Travel Points & Miles Valuations – What Are They Worth? [July 2019]
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What are points and miles actually worth? Unfortunately, there are no official answers. In other words, the airlines and hotels don’t give out their own point and mile valuations. Therefore, it’s up to you to make your own conclusions on that value. However, we’re here to help.
There are many factors that come into play when determining this metric. Below are questions you should ask yourself when evaluating the value of points and what we’ve taken into account to create our point and mile valuations:
- How valuable are these points?
- How flexible are these points and how many transfer partners are there?
- What are your redemption options?
- How much would you buy points and miles for?
- What’s the average redemption value from 3 different bookings?
- How abundant is award availability?
Table of contents
Table of Contents
Upgraded Points’ July 2019 Points & Miles Valuations
Flexible Points Programs
| Flexible Point Program | Value (cents/point) | Value of 50k / 100k Points |
| Amex Membership Rewards Points | 2.1 | $1,050 / $2,100 |
| Barclaycard Arrival Miles | 1.0 | $500 / $1,000 |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards Points | 1.9 | $950 / $1,900 |
| Citi ThankYou Points | 1.6 | $800 / $1,600 |
| Diners Club Rewards Points | 2.0 | $1,000 / $2,000 |
Airline Loyalty Programs
Hotel Loyalty Programs
| Hotel Loyalty Program | Value (cents/point) | Value of 50k / 100k Points |
| Choice Hotels Choice Privileges Points | 0.6 | $300 / $600 |
| Radisson Hotels Radisson Rewards Points | 0.30 | $150 / $300 |
| Hilton Hotels Hilton Honors Points | 0.4 | $200 / $400 |
| Hyatt Hotels World of Hyatt Points | 1.6 | $800 / $1,600 |
| IHG Hotels & Resorts IHG Rewards Club Points | 0.5 | $250 / $500 |
| Marriott Hotels Marriott Bonvoy Points | 0.75 | $375 / $750 |
| Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Wyndham Rewards Points | 0.9 | $450 / $900 |
UP’s Highest Valued Points
Not all miles and points are created equal, so naturally, each category has its own winner with the highest valued points. Here’s why we ranked the highest valued points why we did.
Transferrable Points: American Express Membership Rewards Points
Amex Membership Rewards continues to be the king of transferrable points. It has a variety of partners across all alliances (and many non-alliance partners), so it’s easier to find award space here than on any other transferrable points currency. Some of these transfer partners include Qantas, Air Canada Aeroplan, and Emirates.
Airline Miles: Alaska Airlines MileagePlan Miles
Alaska Airlines has the best of both worlds: a variety of partners and solid redemption rates. Some of its partners include American Airlines, Emirates, Japan Airlines, and more. Redemption rates are lower than other partners across the board—for example, a one-way business class flight on JAL from the US to Tokyo costs just 55,000 points.
Further, the airline just added Dublin-based Aer Lingus as a partner. This means that Alaska MileagePlan members can now earn and redeem miles on the airline, giving MileagePlan hoarders even more ways to fly to Europe.
Hotel Points: World of Hyatt Points
Hyatt has the most reasonable redemption rates of all the major hotel chains. Further, we’ve found that there are virtually zero blackout dates and that all hotels are on a standard award chart, so you’ll always pay the same price for a room at any hotel.
Movers
This month’s mover is Alaska Airlines MileagePlan. As noted earlier, the airline added Aer Lingus as a partner, giving MileagePlan members yet another way to redeem their points across the Atlantic.
Additionally, American Express Membership Rewards recently added Qantas as a transfer partner. This opens up great redemptions on Qantas partner El Al, making it easier than ever for Membership Rewards point holders to book direct flights to Israel.
Final Thoughts
While the value of points and miles can vary, you want to ensure that you’re getting a great value when redeeming those hard earned points. When it comes to flexible points, Amex Membership Rewards points is valued at the highest cent per point. These points are extremely flexible and Amex partners with a number of airlines and hotels, offer good transfer rates, and gives you a lot of fantastic redemption options. All of these elements ensure that you get the most of your points.
dear sir,
I have lost my Emirates skywards number. i want to regain to get more points for benifits.
please help me.
Thanks.
Nirendu kumar Ghosh
Hi Nirendu. The best way to get your Emirates Skywards number is to call or live chat with Emirates. They have a live chat feature here: https://www.emirates.com/english/help/
I hope this helps!
How much are Japan Airlines points worth? I would love to fly them in First Class.
Hi Natalie,
We do not currently have a valuation of Japan Airlines miles but keep in mind that all points/miles valuations are subjective. Have you seen our guide on the best ways to fly to Japan with points and miles? I think you will find it very helpful! https://upgradedpoints.com/best-ways-to-fly-to-japan-with-points/
I really appreciate the work you’ve put into this. It shows the quality of your work that you got everything right except that you’ve undervalued Bonvoy points. Since 60k Bonvoy points can be exchanged for 25k airline miles on all the MR airline transfers plus about 25 others, then 60 Bonvoy points should be worth at least 25 MR points, especially as Bonvoy points transfer to high-value miles like Alaskan or Korean. The MR hotel transfers shouldn’t change the valuation as 1 Bonvoy point for Marriott is worth more than either 25/60 Choice points or 1.5*25/60 Hilton points to me.
The only reason for valuing Bonvoy points at less than 2.1*25/60=0.875¢ is the fact that Bonvoy points sometimes take an unreasonably long time to transfer, and if that’s why you are devaluing Bonvoy points, I can’t disagree.
Hi Jim,
Thank you for the feedback, we appreciate the kind words. The amount of time a point transfer can take is definitely a reason why Bonvoy points are valued less than Membership Reward points. Additionally, as you mentioned you have to transfer 60k Marriott points at a time in order to achieve a similar value that you get with Membership Reward points, this also causes Bonvoy to lose some value in our opinion as there are no such requirements with Membership Reward points.
As you know, placing an evaluation on your points is very subjective and vary greatly depending on a large number of factors. So no method is perfect, and we encourage each of our readers to do their research and form their own opinions when deciding on to best value their points and miles.
Thanks for reading!