Points Banking has always been a two-sided coin with one side focusing on the fine art of earning miles and points and a completely different (but yet still similar) art of spending the miles and points effectively on the other. Once you efficiently accumulate the miles and points, how should you spend them? Before you consider spending your hard earned points, its important to understand how much they are worth?
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One of the questions I’m asked most often is “How much is a point or mile worth?” The answer varies from person to person, and depends on how well you can maximize a each loyalty currency. Regardless, some point currencies are clearly worth more than others.
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Knowing the value of points can get you free nights at luxury resorts like when we got 4 free nights at the all inclusive Hyatt Zilara in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
How Is A Point Value Calculated?
Cost Per Point (CPP) = Cost of Flight/Hotel (In cents) ÷ Total Points Needed Per Redemption
You can calculate whether any ticket is worth using your miles. Divide the price of the ticket by the number of miles a ticket can be purchased for. If the CPP is of your potential redemption is less that the Point values below, then you aren’t getting a good deal.
For example, cashing in 25,000 miles for a ticket that could be purchased for $100 yields just .4 cents. The average airline CPP is atleast 1.4. At .4 cents, that is a horrible redemption. On the other hand, redeeming 100,000 miles for a business-class ticket to Europe priced at almost $11,000 yields a nominal per-mile value of 11 cents, much better value.
With that said, here are Wise Flys’ valuations for many of the major airline, credit card, and hotel rewards programs from around the world. As a refresher, the unit value is cents per point (cpp).
Transferable Points Programs
| Program | Cents Per Point |
| AMEX Membership Rewards | 1.8 |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | 2.1 |
| Citi ThankYou Points | 1.7 |
| Starwood Preferred Guest ⊺ | 2.2 |
Airline Points
| Program | Cents Per Point |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | 1.4 |
| Air France/KLM Flying Blue | 1.2 |
| Alaska Mileage Plan | 1.8 |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | 1.3 |
| ANA Mileage Club | 1.5 |
| Asiana Club | 1.5 |
| Avianca Lifemiles | 1.5 |
| British Airways Executive Club | 1.3 |
| Cathay Pacific Asia Miles | 1.2 |
| Delta SkyMiles | 1.2 |
| Emirates Skywards | 1.1 |
| Etihad Guest | 1.4 |
| HawaiianMiles | 1.1 |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | 1.2 |
| Korean Air SKYPASS | 1.6 |
| Lufthansa Miles & More | 1.3 |
| Qatar Airways Qmiles | 1.0 |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1.5 |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | 1.6 |
| Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles | 1.3 |
| United MileagePlus | 1.4 |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1.2 |
Hotels
| Program | Cents Per Points |
| Choice Privileges | 0.6 |
| Hilton Honors | 0.5 |
| World Of Hyatt | 1.6 |
| IHG Rewards Club | 0.5 |
| Marriott Rewards ⊺ | 0.8 |
| Radisson Rewards | 0.4 |
| Ritz-Carlton Rewards ⊺ | 0.8 |
| Wyndham Rewards | 1.0 |
What are your thoughts on these valuations of points?
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How often do these numbers change?
Southwest is 1.6. Theirs is a value based chart.