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Have you ever asked yourself, “which Miles should I use” and struggled to settle on an answer you’re entirely happy with? If so, hopefully you can offer me some advice!

I like to think I’m quite clear-eyed when it comes to Miles and Points these days, but sometimes I still catch my brain performing mental gymnastics in an attempt to ‘justify’ things that don’t really make sense.

The rational case for collecting and using Miles and Points is compelling – they allow you to travel better for less and you don’t need to spend a huge amount of time on it if you don’t want to. There is also something a little more irrational about Points/Miles for a lot of people too though – collecting, discussing and working out optimal uses becomes a hobby in itself, quite aside from the tangible financial and travel benefits.

When those two different aspects of Points and Miles collecting collide, you end up with travel hacking conundrums – with the rational part of your mind seemingly at odds with something more emotional. You can argue the case back and forth, but not reach a wholly satisfying conclusion, which brings me to my current ‘predicament’:

Which Miles should I use?

When you have different types of Miles and Points at your disposal, deciding which ones to use for a particular trip can end up being a bit like a game of 3-dimensional chess. Simply selecting the option that gets you the best travel experience for the lowest amount of Miles isn’t sufficient. There are also considerations like surcharges, the differing value of Miles, the size of your various balances, the relative difficulty/expense involved in replacing different Miles, cash alternatives, more optimal future redemption requirements, likelihood of devaluation and a whole range of other factors too. It can get a bit complicated.

One factor that I haven’t paid enough attention to before but is causing me a headache at the moment though, is the expiry date of Miles. It’s easy to keep most types of Miles alive by earning or redeeming at least once a year, but some loyalty programmes have more draconian rules. In particular, Etihad Guest Miles expire after 2-3 years (depending on elite status level) and Singapore KrisFlyer Miles expire after 3 years (you can pay for a 6 month extension). These are so called ‘hard expiries’ – the Miles expire after a set amount of time, regardless of how much activity you have on your account in the meantime.

I now have 80,000+ Singapore KrisFlyer Miles and 20,000+ Etihad Guest Miles expiring in the next month or so. Clearly, I need to find a good use for them before they die, but the only trips I’ve currently got pencilled in are short-haul, where I was intending just to get a cheap Economy cash ticket, so redeeming Miles would feel like a real ‘waste’.

For more exciting trips later in the year, I was planning on using Alaska, American and United Miles to put together some incredible redemptions, sampling some of the best Business and First Class cabins in the sky. I can keep those Miles alive easily though and take those trips another time. Clearly that’s the rational thing to do from a value perspective, but I also believe that Points and Miles are a tool to help you travel where you want to travel (in style and comfort ideally!), not something that should dictate where you travel.

What would you do?

(For the avoidance of doubt, I am entirely aware of the absurdity of presenting the above as ‘a problem’ 🙂 – it’s obviously a delightful range of potential opportunities in reality, but I still think discussing the psychology of Points and Miles collecting is interesting and would genuinely love to hear your thoughts).