Since late 2019 I’ve booked, canceled, and re-booked the same trip five times using frequent flyer miles. And that process has illustrated a lot of important conclusions about the process—both earning miles and using them. I was concentrating on flying business class to and from Europe from my home in Oregon, but I checked other options along the way. Clearly, with all the variables involved, I can report only my own experience, but I think some conclusions are broadly representative of what anyone would find.
1. Miles Do Not Improve With Age
The value of a frequent flyer mile is inexorably declining. During each of my five successive tries for the same trip, I found that the lowest-mile mileage requirement kept increasing and itinerary options kept getting worse—in both business and economy. I expect the devaluation of miles to continue indefinitely.Yes, you can still get some economy class long-haul round-trips within the U.S. for 25,000 miles and to Europe for 60,000 miles, but many—if not all—the available lowest-mile trips increasingly rely on itineraries you wouldn’t want: New York to London with a connection in Istanbul or Warsaw, for example, or San Francisco to Paris with back-to-back red-eyes and a full day layover on the East Coast, and few, if any nonstops.
