I think, tho, that you run into a problem when you use miles for a "free" airline ticket and then cannot insure that ticket for its market value. Some airlines do let you redeposit the miles for a fee. But I don't know about ALL of them.

Well, considering where I live, airfares to ANYWHERE are expensive so I just go with the cruise air/transfers/etc. If they have it free, great, otherwise, I'd buy their airfare.

But I agree with Bill. Unfortunately, most people who do their own air, etc. don't realize they are self insuring.