Why We Do This Game

When I first started this game, 2 years ago, my goal was to see the world on someone else’s dime. At the time, I had a good job that paid the bills and help me pay for my graduate education in cash with a little extra each month to save for 1 trip a year trip. However, I could not afford to travel internationally especially not in premium class. I turned to the points’ game to supplement my income.

My goals (maybe not desires – read here) have me jetting off to exotic locations (in premium class, of course). That is why I spend hours each week learning new point earning techniques. I do it for the ability to travel outside of the US.

Or that is what I though….

I did something strange this weekend. I spent points to fly out to Seattle to surprise my mom. Wait, for those that know me, my mom lives in Connecticut, so why did I fly across the country to see her.

A little back story, my mom was flying to Washington State to surprise one of her sisters for her 50^th birthday. My mom had been planning on her surprise visit since July. Two weeks ago, I saw a few days with zero closings (rare in my business), so I took the opportunity to take a few days off. It just happened to be around the 50^th birthday party.

Knowing that I needed a flight to Seattle, I looked at my frequent flyer accounts and saw I had room to spare with US Airways, United, American and British Airways. My first thought was to spend the British Airways points for two reasons: no late booking fee and mileage based award chart. However, British Airways did not see any availability (darn…I really wanted to try Alaskan Airlines and they have a direct flight from DCA). I immediately gave up on United for two other reasons: to valuable for international flights and I can get United flights with US Airways Points.

I eventually settled with booking direct United flights from Dulles (IAD) to Seattle using 25,000 points. Yes, I could have saved 5,000 miles (I hold the US Airways MasterCard) by flying US Airways metal, but that would have required me to transfer planes in Philadelphia or Charlotte. On a related note, due to the East Coast’s visitor Sandy, flying US Airways would have meant major consequences. My flight home was cancelled on Monday, but I was quickly rebooked on a Tuesday flight. If I was flying US Airways, the earliest flight, I could have been rebooked on was Thursday.

Yes, I spent 25,000 miles. The round trip ticket would have cost me $800 or a redemption of $0.032 per mile. I would not have been able or willing to spend $800 for this trip. There is a big debate in the community about redemption values. Some feel it’s the cash price at the time of booking, while others believe it’s the amount you would have spent. In this situation, the spending of the miles was about surprising my mom or not surprising my mom. Value per mile did not come into my mind.

In the end, my mom was very surprised. I surprised her at the airport and it was the funniest thing. She was screaming with delight for a few minutes nonstop.People around us, at the airport, might have thought I was trying to mug her.

Oh! The surprise of my aunt was equally fun. A few photos of the party:

Spending the miles on this trip was the right thing to do. Yes, I could have saved the miles for a trip in business class to Europe or Asia. Would that have been the better value? Maybe. However, the surprise on my mom’s face and the video to replay over and over again was well worth the value in points.

Sometimes the best use of points can not be calculated in a nice dollar to mile ratio. Only you can determine the best use of your points. In this situation, I can't think a better way to spend 25,000 US Airways miles.

Happy Spending!!!!