Miles and Points Valuations
Miles and Points Valuations
The miles and points valuations provided below are what we use to determine the value of a new card bonus or your total earned rewards value when you use the YourBestCreditCards.com tool.
These values are subjective, meaning that they approximate, based on a large variety of datapoints, the minimum value that you should be able to get from those points once you learn the best ways to spend them. If you need help figuring out the best ways to spend your points, head over to MilesTalk.com or the MilesTalk Facebook group. This table should also make it clear that the value of one point can be very different from the value of another point.
Miles and Points Valuations
| Currency Name | Value | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Currency Name | ABOC | Value | $0.008 | Notes | Redeemable for things like gift cards and travel at variable rates, these points are generally worth around 0.8 cents each. |
| Currency Name | Aer Lingus Avios | Value | $0.0115 | Notes | |
| Currency Name | Air Canada Aeroplan | Value | $0.015 | Notes | While these miles book the same Star Alliance routes as United (higher surcharges but generally lower award rates), Aeroplan allows one stopover or one open jaw on round trips. Moreover, Aeroplan easily lets you mix and match airlines and cabin classes on award tickets and now includes Etihad as a redemption partner (which can be mixed with other Aeroplan partners and Star Alliance carriers). |
| Currency Name | Alaska Airlines | Value | $0.018 | Notes | Alaska miles have a few things going for them that make them worth more than the average mile. You can book US-Asia in First Class on Cathay Pacific or JAL for 70k and get a free stopover. You can also book Emirates in Business (105k one way) or First (180k one way) to the Middle East and beyond with a stopover and no fuel surcharges (which can be around $1,000 via Emirates direct). Additionally, only Marriott points transfer to Alaska making them harder to acquire than most. |
| Currency Name | American Airlines | Value | $0.015 | Notes | I value these a bit better than the other two US legacy carriers because of their partner redemptions. Learn about the best options here. |
| Currency Name | American Express Membership Rewards | Value | $0.017 | Notes | Instant Transfers as well as solid transfer partners. The value would go up if they had any hotel partners with a fair exchange rate. ANA and Avianca are top airline partners for maximizing your points. The stated value also assumes you will take advantage of transfer partners rather than book via the portal, where they are only worth between 1 and 1.5 cents. |
| Currency Name | Avianca | Value | $0.012 | Notes | You can frequently buy direct from Avianca for even a drop under this valuation and there are frequent transfer bonuses as well. Best used for Star Alliance awards with high fuel surcharges as they won't pass them along, saving you a ton. They lose a bit of value for extremely poor phone support and no other way to change/cancel flights. As well, availability is often less than via other Star Alliance members for no apparent reason. They are a transfer partner from both American Express and Citi. More info on using Avianca miles. |
| Currency Name | Bank of America Premium Rewards | Value | $0.01 | Notes | Worth a penny each |
| Currency Name | Bank of America Travel Rewards | Value | $0.01 | Notes | Worth a penny each |
| Currency Name | Barclay Arrival Plus | Value | $0.0105 | Notes | These are worth a penny each plus you get a 5% rebate on all redemptions. |
| Currency Name | Bilt Rewards | Value | $0.018 | Notes | With transfer partners like World of Hyatt, American Airlines AAdvantage, United MileagePlus, and Turkish Miles&Smiles, it's not hard to get outsized value from Bilt points. |
| Currency Name | British Airways Avios | Value | $0.0115 | Notes | British Airways points are best used for short haul flights on Oneworld partners. What keeps these from being worth more are the high redemption costs and surcharges for long haul flights in premium cabins. When you book a US domestic award on AA metal with Avios, you can also cancel and lose only the $5.60 per segment in taxes as the penalty. |
| Currency Name | Capital One | Value | $0.016 | Notes | The minimum value is 1 cent when used as a Purchase Eraser. It's worth noting that some Capital One cards earn 2 miles per dollar on everything, making the 1.5 cent per mile value an understatement as you'd be earning a 3% yield on every day spend. However, this assumes you will learn how to utilize the Capital One airline and hotel transfer partners, 14 of which now transfer 1:1. |
| Currency Name | Chase Ultimate Rewards | Value | $0.0175 | Notes | IMPORTANT NOTE: The values below assume you have at least one of the premium Chase Ultimate Rewards cards (The Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Preferred). If you do not and only have the "no annual fee" Chase cards, the value per point is just 1 cent per point.
