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Always crunch the numbers
Alaska puts their miles on sale quite often. In fact, we’ve seen twice this year where they’ve offered their miles for just 2.1 cents a piece. But, does it ever make sense to buy those miles when they aren’t on sale? Sure…if the deal is there. I came upon an incredible example of why it always pays to check the mileage vs the purchase price. I’d never advocate buying points speculatively, and certainly not at full price, but that doesn’t mean they can’t serve a strategic purpose at point of purchase.
Here is the cost for a number of transcon Virgin America flights
The very cheapest are ringing in at $1300, but if you want any part of the day in NYC it’ll set you back almost $2200
Now, look at the price in miles…
It’d be great to have purchased these for just 2.1 cents. Those $2000 flights would cost you roughly $500. The problem? The miles aren’t discounted right now….so how much would it cost to boost your account?
Less than $750 – a savings between $500 and almost $1500 to the retail price.
So yes, even when points are full price, they can pose a competitive advantage to buying the flight with cash.
This is a very basic example and doesn’t take into consideration the points you’d earn from paying for the flights, or things like elite status re-qualification, if you’d score an upgrade from coach, etc. It’s simply to illustrate the importance of checking various ways of booking the same ticket, as some real deals can be had.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.