At Frequent Miler, we keep a database of point valuations called “Reasonable Redemption Values.” These are estimates of the “worth” of airline miles, hotel points, transferable points, and more. The idea is that we try to identify the point at which it is “reasonable” to get that much value or more from your points.
This information is critical for making informed decisions. In fact, it’s a key component of the First Year Value information shown on our Best Credit Card Offers page, and it’s similarly used to show which cards offer the best value for everyday spend and which offer the best category bonuses.
When we first started looking at the value of airline miles, we used a laborious manual process to create estimates, but we now have a much better way of pinning down the value of Alaska Mileage Plan miles.
Points Path, which is a Google Flights extension, keeps records of both the point prices and cash prices of all searches done via its platform. Points Path founder and former Frequent Miler writer, Julian Kheel, has made this data available to us for the purpose of identifying rewards program point values.
Thanks to Julian and Points Path, we now have access to the results of almost 2.4 million domestic and international Mileage Plan search results that show both the cash and award prices for the same flight (including partner flights). Using this data, we can provide a far better estimate of the “Reasonable Redemption Values” than we were ever able to obtain by using manual calculations.
Based on an analysis of Points Path’s data, we’ve concluded that the new Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Alaska miles = 1.5 Cents Per Mile. This currently makes it the most valuable domestic airline currency, just a smidge above American Airlines.
Points Path Data
Listed below is a summary of the raw data from Points Path. There are two values that are important to us. The median is the point that half of the observed results offered better point value and half offered worse value. We also have the average value of all the searches, in total and by booking class.
Domestic
| Cabin | Median Value (cpp) | Average Value (cpp) | Number of data points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economy | 1.24* | 1.63* | 1,334,584 |
| Premium | 2.60 | 2.94 | 400 |
| Business | 1.41 | 1.82 | 124,233 |
| First | 1.42 | 1.81 | 46,933 |
| Combined | 1.26 | 1.66 | 1,506,150 |
International
| Cabin | Median Value (cpp) | Average Value (cpp) | Number of data points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economy | 1.13* | 1.42* | 701,350 |
| Premium | 1.93 | 2.84 | 24,819 |
| Business | 1.72 | 2.92 | 123,817 |
| First | 1.31 | 3.33 | 3,611 |
| Combined | 1.20 | 1.68 | 853,597 |
Combined
| Cabin | Median Value (cpp) | Average Value (cpp) | Number of data points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economy | 1.20* | 1.56* | 2,035,934 |
| Premium | 1.96 | 2.85 | 25,219 |
| Business | 1.55 | 2.36 | 248,050 |
| First | 1.41 | 1.91 | 50,544 |
| Combined | 1.24 | 1.67 | 2,359,747 |
Calculations
For our airline RRV values, we’re going to use the midpoints between the average value and the median. The reason is that the difference between the two is an indicator of how often more valuable sweet spots can be found in a given category.
If the median is 1 cent per point, that means that half of all searches produced a value of less than 1 cent per point, and the other half above 1 cent per point. However, if the same data showed an average of 2 cents per point it would mean that some of the 50% of searches that were above 1 cent per point were so far above that they doubled the result to 2 cents per point. Likely, that would indicate a higher prevalence of available sweet spot awards with outsized redemption value…something we like to see.
Here’s what we found with Alaska:
- Points Path Median Observed Value for Alaska Mileage Plan redemptions: 1.24 cents per Points based on the past 365 days of data as of February 24, 2025)
- Points Path Mean Observed Value for Alaska Mileage Plan redemptions: 1.67 Cents Per Point (based on the past 365 days of data as of February 24, 2025)
- Range: 1.24 to 1.67.
- For our RRV, we’ll pick the middle point between 1.24 and 1.67 and then round it to one decimal, or 1.5 Cents Per Points.
