In the past I’ve written about the fact that I never like to have more than a few hundred thousand miles at the same time. My reasoning is rather simple — hoarding miles is like keeping a bunch of money in a bank account without earning any interest. Add to that the fact that miles inflate more quickly than most other currencies, and I consider myself much more of a points burner than a points collector.
That being said, I just added up the points in all of my accounts, and they come out to something like 1.25 million. Holy crap, how did that happen? To many that might not seem like a lot, but I pride myself in burning miles as soon as I have enough for an award ticket. Furthermore, I’ve already burned 600,000 miles this year, so it’s not like I’m hoarding or anything.
Nonetheless I actually don’t feel too bad about my mileage total. Why? Because I have no more than 250,000 miles in any one account. I have between 100,000 and 250,000 miles in my Aeroplan, American, Membership Rewards, Northwest, and United accounts, along with about 500,000 hotel points, split between Hilton, Priority Club, and Starwood. So basically I have enough points to travel to most places in the world in a premium cabin in each alliance, or am at least within reach after transferring points between accounts.
This has been one hell 0f a year for promotions, bonus points opportunities, and even mileage redemption options. If only I had more time to burn my miles for something a little bit less wasteful than a weekend trip to Europe in first class (which I’ve been contemplating for a while, I just need a good excuse).
Always better to have some extra miles like extra money in the bank than not enough, as it allows lots of freedom.
Here's an excuse--weekend trip in F to Europe DO! I wonder if there is any route where we could get a good percentage of the seats in F. It would be almost as fun as the Open Skies DO.
I thought your good excuse was just to try VS Upper Class, though the only thing even remotely worthwhile about that endeavor seems like a visit to the LHR Clubhouse....
You know I do my best to burn and not hoard as well. Yet the total balance still creeps up, little by little, so that the first number in my total balance ain't a 1...