Mileage or Points or Cashback for Travel?

[Angko]

Hello my MyFicoers!!! If travelling, what would you suggest? Use the miles? Or the points? Or cashback?

I was thinking, if you will be using the miles earned, there will be a lot of restrictions such as blackout dates, traveling as non-revenue (no mileage to incur), etc. Also, does the points work like a cashback where you purchase your airfare and once posted on the statement, you'll just use your points to pay for the airfare amount? I'm confuse with this points and miles and cashback thing. Below (from my siggy) are the cards I just got approved this week. Can you please suggest which card/s to use. I will be receivng my CSP, BSP, PRG, and Discover sometime next week (or hope tomorrow).

Will there be a computation that I need to know?

I always travel from Saipan to Guam like 2-3x a month (business), to Manila 4-6x a year (personal and business), and the US mainland like 2-3x a month (personal and business). All travels are United and I have racked up a lot of miles on my MileagePlus (previously OnePass) Freq Flier program. I rarely use Delta and Asiana.

[longtimelurker]

Firstly, points and miles are usually different names for the same thing.  You earn "things" and can redeem them in different ways.  There are few if any programs where "5K miles" allow you to take a 5K flight.

So for many cards you earn the points/miles, and can use them do redeem against travel purchases, so 5K miles gives you $50 to use for a previously bought travel purchase.  A cash back program would just give you the cash back, although there may be better rates for travel redemption

For cards like the CSP, you can use the card to get 1.25cents per point when purchasing travel through the Chase UR portal. 

With the CSP and PRG, you also have the very valuable option of transferring points to the frequent flier programs of their partners, and this is the way people get business or first class flights cheaply or free, and is the "best" way to use points.  If these cards are new though, you probably don't have the points to do this.

[Crashem]

Since you mostly fly United, we should look at things through those lenses.  United FF program is actually pretty good.  I forget the mileage for international flights, but United for continental US is 25k miles.  For basically, non restricted access to flights, they double the miles (50k in the case of continental US).  However they have made it very easy to use miles via website and a ton of flights are available if you are willing to pay the double miles.  Funny thing is that award travel via United now is more flexible for changing flights etc (without extra charge) than it is with any kind of restricted flight.  Try it yourself.

So basically I would calculate at the double miles factor and what ticket prices would be relatively and see the value of each point via miles.
  I would compare this to essentially 1.1 to 1.25 cents a point.

Obviously, UR is the easiest way to get United miles.  All the other reward systems (MR, etc), it gets much more complicated as you will have to deal with what you mentioned in your original post which is the hassle of trying to use FF miles.  This is one of the reasons why UR is so popular right now.

[Angko]

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@Crashem wrote:

Since you mostly fly United, we should look at things through those lenses.  United FF program is actually pretty good.  I forget the mileage for international flights, but United for continental US is 25k miles.  For basically, non restricted access to flights, they double the miles (50k in the case of continental US).  However they have made it very easy to use miles via website and a ton of flights are available if you are willing to pay the double miles.  Funny thing is that award travel via United now is more flexible for changing flights etc (without extra charge) than it is with any kind of restricted flight.  Try it yourself.

So basically I would calculate at the double miles factor and what ticket prices would be relatively and see the value of each point via miles.
  I would compare this to essentially 1.1 to 1.25 cents a point.

Obviously, UR is the easiest way to get United miles.  All the other reward systems (MR, etc), it gets much more complicated as you will have to deal with what you mentioned in your original post which is the hassle of trying to use FF miles.  This is one of the reasons why UR is so popular right now.

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Thanks longtimelurker and Crashem on this info. So, how did you come up with 1.1 to 1.25 cents? Would that be: amount of fare divided by the miles needed?

If I am to use my UR points, I will just use that to purchase my revenue tkt and use the mileage on my FF to upgrade to business class. What do you think? Besides, flying as a rev pax will earn me additional miles on my FF, right? I'm still digesting both of your posts. Hahaha...Thanks again!!!

[Crashem]

Angko,

I was referring points being worth 1.1-1.25 cents a point under normal redemption scenarios.  For example, paying for travel with points nets you effective 1.25 cents per point.  You need to do calculation on flight cost and converted points to miles to get idea what the value for points is in the points to miles scenario.  For example, if XYZ flight was 1000 and took 50,000 miles/points then value would be 2 cents per point.

