- The cost to MS a month in New York City by Frequent Miler. Fun thought exercise, glad that Nick addressed the opportunity cost at the end. One thing that infuriates me is when some says a stay cost them their MS cost without taking into account they could have been earning 2.5%-3% cash back instead.
- Chase/Southwest is offering 50,000 points on the Southwest Plus card at some airport booths. Nicely paired with the business card offering 60,000 points giving you enough for the companion pass.
a flying first for me: 4 hours into an 11 hour flight and we are turning around because we have a passenger who isn’t supposed to be on this plane. Why…why do we all gotta go back, I do not know
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) December 27, 2017
- Primitive Technology: Pottery and Stove. Don’t forget to turn on the captions!
love primitive technology! Always super excited and a new video is uploaded and I would rewatch the old ones over and over.
I am also looking for more information about the Southwest 50K offer in airports. I am flying southwest BWI to boston this weekend, i will check in both airports.
Do you have any more details about the Southwest 50K offer in airports? I was looking for that to complete the companion pass!
The Southwest 50k offer link just leads to info about the 60k business offer. Do you have more information and DP about which airports this 50k offer has been seen?
@Luke – I saw the offer in Phoenix (Terminal 4 which is where Southwest flies from). I believe it was in the “D” Concourse but I’m sure they have a kiosk setup at all the concourses.
How about PDX (Portland, OR)?
Was at LAS
Opportunity cost is so often forgotten when MSing and it is so frustrating! Quick example for everyone:
You want 500 SPG. So you buy a $500 VGC with cost of $5.95. Most would say your cost was 1.18cpp (ignoring liquidation). Not bad for SPG points.
BUT, if you had MSed using a readily-available 2% card, your cost w/ opportunity cost of $10.12 CB now becomes $16.07. Now 3.18cpp. Not so hot!
You are double counting. You can both transactions.
That is not a fair analysis. Had you MS’d on your 2% card, you would be “missing” out on the “opportunity” that is SPG points, making your return less than 2%! Maybe you shouldn’t MS since you are losing out using both cards. =p
I believe my math is wrong on the second part of my example. Opportunity cost included would be a $5.95 fee + $4.17 profit from 2% CB = $10.12 total cost … 2.00cpp.. I think. Anyone feel free to correct/confirm.
that 2cpp is not the entire opportunity cost but the difference between doing $500 GC on SPG vs 2% Card.
the total opportunity cost needs to include effort + time and such.
no your issue is that you are including the fixed cost in the opportunity cost. either way, you will be paying the fixed cost of 5.95 fee. the opportunity cost for acquiring the SPG points is the 2% cb. source: econ major
I look at Opportunity Cost differently…
I don’t think Opportunity cost should be taken into account unless you are taking the lesser of the two options. If you get more than 2 cents per point from those SPG points there is no opportunity cost since you took the better option. Now if you only got 1.8 cents then the opportunity cost would be .2% times $505.95.
That is the way I look at it. Plus if that 500 was needed for an award (just 500 short of 20k etc) that is monumentally more valuable than 2%.
This is the formula I use
Opportunity Cost = Return of Most Lucrative Option – Return of Chosen Option
Amen brother, I use the same when evaluating. Also, your point about topping off the last few points to fill out a reward (500 of 20K) is very key and trumps everything in my book.