After a recent loss of Korean SkyPass as a transfer partner, I decreased this value from 2.0 cents to 1.85 as this was a big loss on many levels. When United moved to dynamic awards, I lowered it again to 1.75. The instant transfers to most of its partners, especially Hyatt, keep the value this high as it's easy to exceed 2 cents per point on Hyatt award stays. NOTE: You can redeem for travel via the portal at the following rates: 1.5 cents per point with a Chase Sapphire Reserve; 1.25 cents per points with a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Preferred. You can also only transfer to airline/hotel partners if you have one of these cards. The value stated assumed you possess one of those three cards. If you do not, the value of an Ultimate Rewards point is just 1 cent. The value also assumes you will take advantage of transfer partners rather than book via the portal. |
| Currency Name | Citi ThankYou | Value | $0.016 | Notes | ThankYou points are valued a bit lower than the others because they have no US transfer partners aside from Choice Hotels (although the Citi Premier can transfer at a great 1:2 ratio to Choice) and, in most cases, take longer to transfer. In addition, the most value you can get booking via their travel portal is 1 cent. The value also assumes you will take advantage of transfer partners rather than book via the portal. |
| Currency Name | Delta Air Lines | Value | $0.012 | Notes | Delta has become almost punitive about getting more than 1.5 cents per point in value and often tried to steer you to redemptions worth around a penny. I think it's safe to say you can get 1.3 cents a mile out of them, but more is increasingly difficult except with partners and during Flash Sales. Unfortunately, their partner network is relatively weak with Skyteam compared to the others. They are the only US airline whose miles cannot be used to book International First Class on a partner airline (except, rarely, on China Eastern). They also have a history of devaluing the program with no notice. At least the miles don't expire. The MilesTalk valuation was reduced in Dec 2018 to reflect the introduction of Basic Economy awards at the same price they used to charge for awards that included seat selection and carryon bags and upgrades, requiring more miles for a standard economy award. |
| Currency Name | Discover | Value | $0.01 | Notes | Worth a penny each |
| Currency Name | Disney Dollars | Value | $0.01 | Notes | Worth a penny each |
| Currency Name | Hawaiian Airlines | Value | $0.007 | Notes | |
| Currency Name | Hilton | Value | $0.005 | Notes | Since Hilton moved to a variable pricing model, on average you'll be offered roughly a 0.5 cent value per point. They've even recently offered redemption via Amazon at this half a cent rate. You can beat this redemption value easiest on the highest end properties like Conrad. I discuss how to get 1 cent or even 2 cents per point in value here. |
| Currency Name | Hotels.com Rewards | Value | $0.022 | Notes | |
| Currency Name | Hyatt | Value | $0.016 | Notes | Hyatt award rates range from 5,000 to 30,000 points per night. Almost without fail, during even remotely peak times, I can find roughly 2 cents per point in value. You can even book Suites for incrementally more points. I tend to find these are one of the best ways to spend Chase Ultimate Rewards points which transfer 1:1 if you don't have the Hyatt credit card. |
| Currency Name | Iberia Avios | Value | $0.0115 | Notes | Iberia's Avios are very similar to British Airways, with a few differences. While you can redeem them for extremely cheap business class flights from the East Coast USA to Madrid, you can only book most partner flights as round trips and most partner awards are also non-changeable/non-cancellable. |
| Currency Name | IHG | Value | $0.004 | Notes | IHG, home of hotel brands like Intercontinental and Holiday Inn, generally provide about four tenths of a cent in value, following a 2021 devaluation and move to almost fully dynamic award pricing. I'll redeem when I can get more than that. While you can transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards to IHG, you really never should as you are cutting the value in half as they transfer 1:1. |