[Angko]

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@Crashem wrote:

Angko,

I was referring points being worth 1.1-1.25 cents a point under normal redemption scenarios.  For example, paying for travel with points nets you effective 1.25 cents per point.  You need to do calculation on flight cost and converted points to miles to get idea what the value for points is in the points to miles scenario.  For example, if XYZ flight was 1000 and took 50,000 miles/points then value would be 2 cents per point.

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Ah OK, got it. So the lower the cents per point or miles, the more favorable it should be. And same goes if you are to do an upgrade. Best is to compare the number of miles or points needed against the actual upgrade cost and do the math. Thanks Crashem.

[red259]

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@Angko wrote:

Hello my MyFicoers!!! If travelling, what would you suggest? Use the miles? Or the points? Or cashback?

I was thinking, if you will be using the miles earned, there will be a lot of restrictions such as blackout dates, traveling as non-revenue (no mileage to incur), etc. Also, does the points work like a cashback where you purchase your airfare and once posted on the statement, you'll just use your points to pay for the airfare amount? I'm confuse with this points and miles and cashback thing. Below (from my siggy) are the cards I just got approved this week. Can you please suggest which card/s to use. I will be receivng my CSP, BSP, PRG, and Discover sometime next week (or hope tomorrow).

Will there be a computation that I need to know?

I always travel from Saipan to Guam like 2-3x a month (business), to Manila 4-6x a year (personal and business), and the US mainland like 2-3x a month (personal and business). All travels are United and I have racked up a lot of miles on my MileagePlus (previously OnePass) Freq Flier program. I rarely use Delta and Asiana.

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If your flying United then your better off dealing with Chase and UR. The amex rewards transferred to United are not at a great rate at all. Down the line you may want to pick up the SPG card if you fly some of the 30 airlines that can gets points at a good rate from amex. If your committed to United or other chase carriers then because of their relationship with chase those are the cards you want to use. 

[iowapilot84]

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@red259 wrote:

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@Angko wrote:

Hello my MyFicoers!!! If travelling, what would you suggest? Use the miles? Or the points? Or cashback?

I was thinking, if you will be using the miles earned, there will be a lot of restrictions such as blackout dates, traveling as non-revenue (no mileage to incur), etc. Also, does the points work like a cashback where you purchase your airfare and once posted on the statement, you'll just use your points to pay for the airfare amount? I'm confuse with this points and miles and cashback thing. Below (from my siggy) are the cards I just got approved this week. Can you please suggest which card/s to use. I will be receivng my CSP, BSP, PRG, and Discover sometime next week (or hope tomorrow).

Will there be a computation that I need to know?

I always travel from Saipan to Guam like 2-3x a month (business), to Manila 4-6x a year (personal and business), and the US mainland like 2-3x a month (personal and business). All travels are United and I have racked up a lot of miles on my MileagePlus (previously OnePass) Freq Flier program. I rarely use Delta and Asiana.

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If your flying United then your better off dealing with Chase and UR. The amex rewards transferred to United are not at a great rate at all. Down the line you may want to pick up the SPG card if you fly some of the 30 airlines that can gets points at a good rate from amex. If your committed to United or other chase carriers then because of their relationship with chase those are the cards you want to use. 

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Good point about the amex transfer ratio. I believe it is 2:1 into United so definitely not a good value. The spg can be a great tool for many of the other carriers, which transfer in at a 1:1 ratio. Plus if you move 20k miles at a time you get a 5k bonus, which is a great deal!

[Angko]

Thanks iowapilot and red, my sched to app for an SPG will still be on January as advised by Crashem, bec I just got approved for BSP and PRG this week. Most prob I will stick with CSP for the 1:1 transfer point until January as per your recommendations. Thanks

[longtimelurker]

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@Angko wrote:

Thanks iowapilot and red, my sched to app for an SPG will still be on January as advised by Crashem, bec I just got approved for BSP and PRG this week. Most prob I will stick with CSP for the 1:1 transfer point until January as per your recommendations. Thanks

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Remember to take into account earning potential as well!  While SPG can transfer at 1.25:1, the points are often harder to earn than some of the alternatives (e.g CSP: the CSP 2x dining, UR mall bonus, transfer of 5x from Freedom etc)