What to use to buy a flight: cash or miles.

Q: Is it more worthwhile to spend money on a flight or miles?

While there are travel connoisseurs who have this down to an exact science (aka. Google NerdWallet’s “cent-to-mile ratio” if you’re bored) the most important thing to figure out is: Which option gets you the most bang for your buck.

Things to keep in mind when you decide on cashing in your points:

• When are you traveling? If it's peak season (Holidays, Summer, Spring Break) flight prices are more expensive. This is when it often makes more sense to use your miles than paying cash. When it's the low season, paying cash while saving your miles is the way to go.
• More miles, more useful. The most efficient way to use your miles is to wait and accumulate then use them in bulk, vs. a sprinkle approach of redeeming for many small things. Why? The best redemption ratios are typically expensive hotels and flights. So if you are optimizing dollars you should accumulate for a big trip. Final thing to keep in mind, if you’re a slow earner (you don’t travel much) and it’s going to take you 10 years to get to the point where you can redeem for a weeks’ stay, then you might as well spend on something smaller now (e.g. in-flight WiFi).