Dear Penny Pincher,

Love you book! In it you write that it is better to use miles for upgrades rather then for free tickets. Why is this?

-- Ricardo

Hi Ricardo.

The airlines usually value air-miles at about two cents per mile. The typical free coach award ticket is 25,000 miles and you can NOT upgrade to first class with this ticket. Note that the dollar value of this awards ticket would be $500. On average you can purchase a discounted coach fare, in the range of $99 to $325. With the discounted coach ticket you CAN upgrade to first class. By purchasing your coach ticket and using accrued miles to upgrade to first class, you can fly in luxury for less. *(Accrued miles can be spent as you earn them. You do not have to wait until you reach a certain number of miles to access them, nor do you need to use them all at once.)

-- Joel