If you are one of those people who travel only afterthoroughly reviewing your cheaptravel options such as cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages, itwould be a shame not to realize the true value of the rewards you have earned.
Many people are happy to redeem miles for merchandise suchas TVs and do not appreciate that airline miles should be valued between 1 and2 cents each.
The following are common mistakes to avoid when you decideto trade in your miles, according to Jake Redman:
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Sharingor gifting miles to someone is usually not worth it. The exception to such a move would be if anairline is offering a large mileage bonus for transferring miles. Before transferring miles to someone else youshould weigh the cost of the transfer, as well as the airlines servicecharge. Only if an airline is offering atransfer bonus of between 75 to 100 percent, which is extremely rare, would atransfer be attractive.
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Forgettingto keep your miles current often results in them expiring. Most travel mileage programs require miles tobe redeemed within a set period of time or new miles to be earned in order toretain the value of older miles. If youdo not expect to travel within the time frame needed to keep your miles current,then you need to look into how to keep your miles alive by earning more ascheaply as possible.
For example, Hilton Honors miles expire 12months after your last stay or point redemption. However by purchasing anything that costs anyamount of money using their Shop to Earn online portal your miles remaincurrent.
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Bevery careful when considering redeeming miles for experiences. Research has shown that opportunities to trythings like driving a real stock car or going for a hot air balloon ride is oftenvalued at about .01 per mile. Keep onthe lookout for something that gets you closer to 2 cents per mile.
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Milesshould not be considered in the same way as cash that is stored in a bank. If you keep accruing new miles and dontredeem them over time, you will often discover that the value of those mileshas been devalued. Look to use miles onthings such as seat upgrades on long flights or hotel rooms that cost more thanyou would commonly spend. You need to bepatient on the one hand, but ready to redeem when you come across an attractive(close to 2 cents per mile value) offer.
www.cheapfares.com