You can now find the latest Fair Trading Prices for points and miles on a permanent Frequent Miler page: frequentmiler.com/fair-trading-prices/
In the past week, I’ve written several posts about the fair trading prices of points and miles. For a complete overview, please see: Fair trading prices for points and miles.
As promised earlier, the table containing fair trading prices is now a permanent page on the Frequent Miler blog. You will now see a link titled “Fair Trading Prices” at the top of every page.
Notes:
- Since there is not yet a consensus around whether common “hacks” should be used to determine fair trading prices, I’ve left them out of the chart for now.
- Hilton HHonors: The first fair trading price I published for Hilton points depended upon a Membership Rewards transfer to Hawaiian Airlines and then a transfer from there to Hilton points. Several readers pointed out that Hawaiian Airlines does not permit being used as a pass-through like that. So, instead, I calculated the cost of points that can be earned from the Hilton HHonors Surpass card from American Express. This card delivers an extremely competitive blended rate of .48 cents per point. Even if you consider Hilton points to be only a third as valuable as Starwood points, you would come out ahead putting money on this card! Note, though, that Hilton points are not nearly as flexible as Starwood points since they can’t be transferred to airline miles at favorable rates.
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I like the table a lot (thanks for assembling it!)
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But there should be a warning or something for the reader to resist the temptation to compare rows with each other.
Each program does NOT use a common currency (even though they are all called “points”) and someone may erroneously draw the conclusion that spending $100 on program A might be worth more than spending it on program B (because they get more points, for example). That would be a mistake.
bluecat: Yes, thanks for pointing that out. I hope to add value estimates in the future that will make that clearer, but in the mean time I agree I should add something to make it clear that points can’t be compared across programs. For example, a Hilton point is worth far less than a Hyatt point.
Does this table essentially point out (via the bold values) a value below which it is a “good deal” to procure points?
Also, is there a similar table that you’re aware of for “Redemption Value?” I know that’s an *extremely* loaded question, but there could exist two tables for that–Low-Value (i.e. coach and non-aspirational hotels) and High-Value (i.e. F and asipirational hotels).
David: Yes, you understand the chart perfectly. Regarding redemption value, we think alike! I have a template created very similar to what you proposed (with columns for low, mid, and first class redemption values separated out). Unfortunately, its going to be a lot of work to populate it so i will probably be a while before I can publish it. I don’t know of anyone who has done the same, but if anyone can point me to something I’d appreciate it!