| Currency Name | JetBlue | Value | $0.014 | Notes | JetBlue varies the exact rate of points needed based on the cost of the ticket, but beyond that it still fluctuates based on their proprietary formulas. 1.3-1.5 cents is standard. |
| Currency Name | Marriott | Value | $0.006 | Notes | Marriott points continue to have a ton of value since the merger, though they have become much harder to earn and hotels now top out at 100,000 points on "peak" nights. 60,000 Marriott points are still, at a minimum, worth 25,000 airline miles on almost any major airline. You'd need to know your redemption value there to value the Bonvoy points. The real value is in redeeming at Marriott properties and in 5 night intervals, since Marriott gives you the 5th night free. Example: A hotel costs $225 per night or 35,000 points. 5 nights is then 140,000 points. $1,125 / 140,000 = 0.8 cents, slightly ahead of the MilesTalk value. When demand is higher, rates will be higher. That's when you redeem for outsized value and beat the 0.6 cent base level valuation. |
| Currency Name | PenFed Pathfinder Rewards | Value | $0.0105 | Notes | Redemption values vary based on type of travel redemption, from about 0.85 cents on the low end to 1.27 cents on the high end for hotels. |
| Currency Name | Southwest | Value | $0.014 | Notes | When used on Wanna Get Away fares, 1.3 cents is the approximate value you get. On certain international routes with high taxes, however, you may be able to yield close to 2 cents. Those are the exceptions to the rule, though, so I peg the value at 1.4 cents. |
| Currency Name | Starbucks Stars | Value | $0.04 | Notes | Starbucks Stars vary in value based on how you redeem them. 4.5 cents per Star represents an average expect value of redemption. For example, 150 Stars would buy any beverage. A beverage or hot breakfast could cost anywhere from $3 - $10. Our 4 cents / star value would value a drink or breakfast sandwich at $6. |
| Currency Name | United Airlines | Value | $0.012 | Notes | They have a similar network to AA in terms of reach via the Star Alliance, but they charge noticeably more for Partner Awards than AA. As well, after implementing dynamic pricing and raising partner awards by 10%, we cut 0.1 cents off its value in April 2020. |
| Currency Name | US Bank FlexPerks | Value | $0.015 | Notes | Redeemable at 1.5 cents a point |
| Currency Name | Wells Fargo | Value | $0.01 | Notes | Worth a penny each |
| Currency Name | Cash | Value | $0.01 | Notes |
Meet Dave
Dave’s spent the last 15 years traveling the world in first class using his miles and points. After analyzing the unique credit card spending habits of thousands of MilesTalk readers over the years, he developed YourBestCreditCards.com.
Your points earned and points values explained
We calculated how many points you could expect to earn if your spending habits stay the same as you reported to us.
MilesTalk has defined the Chase Ultimate Rewards currency of this card as $0.0175.
Note: Each spending category for this card has varied multipliers which have been included in the calculation.
| Airfare: $7750 * 1 | Cellphone: $600 * 1 |
| Hotels: $1500 * 2 | Department stores: $1010 * 1 |
| Dining out: $2000 * 2 | Costco: $500 * 1 |
| Supermarkets: $1500 * 1 | Online shopping: $500 * 1 |
| Drugstores: $400 * 1 | Entertainment: $1000 * 1 |
| Cable / Internet / Phone: $600 * 1 | Other / Not listed: $1000 * 1 |
| Total points earned annually: 21850 points |
| Sign up bonus: 50,000 |
| Sub-total value (Year 1): 71850 points |
| Sub-total value (Year 2): 21850 points |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 1): $1,257.38 |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 2): $382.38 |
| Annual fee (waved year 1): -$450 |
| Cash-equivalent credit: $300 ($200 annual airline credit, $100 annual hotel credit) |
Total Card Value (Year 1)*: $1,257.38
Total Card Value (Year 2)*: $232.38
We made an assumption that you would be able to meet all required spend for the full bonus on this card in calculating your Year 1 value. If you would not be able to meet this spend, your Year 1 value would be lower.
