Points.com: Good idea?

I've been to the Points.com website several times recently and I still don't understand it too well. What does clicking on "report" do on the trading page? Also, why would somebody, to get only 1,000 OnePass points, want to trade 5,000 SkyMiles AND pay a $50.00 "fee"? I just don't really understand. Are there a bunch of people who post ridiculous trade propositions just to see if anybody will bite? Are not many of the trade proposals unreasonable?

In general whenever you exchange point with a third party (i.e. a company that does not have its own points system) it's a pretty bad exchange rate. It only really makes sense if you're trying to top off an account to hit a threshold, and even then there are often better ways (buying the points directly).

I have never been a fan of the exchange rates of Points.com. The exchange rate is horrible. Better transactions can be accomplished by purchasing directly through the airline or hotel program’s own site for the same cost or less. Otherwise, the Coupon Connection is the way to trade/barter.

This is what I posted on Loyalty Traveler in response to his Points.com analysis... I'm happy to have anyone tear apart my logic.
--------------

I agree that you need to be selective in your trades. Here is my example of how I feel I’ve been getting a good value trading Airline miles with Points.com.

I’ve been using the Points.com trading board to move out of Continental miles over to Alaska Airlines via trades and am quite happy. Basically I had 50 or 60,000 Continental miles and I’m able to trade 10,000 of my Continental miles and $100 on my side to receive up to 17,000 Alaskan miles. With an exchange ratio favoring me it keeps my trading costs low enough to make it worth it, somewhere under 6/10′s of a cent per mile to move into a more favorable program (to me) – plus my overall number of miles is increasing with each trade… Since July I’ve spent $450 to convert 45,000 Continental miles into 77,000 Alaskan Air miles.

I have to assume on the other end is a willing participant that values the Continental miles much more than I do.

Is it just me of the fee can but the ticket you want + the extra miles of the flight itself?

In my case I'm shooting for First Class CX to South Africa, so the $450 + my free continental miles from last years offers represents 1/2 the mileage cost of that ticket. The fee is relatively 1/2 the price of very good deal economy ticket on Delta or South African Airways not not a CX first... Again it must be in the eye of the beholder since the person receiving Continental pays more in fees and received less miles than they gave me - yet they voluntarily traded - four times so far.

I used points.com to clear out some tiny balances in unused/underused airline and hotel programs and top out to earn flights in my lesser-used FF programs, but I agree that the exchange rate doesn't make sense for most cases.

Hi guys, trying to learn something here. I see on Points.com that people are trading mileage on different airlines, how can it be done without the airline approving it? Doesn't the airline need to post the mileage to your account?

When I need more miles in my account for an up coming trip, I would normally need to pay 1 cent per mile plus $30 fee to the airline to transfer miles from a family member's account to my account. Is there any way to get around this without paying the airline their fee? Just trying to understand how this works since I am a pretty new member to the mileage game. Thanks

I only use Points.com during the promotions for say USAir or Delta when an activity will net you 1000 miles. Join through Phonehog and get a few miles, then make a transfer for 1 mile. Works great for that. Just remember to stop the worthless phonehog emails after a few days!!
JudyJFLA