Jun
12
Cashing on Rewards
June 12, 2009 | Comments Off
It used to be that American Airlines was the only one giving miles. Then all airlines started giving them, followed by hotel chains. Then the credit cards, and lately the stores. Everyone seems to be giving points or miles for every dollar you purchase. Over time you end up accumulating a bunch of ‘currency’ that you neither asked for, neither need, nor know exactly what to do with it. Worse, if you want to use it, you will probably end up spending money while using it: even a free airline ticket incurrs in expenses because of the travel itself (hotels, meals) and all of the fees they attach to what used to be free (including fuel surcharges). These miles and points keep depreciating.
I shouldn’t complaint that much. Many of my pleasure trips around the world with my wife have been paid by points. American Airlines have provided many business class trips and Hilton has provided many free nights at the executive floor; making my wife think I am a hero and missing me less when I went on business trips. Yet, I wasn’t always able to accumulate points in the chains I wanted to, so I ended up with a phletora of accounts. Some of them have even closed/expired automatically due to lack of use. Others, I can see the value of the potential rewards depreciating over time (a point isn’t worth what it used to).
Lately I have been collecting a lot of those points in the way of Gift Cards for the stores I frequent the most. Home Depot, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Starbucks. Not a bad idea in my opinion. The best value is using the services of the company offering the points. However, if you are very far from achieving the goal level needed for that dream vacation – say, at this rate it will happen in year 2200 – you may want to get the alternative gift and enjoy it now.
We still hold on to the points and miles on American Airlines and Hilton HHonors. I am sure I will use them later.
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