The 6 Worst Points and Miles Devaluations of 2024 (And 2 Silver Linings)

It’s been an interesting year for points and miles, but isn’t that always the case? While I can confidently say that this has been one of my best years for redemptions, it hasn’t been so great for those who’ve been hoarding their miles.

We all know that reward points are a depreciating currency, and this year’s changes have been particularly brutal. Let’s look at a few of my least favorites and how they’ll impact my travel plans going forward.

Farewell to My Favorite Award Sweet Spots

If you’d asked me for my favorite airline sweet spots at the beginning of 2024, I would have happily rattled off a list. Most of these are rates for one-way flights unless otherwise specified:

• Star Alliance business class from the U.S. to Europe: 45,000 Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles miles
• ANA business class from the U.S. to Japan: 47,500 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points
• Oneworld business class from the U.S. to Australia: 55,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
• Cathay Pacific first class from the U.S. to Hong Kong: 70,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
• Lufthansa first class from the U.S. to Europe: 87,000 Avianca LifeMiles — with no fuel surcharges
• Star Alliance business class from the U.S. to Europe: 88,000 ANA Mileage Club miles (round-trip!)

These flights cover a range of airlines and destinations, including flights I’ve taken myself. Something else they have in common? They all disappeared in 2024. Here’s how award rates look for these same flights today:

• Star Alliance business class from the U.S. to Europe: 65,000 Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles miles
• ANA business class from the U.S. to Japan: 60,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points
• Oneworld business class from the U.S. to Australia: 75,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
• Cathay Pacific first class from the U.S. to Hong Kong: 130,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
• Lufthansa first class from the U.S. to Europe: 130,000 Avianca LifeMiles — still no fuel surcharges
• Star Alliance business class from the U.S. to Europe: 100,000 ANA Mileage Club miles (round-trip!)

What These Devaluations Mean for You

This year has been particularly brutal as airlines have revised their award charts — usually without notice — to eliminate nearly all my favorite sweet spots. Most of these have been around for years and, in all honesty, were due for an increase.

Some of these aren’t as bad as others. After all, paying 100,000 miles round-trip for business class to Europe using ANA miles is still a pretty good deal.

But others have hit hard. The 49% jump for Lufthansa first class from Avianca Lifemiles occurred overnight. Since Lufthansa already makes it nearly impossible to book these awards (opening up just 3 days in advance), they’re now unaffordable and inaccessible.

While many have been transferring American Express Membership Rewards points into their Alaska Airlines accounts (via Hawaiian Airlines), I feel like I’m one of the few devastated by Alaska updating its award charts in March.

I won’t mention United MileagePlus hiking mileage redemptions by as much as 100%. I’ve long given up on United and my 200,000-mile balance, which is getting dangerously close to worthless. These days, I’m simply watching in amusement as United does its best to transform its miles into MileagePlus pesos.

You’ll notice that I haven’t included any hotels here, and that’s intentional. While World of Hyatt has started to price Mr. and Mrs. Smith properties at ridiculous award rates (after losing SLH to Hilton), I haven’t wept over a hotel program since Marriott gave up on its award chart. Now, if the day comes that Hyatt drops its award chart, you’ll be the first to read my manifesto.

Unexpected Silver Linings

I’m never excited when airlines make changes to its rewards program. See my list of pricing above for the reason why.

But there have been 2 changes this year that have made me smile. The first happened just recently when Virgin Atlantic moved to dynamic pricing.

While many award seat costs increased as expected, something funny also happened. Virgin Atlantic dropped the cost of some of its business class awards to just 29,000 points! At first, I thought this mistake would be rectified in hours. Coupled with a decrease in fuel surcharges, it seemed almost too good to be true.

But here we are, months later, and the pricing is still here. It isn’t available year-round, as you’d expect with dynamic pricing, but this seems to be the new “low season” cost of a business class award from the East Coast to the U.K. That’s amazing.

Alaska Airlines also made some positive changes with its award chart changes in addition to its devaluations. The best remaining rate is 45,000 miles one-way for a business class flight from the East Coast (or Canada) to Europe.

This isn’t great for British Airways flights since you’ll be on the hook for more than $700 in fuel surcharges, but if you can find award space on Aer Lingus or Condor, you’ll get incredible value and pay very little in fees.

Final Thoughts

Earning and burning your rewards is always your best bet, as illustrated by the copious devaluations we faced in 2024 alone. This year was especially bad for me as it eliminated basically all of my favorite airline sweet spots. And while I’ll admit that they were probably overdue for any update, it still stings.

Unexpectedly, both Virgin and Alaska emerged from their devaluations with bones to throw to the little guy. Now, let’s see how 2025 goes.