Points and Miles Value

The Point Calculator: Points & Miles Valuations

I cover a fair share of rewards programs across this site. I calculate the average value of points and miles by going to each loyalty program's website and running calculations based on the redemption options they have available. While it's possible to get an average value for most redemptions, there are some that change depending on different factors so you'll always want to double check yourself to see how much points and miles could be worth to you. There's also some redemptions that I just don't have access to either because I can't become a member of the program, it is unavailable to me due to not meeting some type of requirement, I'm not in a region in which I can join the program, and other various reasons. I try my best to keep the values listed below up to date and to not over-evaluate rewards by giving them high values that can be hard to obtain.

Remember that the values in the table below are my own average values and that these may be different depending on how you redeem your points. With some rewards points and miles, you can get a lot more in value with a little bit of research so most of these values aren't set in stone.

Where available, you can click on a program to learn more about earning, redeeming, and transferring rewards with that program.

Points and Miles Cash Value Calculator

Use the Points and Miles Cash Value Calculator to calculate the cash value of your rewards based on the cost in rewards and the cost in cash. You can calculate the cash value of up to three different redemptions. For this calculator you will need:

• The cost of the redemption in cash
• The cost of the redemption in points/miles
• Any taxes/fees/costs assoicated with the cost in points/miles (optional)

As an example, we will use Delta Airlines. Delta gives you three options to pay for your flight:

• All Cash
• All Delta SkyMiles
• Cash + Delta SkyMiles

Looking at a flight from Columbus Airport to Los Angeles, here are the costs:

• All Cash: $345
• All Delta SkyMiles: 22,000 Miles plus $11.20 taxes/fees
• Cash + Miles: 12,000 Miles plus $191.20

Knowing those values, you can calculate the cash value of paying all Delta SkyMiles and paying Cash + Miles.

Plug in the cash value at the top of each section. Then fill in the two options for using Miles.

In this example, using all miles will give your Skymiles a value of 1.52 cents each while using the Miles+Cash option will give you a value of 1.28 cents. I peg Skymiles at around 1.2 cents each so both redemptions are good, but using all miles would give your Skymiles the better value.