International Travel: The Numbers Game
International: This is where the magic happens; the general consensus is that buying miles for Business and First Class tickets in the case of international travel will save you around 30-70 percent of the published Airline price.
A Business Class ticket to Europe requires 80,000 miles. The average cost of a mile is 0.02 cents. This amounts to $ 1600-$1700 (depending of course, on the cost of a mile). Now compare this with the published fare of Airlines and other travel sites. The average business class fare to Europe varies from $3500 - $5500. It is evident that in this scenario, buying miles is hugely cheaper.
Asia: A Business Class ticket from New York to Hong Kong costs anywhere between $8000-$10,000. Let’s apply the same calculation as before: The miles required are 145000 with an average cost of 0.02 cents a mile. This gives a cost of $2900-$3000. Again a massive difference.