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United tends to give me the best value, with Hyatt a close second. Anything else is a waste IMO.
@bribro wrote:United tends to give me the best value, with Hyatt a close second. Anything else is a waste IMO.
I disagree.
If you're going to Asia, it will be the same amount of points for J on Korean Air as J on United (or a partner airline booked via United, like Asiana). However your flight experience on Korean Air, especially in premium cabins, will not even come close to United, or even Asiana. Korean Air is just overlooked because many folks in the United States have never had reason to travel with them. BA Avios can be a good deal for domestic short haul flights as well.
If you're going to transfer to a hotel, Hyatt would be the one. I cringe at having to use my precious UR points on hotels, but we may do that this summer for the Hyatt Kyoto.
But yes, international J is going to be the best redemption option.
@RhubarbPie wrote:
@bribro wrote:United tends to give me the best value, with Hyatt a close second. Anything else is a waste IMO.
I disagree.
If you're going to Asia, it will be the same amount of points for J on Korean Air as J on United (or a partner airline booked via United, like Asiana). However your flight experience on Korean Air, especially in premium cabins, will not even come close to United, or even Asiana. Korean Air is just overlooked because many folks in the United States have never had reason to travel with them. BA Avios can be a good deal for domestic short haul flights as well.
If you're going to transfer to a hotel, Hyatt would be the one. I cringe at having to use my precious UR points on hotels, but we may do that this summer for the Hyatt Kyoto.
But yes, international J is going to be the best redemption option.
International J will almost always give you the best nominal dollar/point redemption rate; however, that is not the same thing as value unless you were really planning to spend $10,000+ on the First Class ticket to Seoul anyway.
@bribro wrote:International J will almost always give you the best nominal dollar/point redemption rate; however, that is not the same thing as value unless you were really planning to spend $10,000+ on the First Class ticket to Seoul anyway.
^^^This. That's why I tried to highlight domestic redemptions. I recognize that long flights in first class are much more comfortable than long flights in coach, but I don't place enough value on that comfort to ever spend the money. Therefore, should I choose that redemption, the apt comparison in the coach ticket price. And when that is the comparison, the cpp rate isn't that much different than domestic.
While I personally use United and Hyatt for most of my redemptions, I'm still a huge fan of southwest and BA (for short haul AA flights). I'm not as wealthy as many who populate these threads. From a purely financial standpoint, I can't justify flying the family to LA for a weekend at the beach or to Portland for a weekend of wine tasting. But I've done both using SWRR points, because why not? While I take into account the cpp, I'm mostly interested in doing things I wouldn't have done absent the miles, or doing things in a nicer way than I would have if paying cash.
@Cdnewmanpac wrote:
@bribro wrote:International J will almost always give you the best nominal dollar/point redemption rate; however, that is not the same thing as value unless you were really planning to spend $10,000+ on the First Class ticket to Seoul anyway.
^^^This. That's why I tried to highlight domestic redemptions. I recognize that long flights in first class are much more comfortable than long flights in coach, but I don't place enough value on that comfort to ever spend the money. Therefore, should I choose that redemption, the apt comparison in the coach ticket price. And when that is the comparison, the cpp rate isn't that much different than domestic.
While I personally use United and Hyatt for most of my redemptions, I'm still a huge fan of southwest and BA (for short haul AA flights). I'm not as wealthy as many who populate these threads. From a purely financial standpoint, I can't justify flying the family to LA for a weekend at the beach or to Portland for a weekend of wine tasting. But I've done both using SWRR points, because why not? While I take into account the cpp, I'm mostly interested in doing things I wouldn't have done absent the miles, or doing things in a nicer way than I would have if paying cash.
For me, the best value for UR points comes from booking last minute personal flights on United. For example, I recently had a death in the family and had to fly across the country. With only two days notice, domestic flights on United (and most other airlines) were starting at $1,000 for coach, and the only one that really fit my schedule was ~$1,600. I was able to book a roundtrip saver award for 25k UR points, which gives me a value of $0.064. As a bonus, my status with United allowed me to upgrade to first class both ways for free (CPU because I have a Chase MP Explorer card linked to my UA MP account).
And yeah, Southwest is great too. You may only get 1.88 cpm or so, but the flights usually cost less. I've actually read about people who thought it made sense to spend twice as many miles on a United flight vs. a SW flight for the same route and class because they were getting a higher cpm rate with UA. Unless you love United (so, no one), that's just dumb.