When is it worth it to redeem your miles?

I wrote about the Frequent Flyer Programs that I use to redeem for flights to popular regions out of Singapore. I use the following method when deciding if it is worth it to redeem my miles vs paying for the fare of a certain flight.

Step 1: Find out the fare for this flight.

Step 2: Find out which Frequent Flyer Program you are crediting to and how many miles you will be getting if you pay for the flight. Refer to this article for an explanation on how to do this.

Step 3: Find out the value of those miles. If you do not have your own valuation, refer to this article for mine.

Step 4: Find out how many miles and how much cash you will be getting by using the right shopping portal and credit card.

Step 5: Find out the ‘nett’ amount that you would be paying after deducting the amount of miles/cashback that you will receive when making this booking from the fare of this flight.

Step 6: Find out the total value of the amount of miles required if you were to do a redemption.

Step 7: Compare the ‘nett’ amount in Step 4 and the total value in Step 5 and go with the cheaper option.

Example: Round trip from Singapore to Barcelona in Singapore Airlines Business Class
Fare: S$4,586
Alaska miles receiving: 27,104 (worth $623)
Cashback from Rebate Mango: $183
Krisflyer miles from credit card: 18,344 (worth $312)
’Nett’ amount: 4,586 – 623 – 183 – 312 = $3,468

It would take 184,000 Krisflyer miles (worth $3,128) to redeem for the above flights. In this example, it would make more sense to make a redemption instead of paying for the fare.

Conclusion

In the above example, it would make more sense to make a redemption instead of paying for the fare. However, as discussed in this article, I would be willing to take the extra step of having a connection in Hong Kong and pay only $1,955 worth of miles plus $200 in cash for the positioning flight. This would save me about $1,000 worth of miles and still give me a nice 13 hours flights in Cathay Pacific’s Business Class.