Music for Miles (United)
Just caught up with the fact that United Airlines now has a music store where you can trade your airmiles for album downloads. Selection is not comprehensive (I read somewhere 3 million tracks) - there's some jazz, but most of what I download is not there. When I log in I get "preferred pricing", probably because of my airmile status, so I don't know what standard prices are. I am curious as to how much of a bargain it is - some of the strategies for getting/spending airmiles seem to me to be tricks to prevent you from maximizing their value. For example, whenever I fly I am asked if I would like to buy extra miles at check in, but the rate is generally unfavorable. (On the united website you can buy 2000 miles for $25; the cheapest saver award ticket is 20,000 miles, so if your flight costs less than $750 it would be cheaper for you to just pay for the flight than to buy miles and get it with miles. It's like when the larger boxes of cereal turn out to be more expensive by weight than the smaller ones - you have to pay attention).
It's tricky giving a monetary value to airmiles since it depends on what flight I would book with them and what I could have got it for in cash. I'll use two quick rule of thumb methods here:
(i) They sell 2000 miles for $75, so each mile = 3.75 cents, 50 miles = $1.88, 100 miles = $3.75 etc.
(ii) If I imagine the average flight that I could get with a saver award ticket to cost $500 (this could naturally be much higher or lower, but it's in the ballpark as an average for my domestic travel patterns) and it costs me 20,000 miles to get it, then each mile is 2.5 cents, 50 miles = $1.25, 100 miles = $2.50 etc.
Looking at a random page of albums I am seeing album prices ranging from 580 miles to 830 miles, 1410 miles for one boxed set. Single tracks are at least 110 miles ranging up to 165.
By method (i) an album is $21.75 to $31.12 and a single track is at least over $4, up to $6.18. (!)
By method (ii) an album is $14.50 to $20.75 and a single track is $2.75 up to $4.12 (!)
Remember, this is preferred pricing, plus I am not clear whether the current 20% off sale is already factored into these prices!.
If you only ever spend your air miles on reward seats that would have cost $200 (not actually a very good strategy for using them) then the prices come down. And if you only accumulate a few miles and don't use them on flights, or if they are going to expire, this could be a very good way to offload them for a little free music. But if you use your miles for flights and adopt the rational strategy of using them for your more expensive flights, then this is a lousy deal.
It's tricky giving a monetary value to airmiles since it depends on what flight I would book with them and what I could have got it for in cash. I'll use two quick rule of thumb methods here:
(i) They sell 2000 miles for $75, so each mile = 3.75 cents, 50 miles = $1.88, 100 miles = $3.75 etc.
(ii) If I imagine the average flight that I could get with a saver award ticket to cost $500 (this could naturally be much higher or lower, but it's in the ballpark as an average for my domestic travel patterns) and it costs me 20,000 miles to get it, then each mile is 2.5 cents, 50 miles = $1.25, 100 miles = $2.50 etc.
Looking at a random page of albums I am seeing album prices ranging from 580 miles to 830 miles, 1410 miles for one boxed set. Single tracks are at least 110 miles ranging up to 165.
By method (i) an album is $21.75 to $31.12 and a single track is at least over $4, up to $6.18. (!)
By method (ii) an album is $14.50 to $20.75 and a single track is $2.75 up to $4.12 (!)
Remember, this is preferred pricing, plus I am not clear whether the current 20% off sale is already factored into these prices!.
If you only ever spend your air miles on reward seats that would have cost $200 (not actually a very good strategy for using them) then the prices come down. And if you only accumulate a few miles and don't use them on flights, or if they are going to expire, this could be a very good way to offload them for a little free music. But if you use your miles for flights and adopt the rational strategy of using them for your more expensive flights, then this is a lousy deal.
Comments
And the TOS seem to be reasonable when compared to other music services
And why do I always get the seat next to some 350 pound behemoth that sloshes over onto my side of the armrest. But I digress.
The point is this is a pretty cool way to use your points or keep your frequent flyer account active so that the machine doesn't appropriate your points back to the collective.
Any word on whether USAir or American Airlines offer a similar option