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What kind of flight can 25,000 United miles get you? How much is 2,000 Southwest points worth? Trying to assign a value to airline points and miles can be a haphazard task.
Here at NerdWallet, we’ve created our own airline miles valuations through a comprehensive analysis of hundreds of flights across eight airline programs. But even still, it’s tough to definitively know how much a flight costs on points, the way everyone knows that a Costco hot dog and soda combo forever and always costs $1.50.
Thanks to airlines with award charts, there’s a little more clarity around how much it’ll cost to book flights on miles or points.
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Airline reward redemptions: award charts vs. dynamic pricing
Dynamic pricing: Some airlines have what’s called dynamic pricing, where the cost to book flights on points or miles is loosely correlated with the cost in dollars. Meaning: A more expensive cash fare also costs more in miles.
Among the biggest airline programs that deal in dynamic pricing are:
Award charts: Meanwhile, other airlines use award charts to define the cost to book award flights. With award charts, routes have fixed redemption rates. Those fixed numbers can be based on factors such as time of travel (typically broken down into three categories: standard, peak season and off season), the region you’re traveling to or the number of miles flown (or a combination of all of those things).
Award charts can be helpful in eliminating guesswork around how much your flight might cost. Award charts also mean you can find redemption sweet spots, which are extra-good deals simply because your route is optimized perfectly for a relatively low points redemption (even if it might actually be fairly pricey when paid for in cash).
Some airlines have moved toward dynamic pricing while still publishing an award chart with "starting from" prices. This helps give a baseline as to whether a redemption is a good deal.
» Learn more: An overview of airline award charts
With that said, here’s your comprehensive guide to airline award charts:
Air Canada Aeroplan
Alliance: Star Alliance
Aeroplan credit card transfer partners: American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Venture Miles
Air Canada resources:
Air Canada's published award chart offers fixed pricing on some partners and lists "starting from" pricing for Air Canada itself as well as select partners, which include United, Emirates and Etihad Airways. NerdWallet values Aeroplan points at 1.1 cents each.
Atmos Rewards (Alaska Airlines)
Alliance: Oneworld
Alaska Airlines resources:
Alaska’s award flight booking system bases the cost of flights on a combination of route popularity and flight distance. For flights within the contiguous U.S. and Alaska, award tickets start at 5,000 miles each way (that’s for trips less than 700 miles in Main Cabin). But for longer flights within the contiguous U.S. and Alaska, expect to pay as much as 50,000 miles for a Main Cabin seat.
Sometimes, international travel through partner airlines can turn out to be even cheaper. Economy seats between the U.S. and Asia on Cathay Pacific are just 30,000 Alaska miles, while seats on American Airlines between the U.S. and Australia are just 40,000 points, which can turn out to be a great deal when traveling during peak seasons.
NerdWallet values Atmos points at 1.2 cents each.
There’s also the Money & Miles payment option, which lets you pay partially with miles and partially with money (though it also tends to result in relatively poor value).
» Learn more: 5 award sweet spots using Alaska Airlines miles
American Airlines AAdvantage
Alliance: Oneworld
American resources:
American Airlines now has a fully dynamic award chart. Pricing across all routes and fare classes will vary based on demand.
Based on our most recent analysis, NerdWallet values American Airlines miles at 1.3 cents apiece.
ANA Mileage Club
Alliance: Star Alliance
ANA credit card transfer partners: American Express Membership Rewards
ANA resources:
The ANA Mileage Club uses a distance-based award chart, so shorter flights will cost fewer points than longer ones. With so many partner airlines and relatively low rates to book on those airlines, the ANA Mileage Club is one of the best loyalty programs for booking flights with almost all of the other Star Alliance airlines.
» Learn more: 5 award sweet spots using ANA Mileage Club miles
The British Airways Club
Alliance: Oneworld
British Airways credit card transfer partners: American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards
British Airways resources:
Rather than a region-based award chart, British Airways has an entirely distance-based award chart. That’s especially beneficial when you’re flying short-haul flights within the same region, such as between Los Angeles and San Francisco, as opposed to long-haul flights that would otherwise be within the same region, such as between Los Angeles and New York (in which case you might be better off booking with an airline that has a region-based award chart).
» Learn more: 4 award sweet spots using British Airways Avios
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Alliance: Oneworld
Cathay Pacific credit card transfer partners: American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Venture Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards
Cathay Pacific resources:
The Cathay Pacific frequent flyer program has a standard award chart that determines point redemptions by distance-based zones, so a flight that’s between 1 and 750 miles would cost less than one that’s between 751 and 2,750 miles.
While Cathay Pacific can have great redemptions — especially if you can find a sweet spot flight that reaches into the upper end of Cathay Pacific’s distance-based zones — you might also consider using Atmos points to book award flights on Cathay Pacific.
Frontier Airlines Frontier Miles
Frontier resources:
The Frontier Miles program is based on a set award chart. Though there are no blackout dates, Frontier does limit the number of award flights sold.
One-way flights on Frontier Airlines start at 5,000 miles for flights within the U.S. and Puerto Rico. International flights can turn out to be a particularly good deal, with flights between the U.S. and either Jamaica, Mexico or the Dominican Republic starting at 15,000 miles.
» Learn more: Frontier Airlines reward optimization for beginners
The bottom line
Award charts have their pros and cons, but for airlines with fixed award charts (versus dynamic pricing), there’s typically less of a correlation with award redemptions and cash fares. If you spot an ultra-cheap cash airfare sale, you may not get that same discount in points or miles.
Award charts also mean plenty of room for sweet spot redemptions, based on distance flown, regions you're traveling between or time of year.
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