*The points value calculated for each year takes your spending habits into consideration, as well as the annual fee and assumes that you take full advantage of the cash-equivalent credits.
Your points values explained
We calculated how many points you could expect to earn if your spending habits stay the same as you reported to us.
MilesTalk has defined the Chase Ultimate Rewards currency of this card as $0.0175.
Note: Each spending category for this card has varied multipliers which have been included in the calculation.
| Airfare: $7750 * 1 | Cellphone: $600 * 1 |
| Hotels: $1500 * 2 | Department stores: $1010 * 1 |
| Dining out: $2000 * 2 | Costco: $500 * 1 |
| Supermarkets: $1500 * 1 | Online shopping: $500 * 1 |
| Drugstores: $400 * 1 | Entertainment: $1000 * 1 |
| Cable / Internet / Phone: $600 * 1 | Other / Not listed: $1000 * 1 |
| Total points earned annually: 21850 points |
| Sign up bonus: 50,000 |
| Sub-total value (Year 1): 71850 points |
| Sub-total value (Year 2): 21850 points |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 1): $1,257.38 |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 2): $382.38 |
| Annual fee (waved year 1): -$450 |
| Cash-equivalent credit: $300 ($200 annual airline credit, $100 annual hotel credit) |
Total Card Value (Year 1)*: $1,257.38
Total Card Value (Year 2)*: $232.38
We made an assumption that you would be able to meet all required spend for the full bonus on this card in calculating your Year 1 value. If you would not be able to meet this spend, your Year 1 value would be lower.
*The points value calculated for each year takes your spending habits into consideration, as well as the annual fee and assumes that you take full advantage of the cash-equivalent credits.
Your points earned and points values explained
We calculated how many points you could expect to earn if your spending habits stay the same as you reported to us.
MilesTalk has defined the Chase Ultimate Rewards currency of this card as $0.0175.
Note: Each spending category for this card has varied multipliers which have been included in the calculation.
| Airfare: $7750 * 1 | Cellphone: $600 * 1 |
| Hotels: $1500 * 2 | Department stores: $1010 * 1 |
| Dining out: $2000 * 2 | Costco: $500 * 1 |
| Supermarkets: $1500 * 1 | Online shopping: $500 * 1 |
| Drugstores: $400 * 1 | Entertainment: $1000 * 1 |
| Cable / Internet / Phone: $600 * 1 | Other / Not listed: $1000 * 1 |
| Total points earned annually: 21850 points |
| Sign up bonus: 50,000 |
| Sub-total value (Year 1): 71850 points |
| Sub-total value (Year 2): 21850 points |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 1): $1,257.38 |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 2): $382.38 |
| Annual fee (waved year 1): -$450 |
| Cash-equivalent credit: $300 ($200 annual airline credit, $100 annual hotel credit) |
Total Card Value (Year 1)*: $1,257.38
Total Card Value (Year 2)*: $232.38
We made an assumption that you would be able to meet all required spend for the full bonus on this card in calculating your Year 1 value. If you would not be able to meet this spend, your Year 1 value would be lower.
*The points value calculated for each year takes your spending habits into consideration, as well as the annual fee and assumes that you take full advantage of the cash-equivalent credits.
Your points earned and points values explained
We calculated how many points you could expect to earn if your spending habits stay the same as you reported to us.
MilesTalk has defined the Chase Ultimate Rewards currency of this card as $0.0175.
