Not like I’ve been swarming in PremierMiles, but I’ve been able to make some good transfers over the past 18 or so months to get the best value out of my PremierMiles. And while I’d encourage you to participate in this poll where I am trying to figure out how do you guys use your miles, here is a flight I just stepped off which is perhaps my best redemption of PremierMiles till date.

I spent the past week travelling to the other side of the globe for the Boarding Area Conference, and then, on the way back, got a flat tire, and also stopped by in NYC for a bit. On the way back to Mumbai, I wanted to fly Singapore Airlines on their all business class A340’s which operate from Newark and Los Angeles to Singapore daily, partly because these flights are going to be discontinued in the last quarter of 2013, and the world’s two longest routes (#1 and #2) would come to an end.

Tickets on these routes routinely retail at about $7,000 roundtrip, and I was definitely not spending that kind of money for the flight. Instead, I looked up my repertoire of the various points/miles I had and decided to transfer some PremierMiles to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, which I’d be able to redeem for LAX-SIN on the all-business class LAX-SIN flight, and after a layover at Changi, bring me to Mumbai. It cost me 76,500 PremierMiles + $480 for this redemption (cash value: Rs. 2,00,000 at least). The same number of miles as it’d cost for about 7 one-way tickets on Mumbai-Delhi in economy class (cash value: Rs. 35,000).

And here is a little glimpse into what was on offer, which will be captured in a trip report at a later date.

The Star Alliance Lounge at LAX

Singapore Airlines A345 at LAX

The All Business A345 Cabin

The latest SQ Business Class seat/throne!

Hey, don’t judge me. Those socks were chosen by Singapore Airlines!

Meal service & in-between meals

Worth it you think? I’m going back to bouncing around like I have been doing for the past 5 hours at Singapore Changi Airport!

Related Posts:

• Poll: How do you use your India-minted miles?
• Hang on, do not use your Citi PremierMiles for Jet Airways redemptions

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Yesterday, I got involved in a Twitter debate on what is the worth of a mile earned in India, and I thought I’d put my views across on the blog to share with all of you and hear what do you have to say. This will be a series which will focus on valuing the key mileage currencies in India.

For earning capabilities in India, there are 4 kind of miles one could earn and accumulate, using different ways. Here they are:

• Jet Privilege miles: Earn them by flying the airline or its partners, or credit card spends, or multiple program partners who are listed on the airline’s website.
• Air India miles: Earn them by flying Air India/Singapore Airlines/Lufthansa.
• Citibank PremierMiles: Earn them by spending on your Citibank PremierMiles credit card.
• American Express Membership Rewards: Earn them by spending on your American Express cards issued in India (non-cobranded).

If you want to see how to earn these miles with Credit Cards, here is a primer for you I wrote earlier in the year.

The primary dissent I had with the people I was sparring with was the utilization of these miles, which impacts the underlying valuation of the miles. I’ve noticed in the past that most people tend to use the mileage currency for booking domestic tickets. Nothing wrong with the approach, but I just feel you’re trading yourself cheap.

Here is an example or two of what I see as value v/s not:

• A Mumbai – Delhi economy class ticket, which would usually go for Rs. 5,000 if booked sufficiently out (3 weeks ahead), being booked on miles, where Jet Airways would at least charge you 8,400 Miles + Rs. 1,200 for the reservation. In this case you’re selling yourself cheap, because you’ve used 8,400 miles for a net value of 43 Paise per mile. On the other hand, if you made a last minute trip, when prices are sky high, it may be better to use the miles.
• Similarly booking the same ticket on any airline and redeeming your PremierMiles for it. So, if you paid Rs. 5,000 for the ticket, you’d be redeeming worth 10,000 miles if you chose to use your PM (1 Re. = 2 PM). Again, you’ve sold out cheap, because you’ve only got a net value of 50 paise per mile. That is the method Citibank wants you to apply, because it makes it really cheap for them to finish off your transaction.
• However, you could have gotten way more value out of your Citibank PremierMiles as well. For instance, imagine a USA (West Coast) – India return ticket in Business Class on Singapore Airlines, which usually goes for Rs. 350,000+ (USD 6,700+) coming to you for 155K PremierMiles and USD 800 fuel surcharges. In this case, all you had to do was to transfer your PremierMiles to Singapore Airlines’ frequent flyer program, and redeem for a ticket there. Your value earned per mile: Rs. 2 at the minimum. And this for a stable fare between the two countries on this airline.

So, before I go down to writing my analysis, would you quickly help me with your views on how do you use your miles? Pick in the poll below, which will be open for 48 hours:

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Also feel free to leave your views in the comments section. I want to know your views

Related Posts:

• Hang on, do not use your Citi PremierMiles for Jet Airways redemptions

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I’ve been an ardent fan of the Citibank PremierMiles Credit Card. I believe its a secular mileage-earning credit card, and pays you a good amount of miles for your travel spends, specifically airline bookings, and I rate it high up there in my mileage earning CC 101. However, I’ve been disappointed a bit this past year, since they lost Jet Airways as a mileage transfer partner, and capped off the limit for mileage earning on tickets to Rs. 500,000 per annum, amongst other devaluations.

However, seems like some of these changes are out of the window, and there are some real ‘enhancements’ in the true sense of the word and not how rhetorically airlines/credit cards/loyalty programs use the term these days.

One of the key changes made is that Citibank has knocked off the Rs. 500,000 per annum limit for the credit card to get you 10 PremierMiles/Rs. 100. Although they say it is temporary and will be in effect till December 31, 2013, I’d imagine if it gets the kind of success that Citibank expects for this promotion, they might as well take the limit off for good (especially since the competition such as Jet Airways American Express Platinum CC, does offer unlimited miles).

The enhancement I was talking about, is that Citibank is now adding capabilities to the PremierMiles portal, which allow you to earn 10 PremierMiles/Rs. 100 spent even on the hotel reservations and car reservations you will make via the portal. In theory, this is not even an enhancement but a getting even move since Citi has gone on to add partners such as Yatra.com and GoIbibo.com which have the 10PM/Rs. 100 earning not just for flights, but for hotels and car bookings as well.

However, it seems like Citibank will be tweaking the backend to accommodate these changes, and as per them, the website will be down for maintenance as of 2nd-4th June 2013. The FAQ file is listed here, and is named “transition of service partner”, which kind of makes me believe that they are moving away from cleartrip.com as their backend, to maybe goibibo.com which supports redemptions at this moment on its own site as well.

All in all, good stuff coming our way and we should be happy about it!

Related Posts:

• PremierMiles adds GoIbibo.com as earn/burn partner

• PremierMiles devalued for good by Citibank
• Sunday Plastic: The ‘new’ Citibank Premier Miles Credit Card
• Hang on, do not use your Citi PremierMiles for Jet Airways redemptions
• Citibank PremierMiles: New promotion and Indigo redemptions
• Citibank adjusts some PremierMiles redemptions
• Citibank PremierMiles: Etihad Guest is a partner, Indigo changes & dynamic redemptions go mainstream

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