Not really someone else, but my in-law 🙂
Here are some explanations on redeem mile for someone else at About.com. I thought about this idea, because I got about 55,000 miles in my AA advantage account (mostly from my China trips, plus some business travel I did in last year), and it appears a deal to redeem the miles (rather than pay cash/credit card) for my in-law China to US air ticket. It takes 70,000 miles for a round trip ticket. So what I did was holding the ticket first, bought 15,000 miles using credit card (it cost $375 + $30 processing fee + $28.xx tax). It took a few days for AA to process (I bought miles on Friday, the miles was added to my acct on Monday). Once I got the miles, I click on “Purchase ticket” (the ticket I previously hold). At that time I paid $38.xx tax for the ticket itself.
Overall I think it’s a deal because I paid about $472 for the air ticket. Obviously saving money is secondary comparing to the joy for my wife meeting her dad. Another reason I decided to pull the trigger early was I was afraid those redeemable seats run out quickly.
Rule of thumb
Should I redeem miles or buy the ticket?
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