Cheap Frequent Flyer Miles

[WindWalker]

Was in the local Big Lots(b&m) snagging a few items and ran across this.
They have a 41oz box of Kellogs Low Fat Granola-with rasins for $4.99
So what you say?
Well on the box is a coupon for 250 American Airlines FF miles, now the fine print says you have to submit 2 coupons at the same time for 500 miles, so lets see if my math works out right
20 boxes@4.99(+tax)=$100.00 which=5000 miles, roughly the amount you'd get for a coast to coaster. I might be wrong but I don't think you can buy a round tripper for that amount.
Wonder what 100 boxes would get ya?
Wonder if food banks like granola donations

For what it's worth, the granola's preety darn good

Enjoy

 

[Freejack2]

It sounds like a nice deal till you realize how many frequent flyer miles you need. 5000 miles only gets you "Full Fare One-way Upgrade to the next class of service"
To get a coach flight, when you plan ahead, is 25,000 ff miles. 40,000 if you don't plan ahead...
So the actual math is 100 boxes which is more like $500, you can often find coast to coast deals for less than $400.
Still if the flight a person wants always costs more than $500 it does still work out. Buy a couple of boxes for yourself and give the rest to a food bank for what I imagine is a tax deductible donation...

 

[jrichrds]

you'll need many multiples of 5000 to get a round trip flight.

 

[WindWalker]

FJ2
Exaclty, you can buy a Coast to Coast for less than $500.00 for which you'd only get somewhere around 5000 miles, that's what makes this so good. Or for someone who just needs a bump to reach their goal

 

[dgoedken]

I still don't see the deal. It's only an upgrade...that is nothing. You*could* buy something via Greenpoints when you get 20 pts per dollar, buy something you WANT for $100, get 2000 pts, and buy the FF Miles from them.

Might be a bit short of the miles, but you have a nice gift AND the miles.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[MagisterLudi]

Cash value of FF miles varies between $0.005 to $0.05 per mile, depending on how they're used, averaging $0.01-$0.02 per mile. Your $5,000 miles are worth $50-$100 which means at best you're getting your cereal for free, but only if you pick your flight very carefully.

 

[Splatt]

Along the same vein, all you really need to do to get more miles is get a cc that gives miles, get a cc service from Costco (theirs is about 2% per charge) and charge your own cc and pay it off

For 2% you'll wind up paying $400 for 20k miles, which is an offpeak, or $500 for peak

 

[Freejack2]

Actually according to American Airlines web page. It's 25,000 ff miles for a round trip ticket provided you plan ahead and 40,000 if you don't plan ahead. Not to mention you can't fly during blackout dates and I've heard that people flying free on ff miles are the first to be bumped on a full plane. Don't know how true the last part is though.

 

[Dukota]

I've been saving my miles for a trip for 2 to Hawaii. It takes 70,000 miles and I've got about 50,000 right now. Using my visa card that gives me 1 mile for every dollar I spend, it's still going to take me a little while. If i can get a few miles for a very little expenditure its a good deal. Besides that, my 3 boys go through cereal likes its free.

 

[jolly2000]

round trips in the continential us start at 25,000 miles and 35,000 for alaska or hawaii

 

[WindWalker]

Dukota

So lets see you need 20,000 miles
A). You could fly the miles needed (4)coast2coast trips is around $2400.00-if you plan ahead
B). Buy $20,000 worth of something, most airline CC only give you a dollar\mile
C). Buy 80 boxes of cereal for $400.00
D). Decide maybe you and the wife don't "really" want to go to Hawaii
E). Combine some of the above

 

[kingalien8]

I agree with these replies, two cents each mile is a bit "expensive" for miles. Besides, hot destinations like Hawaii and Florida almost always have very few "reward" seats available. Destinations served by Southwest Airlines are almost always cheap compared to other destinations so you likely will not have to spend $500 or more for those places on other airlines as they have to compete with Southwest.