Again, sounds like you're trying too hard to justify 2 cpp vs 3 cpp.
Cash price $2,900/pax including fees, Aug 19 to Sep 9 (21 days), Turkish airlines lie-flat business round trip with nice short 1h30m layover at a brand new airport.
https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/fewZVhBFrtMTn7WQ6
Versus your 70k points + $600 cash fees per person?
Especially with kids, or with high income, you stop caring about $1,000/person and care more about simplicity or having the trip vs not (e.g., departing on Friday cash vs Wednesday points)
And if one is rich with points (1 million+), then one should have no problem spending 250k points one-way business on the date of their choice. Otherwise, they can't consume their point balance.
I was happy with the deal I found because my goal was saving cash, and using points I already had. I am not trying to prove a point past that.
$600/pax is a lot less than $2900/pax. Saving $4600 total to use 140k points is, indeed, very useful for me and a lot of other people.
You have other desires and needs. Cool. You could also build those into your request, but like I said: I don’t see the point you’re trying to make other than “I don’t want to like this tool because I don’t like points in general,” which is fine.
Do your thing! And I’ll do mine. :)
« Brand new » is not an argument by itself. Business is a must, or at least booking a lounge.
Business class passengers don't pay for food.
They are eating free buffet in the lounge.
so $600 fees is 46% of the points + cash you paid
you could've cashed out 70k points as $700, therefore the 70k points becomes cash in the math
For the record, I already took that into account. My goal with these flights was to save cash, because at the moment, cash flow is the issue I'm solving for. At other times, I have other priorities.
I can't believe I have to say this, but... YMMV, I guess.
I was booking over 3 weeks, late August to early September, and I booked on KLM/AF. I had specific date ranges I needed to hit.
Again, you don't have to like it. That's fine.
But consider that "I think points are nonsense" isn't the person this was built for. :)