10, 2009, 08:21:17 AM »
hi to jay the president and steve can you tell me how mch you would sell mileage for- aadvantage or amex thanks

Offline steve2

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #15 on: December 10, 2009, 08:28:03 AM »
 also the same applies to using ones pts for a free hotel night. I only view my savings as what I would have been willing to pay for  a Room. So since Id never go and reserve a Suite at full rate, I never will say I saved whatever the rate for a suite is/was, if somehow I was able to get 1 using my pts. Nor what the reg rate is if ordinarily I wouldnt have paid that rate but would have stayed elsewhere.

  The rate on room the past 2 nights was just under 500 GBP or appx $800. If Ididnt use my Marriott Euro Hooper(they dont exist but for 150k in MR pts you were able to stay at any Hotel inEurope for 7 nights certs were 2-2-3 nights each). The Hotels I chose were reg 40k per night so I got them for appx 1/2 off. Had it not been for these certs no way would I stayed DownTown so I dont see that I saved $800 a night but more like $70 what a B&B up in Golders Green would have cost me

 True it was much better being DT but $$ wise I didnt save $800 per night since I Never would have spent that kind of $$ when alternatives exist elsewhere

Others will say they saved $3200 (4 nights) Ok let them but they really are only fooling themsleves unless they on a reg basis actually spend that kind of $$ on Hotels, I dont nor do I ever plan to

Offline steve2

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Re: is it worth it to sell american mileage or amex points
« Reply #16 on: December 10, 2009, 08:31:07 AM »
hi to jay the president and steve can you tell me how mch you would sell mileage for- aadvantage or amex thanks

 I never sold yet and thats probably due to what I would want is more then most people will pay, but if the right price can about and via someone I could trust then maybe I would part with some