When you Pay with Points they have a fixed monetary value of $0.01 each. A $1,000 ticket will require 100,000 points. You can use Pay with Points to purchase any seat, if you have enough points.

When you transfer to an airline frequent flyer program the number of points you use will be based on the zones or distance of the flight. You might get a $1,000 ticket for 50,000 points, or a $4,000 ticket for 100,000 points. You can redeem miles only if the required award inventory is available. All airlines restrict the number of seats available for award redemptions.

Another consideration is that many frequent flyer programs require a money co-payment in addition to miles when redeeming for an award seat. In some instances the co-payment is almost as much as the price of an economy class ticket.

I would begin by researching the cost top fly on a paid ticket. We can use that as a benchmark to evaluate transfer options.