[Global Entry]

I just booked a flight using avios, so I'll provide this as an example. I don't have any LAN miles right now, so Id welcome Balls Deep to do the same thing using his LAN miles for sake of comparison. (I've indicated here many times I'm no expert, so happy to learn - I'd be most interested in how he earns his LAN miles, assuming that the arb is there).

Here's the cash price of the ticket direct (the connections are three times as much time in transit, so I didn't consider them, but if you don't mind losing the day, of course, there is some value there for you) one-way.



So for two tickets, 1226 USD.

Now here's my Avios booking, two people, one way.



Total out of pocket is 15000 Avios (7500 per ticket) and 78USD total in taxes and charges (or 39 per ticket). Even if you value Avios highly, its hard not to see this as a good value. If you value your Avios at 2c/Avios then the comparison is 378 for the two oneway direct tickets vs. 1226. That's about a 70 percent savings, and I'll take that every time. The avios booking is even cheaper than the one-stop 273 per ticket price with a connection in MNL (11hrs and 50 minutes duration).

Balls, please do the same with your Lan miles, and then write an entry and tell us how to get those miles cheaply (obviously we can figure out how to get them by flying), and I'll be first in line to follow the advice if it makes any sense.

Edit: Thanks ElCid for weighing in.