airmiles - what is the best way to redeem them?
 

in order to get the most value? i have a SHITLOAD, and i've never touched them. just let it build. in terms of value, is it better to hook up with flights? total vacations? or redeem for electronics, etc?

any thoughts on this?

AirMiles (www.airmiles.ca) or airmiles from a specific airline? Which airline if so.

Tickets...or better yet, upgrades

A real airline gives you free upgrades based on your status with them due to the airmiles. :2 cents:

real airmiles. ie airmiles.ca

True, but those are generally not guaranteed. My dad is in the top tier of American's program and he does get free upgrades most (but not all) of the time.

God I hate those miles, they're useless IMHO. You can get a 19" TV for 20,000 of them! WOOOT

Also, if the miles have been accumulating for years and years, then you're not necessarily in one of the higher tiers at this time. Thus getting upgrades becomes more difficult.

you can fly from Van to Tokyo return for 9000. i have about 45000.

You keep the airmiles year thru year, however, to get into a new status - the miles are calculated based on a calendar year from joining the plan. AirCanada upgraded me to Elite within 3 months of joining "AeroPlan" - so screw accumulating for years and years.

AeroPlan miles are the way to go if you're an AirCanada frequent flier, www.airmiles.ca is the only thing I can tell you for AirMiles - I think i've got about 10,000 now, I don't bother using them - I just get 1 for every 20$ on my mastercard.

I agree with what you're saying, you're absolutely correct....I just mentioned the whole years and years thing because Quiet said his miles had been accumulating over time.

Problem solved - go eat sushi in Tokio once a month for the next 5 months. Just watch out for falling buidings.

can get a SONY 42" LCD HDTV for 30K airmiles. most expensive hardgood award i can find. i guess it's better to go with flights? for example i can flight round trip to Tokyo 5 times in peak season for around 45K.

Hrmmm....the TV sounds alright actually

Buy famous players movies or trips :Graucho

1st class upgrades, international and Hawaiian tickets have always been the best bang for the buck IMHO.

The general rule is to see what the mileage cost for a ticket is and give those miles $.01 value each. For instance, if it costs 25K miles for a ticket and you can buy one to the same place for less than $250, it's probably not worth it.

Also note on many upgrades you have to buy a full fare ticket. Sometimes it's cheaper to get a 1st class sale ticket than an upgradable fare.

These are just my experiences - YMMV :) (pun intended ;))

HOLY SHIT! It's costing me 60K miles to go to Tokyo COACH! What airline? I need to change over.

I always blow them on movie tickets. I guess I should try saving them up for a while.

You could fly to Tokyo 5 times if my maths is correct :Graucho