As we all know on AFF, the most value is gained from your loyalty points for redeeming them in premium classes. And what I've learnt from my short time in the 'points game' starts to become hardwired into your brain.
Some scoff at people using points for gift cards, holiday packages or hotels - I've become a little that way and thinking, why would you do that! But after speaking to my wife recently about starting to plan a trip to the US next year, I've started to think a little different about point redemption's and it definitely is not a 'one way fits all'.
After deciding on possible routes and classes for our planned trip, we knew that we would still have a healthy QFF balance after woods. My wife suggested we just use the remaining point balance towards booking some hotels, I scoffed, why would we do that as it provides such a bad return. She said, well that might be the case but when do you plan on using the remaining points on a premium flight? I had no answer as we generally only travel internationally every few years and I don't see that changing anytime soon at our current stage in life.
After giving it some more thought, by the next time we were probably going to travel we'd more then likely have enough points again to travel in a premium class (based on current accrual rate). So to save points for a premium rainy day, or save some money and use them at a sub-standard rate?
We'll be using the leftover points committing a cardinal redemption sin, but surely I'm not the only one am I??!!?
