Originally Posted by
civico
Frequent Miler, thanks for explaining the chart so well. I agree, it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to make one that is a basis for what people value their miles at. So many factors play in to it. Sure, you have the basic stuff that is the same for everyone (how much flights costs, does it have fuel surcharge or not, etc) but really, everyone is different. If you live at a United hub, well then they are much more valuable. If you live at an AA hub, well there you go, AA is better for you. Same with hotels. Does little good to have hotel points if you travel to places without those hotels.
So yeah, I think it would be possible for people to make a personal chart, unique to them, which is what I think the OP was asking, but almost impossible for a catch all chart that everyone would fit in to.
Yep. Although it would be helpful if someone could gather enough data to be able to show averages of different types. For example, with hotels, someone could calculate the value of using points at a large set of, say, top tier hotels for random days across the year and then publish a chart that shows the low, average, and high value of points for each hotel tier. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be good for looking across hotel chains to see the relative value of their points.