Note: Each spending category for this card has varied multipliers which have been included in the calculation.
| Airfare: $7750 * 1 | Cellphone: $600 * 1 |
| Hotels: $1500 * 2 | Department stores: $1010 * 1 |
| Dining out: $2000 * 2 | Costco: $500 * 1 |
| Supermarkets: $1500 * 1 | Online shopping: $500 * 1 |
| Drugstores: $400 * 1 | Entertainment: $1000 * 1 |
| Cable / Internet / Phone: $600 * 1 | Other / Not listed: $1000 * 1 |
| Total points earned annually: 21850 points |
| Sign up bonus: 50,000 |
| Sub-total value (Year 1): 71850 points |
| Sub-total value (Year 2): 21850 points |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 1): $1,257.38 |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 2): $382.38 |
| Annual fee (waved year 1): -$450 |
| Cash-equivalent credit: $300 ($200 annual airline credit, $100 annual hotel credit) |
Total Card Value (Year 1)*: $1,257.38
Total Card Value (Year 2)*: $232.38
We made an assumption that you would be able to meet all required spend for the full bonus on this card in calculating your Year 1 value. If you would not be able to meet this spend, your Year 1 value would be lower.
*The points value calculated for each year takes your spending habits into consideration, as well as the annual fee and assumes that you take full advantage of the cash-equivalent credits.
Your points earned and points values explained
We calculated how many points you could expect to earn if your spending habits stay the same as you reported to us.
MilesTalk has defined the Chase Ultimate Rewards currency of this card as $0.0175.
Note: Each spending category for this card has varied multipliers which have been included in the calculation.
| Airfare: $7750 * 1 | Cellphone: $600 * 1 |
| Hotels: $1500 * 2 | Department stores: $1010 * 1 |
| Dining out: $2000 * 2 | Costco: $500 * 1 |
| Supermarkets: $1500 * 1 | Online shopping: $500 * 1 |
| Drugstores: $400 * 1 | Entertainment: $1000 * 1 |
| Cable / Internet / Phone: $600 * 1 | Other / Not listed: $1000 * 1 |
| Total points earned annually: 21850 points |
| Sign up bonus: 50,000 |
| Sub-total value (Year 1): 71850 points |
| Sub-total value (Year 2): 21850 points |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 1): $1,257.38 |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 2): $382.38 |
| Annual fee (waved year 1): -$450 |
| Cash-equivalent credit: $300 ($200 annual airline credit, $100 annual hotel credit) |
Total Card Value (Year 1)*: $1,257.38
Total Card Value (Year 2)*: $232.38
We made an assumption that you would be able to meet all required spend for the full bonus on this card in calculating your Year 1 value. If you would not be able to meet this spend, your Year 1 value would be lower.
*The points value calculated for each year takes your spending habits into consideration, as well as the annual fee and assumes that you take full advantage of the cash-equivalent credits.
Your points earned and points values explained
We calculated how many points you could expect to earn if your spending habits stay the same as you reported to us.
MilesTalk has defined the Chase Ultimate Rewards currency of this card as $0.0175.
Note: Each spending category for this card has varied multipliers which have been included in the calculation.
| Airfare: $7750 * 1 | Cellphone: $600 * 1 |
| Hotels: $1500 * 2 | Department stores: $1010 * 1 |
| Dining out: $2000 * 2 | Costco: $500 * 1 |
| Supermarkets: $1500 * 1 | Online shopping: $500 * 1 |
| Drugstores: $400 * 1 | Entertainment: $1000 * 1 |
| Cable / Internet / Phone: $600 * 1 | Other / Not listed: $1000 * 1 |
| Total points earned annually: 21850 points |
| Sign up bonus: 50,000 |
| Sub-total value (Year 1): 71850 points |
| Sub-total value (Year 2): 21850 points |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 1): $1,257.38 |
| Sub-total annual points value (Year 2): $382.38 |
| Annual fee (waved year 1): -$450 |
| Cash-equivalent credit: $300 ($200 annual airline credit, $100 annual hotel credit) |
Total Card Value (Year 1)*: $1,257.38
Total Card Value (Year 2)*: $232.38
We made an assumption that you would be able to meet all required spend for the full bonus on this card in calculating your Year 1 value. If you would not be able to meet this spend, your Year 1 value would be lower.
*The points value calculated for each year takes your spending habits into consideration, as well as the annual fee and assumes that you take full advantage of the cash-equivalent credits.