Explanation and QA on the basic concepts of mileage redemption (part 1)

Due to the unblocking of the epidemic, many friends have begun to plan overseas travel itineraries, and many people have joined the ranks of airline mileage plans, so I decided to write some relatively brief articles to describe the basic concepts of mileage plans. With the concept of redemption rules, we will mainly mention the round-trip direct flight to our own airline. We will not mention the more difficult plans such as the four-stage ticket alliance form for outbound stations and the global ticket alliance form, which are more complex but not applicable to everyone. Avoid confusion.

I am not a mileage expert myself, and I am still learning many parts, so if I am wrong, please leave a message to correct me.

The situation around the world is more or less the same, so when it comes to credit cards, they are mainly issued in Taiwan.

When mentioning airlines, EVA Air or Starstar will be the main ones mentioned, so many of the rules mentioned may only apply to EVA Air Star and not other airlines.

1.What are airline miles points?

Airline mileage points are frequent flyer programs launched by various airlines. Just like you can accumulate points to redeem products when you go to a beverage store, supermarket or restaurant. Airline points are usually called miles, and the products used for redemption are Air tickets, it is worth noting that although airline mileage points can be obtained and accumulated by flying, this is not the only way. There are other ways to accumulate mileage. The most common way is to accumulate mileage points through bank credit cards. , if you are not an aerialist who travels everywhere on business, most people should also use credit cards as the main means of accumulating miles.

2. So can I use my miles to redeem a completely free air ticket?

Taking EVA Air as an example, this description is not accurate. The "fare" of the ticket itself will be 0 yuan, but in addition to the ticket price, there are usually airport taxes and fuel surcharges. You have to pay part of it yourself. As for the cost, it varies from place to place and it is difficult to generalize. But generally speaking, because the air tickets redeemed by miles are not seasonal, there is no so-called off-peak season. If you can exchange for a mileage ticket during the peak season, it will usually be much more cost-effective than the off-season ticket.

3. Can I definitely get a ticket by using mileage points?

This is not necessarily true. The systems of mileage tickets and cash tickets are separate. Each flight is usually composed of a large number of cash ticket seats and a small number of mileage ticket seats. Due to the dynamic fare mechanism, cash tickets are almost certainly purchased. Seats (very expensive is another thing), but mileage tickets are not like that, especially since there are usually only so many good days and holidays in a year, so the competition on those days may be very fierce and it is difficult to redeem air tickets. .

4.Which mileage should I use?

If you live in Taiwan, it is recommended to mainly fly to EVA Air, China Airlines, and Xingyu, because it is relatively convenient to fly directly to other destinations. Cathay Pacific is based in Hong Kong, and ANA mainly flies to Japan. If you are not going to these two destinations, There are no direct flights from Taoyuan to these places, such as Bangkok or Jakarta, so you almost have to transfer, which will increase the time cost in terms of travel.

5. Which credit card should I apply for to accumulate miles?

Evergreen, China Airlines, Starlux, Cathay Pacific, and ANA all issue co-branded cards in Taiwan. If you are a wealthy person with a very high spending amount, it is not bad to get a top card. If you are a small bourgeoisie, you have to be careful with your money, because the mileage has expired. If you apply for all the risks, not only will you lose a lot of annual fees, but you will also face the risk and dilemma of expiring miles and not being able to redeem tickets. If your annual consumption is between 1 million and 3 million, the Cathay Pacific Evergreen Ultimate Unlimited Card or China Trust China Airlines Dingzun Unlimited Card is a very good choice.

If the consumption is less than 1 million, it is not recommended to apply for a co-branded card. Instead, it is recommended to apply for a bonus or point card from various banks. You can use the bonus at Taiwan's Cathay Pacific, CITIC, HSBC, DBS, Yushan and other banks. Points can be converted into miles. Among them, China Taishihua and HSBC have the most airline partners, so they are very flexible. The period when accumulating bonuses is calculated based on the bonus expiration date, while the period for mileage is to transfer the miles from the bank. The calculation starts when the account is opened, so you can maximize the extension of the maturity date and minimize the stress caused by the maturity date. For lazy people, Cathay Pacific CUBE Card or HSBC Traveler Card are good choices at this stage.

6. Is it definitely more cost-effective to redeem mileage points for air tickets than cash?

This depends on the situation. Mileage has a so-called market price. If this is calculated, there will be quite a few variables. But in general, the cost of using mileage and cash tickets for short and medium-haul economy class are mutually beneficial, but considering There are more cash tickets and the time is more flexible. For short and medium-haul economy class, using cash may save a lot of effort.

However, in economy class or short- and medium-haul business class on long-haul intercontinental flights, the advantages of mileage tickets will be magnified. Therefore, usually only very cheap limited-time promotional cash tickets can compete with the cost of mileage tickets at this time.

In long-distance transcontinental business class, the advantages of mileage tickets will be greater, and the amount of savings will be higher. At this time, unless there are special circumstances such as bug tickets, cash tickets can hardly compete with mileage tickets in terms of cost.

The above remarks only represent the situation most of the time, but because there are so many things to consider when flying on a journey, they cannot be generalized. (For example, if it is a luxury cross-continental winter vacation family trip for 20 people, even if you know that mileage may be more cost-effective, you will not be able to make a general statement. It is impossible to have 20 business mileage seats on a Taiwanese flight for redemption, so you have to pay in cash)

5. I just mentioned that there is a market price, so if you don’t have enough miles, can you buy miles from others to redeem air tickets?

First I classify it like this:

Miles transferred through credit cards, accumulated by flying on your own, or sold on the official websites of various airlines (available for EVA Air and not available for China Airlines Xingyu) can be called "original miles"

Miles transferred through other people are called "gifted miles"

"Native miles" are interchangeable with each other, so if you don't have enough miles and want to buy some miles from the EVA Air official website to make up for it, it is possible, but the price will be very expensive, so you have to calculate it carefully, and there is really only a little difference. It will be a good deal

Of course, you can also transfer from different credit card plans, such as transferring part from HSBC and part from Yushan to make up the balance, but usually when you spend enough, you don’t need to transfer it back and forth.

In addition to "gifted miles" being incompatible with native miles, gifted miles themselves are also incompatible with each other. For example, I originally have 40,000 native miles, but I cannot get 5 by transferring 10,000 from Xiao Ming. Ten thousand points can be invoiced together, and the 10,000 points transferred by Xiao Ming and the 90,000 points transferred by Xiao Hua cannot be used together to make 100,000 points. They are incompatible with each other, so if you want to redeem the tickets, you must either accumulate enough points by yourself. Native miles, or having the same person transfer enough miles to you instead of receiving them from different recipients

So tired == I’m going to rest now and type the next article when I have time. If you have any ideas or other questions, please leave a message and I can update the next article.