fredgirls
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2009
- Messages
- 865
SunshineCruiser said:We have used them, but have only had luck when we booked almost a year in advance. This time we booked 4 months out and could only get one way flights. It is always difficult though because we need 5 seats for our family.
Even with the fees, if you work out how much your miles are worth comparing the miles to dollars ratio you are way further ahead using your miles for flights as opposed to any other tickets or merchandise. Off hand I can't remember the exact dollar ratio, but what I mean is that say you need to use 1500 Air miles for an airline ticket that you would pay $500 for (before taxes and fees) directly from the airline, then you would need more than 1500 Air miles for say a camera that you would pay $500 for in a store.
I'm sure Air miles would much rather if you used your miles for merchandise as opposed to flights as they are paying out less. They certainly make it easier to redeem them for merchandise. You really need to do the math - it is a big difference. I would never use miles for anything but flights.
Also the fees you pay for the airline tickets are fees that you also have to pay if you buy your tickets directly from say west jet or air canada. They are fees for fuel surcharges and taxes - they are not fees that go the Air Miles company.
I hope I explained clearly, but don't take my word for it do the math yourself. Do a google search there are websites that walk you through the calculations to figure out what your miles are worth depending on what you are cashing them in for.
We can never seem to make the math work to use them for flights! But we live close to the border. Flying from Canada using air miles and paying the taxes always works out more expensive than the cost of driving to the states and flying from there! And we still have the air miles.