Note that, for Alaska, the average value is ~35% higher than the median. That indicates that, even though only half of the searches Points Path tracked showed redemptions above 1.24 cents per mile, enough of those searches produced such outsized value that it raised the average redemption number significantly, all the way to 1.67 cents per mile. To us, this means that there’s significant opportunity for excellent value to be had when using Alaska miles. This is especially prevalent in all three international premium cabin redemptions, where the average values soar to 2-3 cents each (which is what we’d expect).
Conclusion
The exercise described above resulted in an unchanged Reasonable Redemption Value (RRV) for Alaska miles of 1.5 cents each. That’s the point at which most readers are likely to get that much value or more.
Please keep in mind that this does not mean that you will always get 1.5 cents per point value. In practice, you’ll sometimes find better redemptions and sometimes you’ll find worse. However, we believe that 1.5 cents is a “reasonable” expectation for what your Alaska miles are “worth” when used towards award flights.
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Would love if you guys could include the 10th, 30th, 70th, and 90th percentile values for redemption using the PointsPath data like you did with older points valuation posts.
I can never find international first/business class seats with my Alaska miles. So your charts aren’t helpful
For first you’re pretty much S.O.L. to Asia but can sometimes find AA space to London. Get it while it lasts as American is removing international first class. Another possibility is BA first but the surcharges BA forces on you are pretty gruesome. Both BA and American have some business class award space to Europe although I’d take AA since they don’t have YQ. Asia is vastly harder to find.
Alaska has been promising for a long time to offer mixed-partner awards but so far they have yet to appear. If they do appear and Alaska doesn’t burn us on the pricing then that may prove to be an option. Last word on that is it should be starting later this year.
This Julian guy calls himself Nick 1.0, kinda creepy….lol
International business and first class awards were always the shining star of Alaska awards, particularly to Asia on Cathay or JAL. Now those awards are pretty much nonexistent so in particular I’m wondering where the first class value came from.
I was awaiting this computation for many months because this one is the hardest to do. I think you failed. You failed because you did not recognize teh specificity of Alaska Airlines miles which is the ability to earn EQM during redemption since Jan 1st. So how does it affect computations and how do you account for this?
I don’t think earning status miles is entirely relevant to point values. (Maybe it gives it a slight leg up over AA miles which don’t) Delta also awards eqm for point bookings.
You’re right, Alaska awarding EQMs for award flights is a great perk if you’re looking for AS status. However, we don’t make any attempt to try and add that into our RRVs (for Alaska, Delta or United), primarily because the vast majority of people booking Alaska award flights most likely don’t care about it.
RRVs are strictly trying to provide a reasonable estimate of the value of Alaska miles for award flights (compared to the actual cash price). If we were to add an arbitrary uplift for the “value” of EQM-earning, it would distort that estimate for the majority of people for whom those EQMs have little to no value.
That said, you should feel free to come up with your own RRV based on how much you value EQMs.
I’m also interested in being able to earn EQMs from award flights (thinking about aiming for AS 75k instead of AA Platinum Pro).
But I don’t think there’s anyway at all to define the general value of an EQM. It’s totally subjective. But it’s easy for each if us to add our own subjective value. I’d probably start to calculate it as “what would I reasonably pay for a given status” / “EQMs needed for that status”. So, if I’d pay $500 for 75k, each EQM I earn is “worth” .66 cents.
Unfortunately, miles spent on a redemption don’t translate directly to EQMs and the ratio you earn at is wildly different for different kinds of redemptions, so you’ll have to figure that out as well based on your redemption patterns. Let’s say I earn back one fifth of the miles I spend as EQMs. That means each redeemable mile is worth an additional 0.13 cents. Add that to the value that FM calculated.
Okay, maybe not THAT easy to calculate, but you get the idea.
Thanks Tim, way to go Alaska Airlines Miles!
Also, the table is missing links to this post and the AF KLM RRV post: https://frequentmiler.com/reasonable-redemption-values-rrvs/
These point value analyses are great. Keep it up!