Originally Posted by
akrooman
I've been seeing a bunch of valuations online with the top valuation being around 2 cents per point. This seems low to me, at least in the way I use it where I generally transfer points to United to buy last minute domestic flights for 12.5k miles, some of which go for $600. What do you guys think the points are worth?
I'd say the only concrete evidence is the *minimum* value of UR points vs the max or combination thereof that TPG and OMAAT use.
For example:
If you have the CSP alone, then the min. value is like what, $0.0125 per point (you redeem for cash).
If you have the CSR then it's $0.015 per point if redeemed for cash.
The above is for redeeming through Chase UR portal for travel, not cash. My mistake. Sometimes Chase UR Portal doesn't give the best price either.
UR gets fuzzy with the 5% and other % categories, thus affecting the cash-back numbers (ie, I spend $1,500 on my Chase Freedom on a 5% "cashback" category it gets me 1,575 UR points, but if I have a CSR and combine the points to that card, then even though the redemption rate is still 1.5%/point, I have to factor in the original 5% bonus).
My math may be wrong, but hopefully I'm getting the point across.
Things like FF miles/points are all varying, especially with dynamic pricing (UA, DL, and probably AA soon). To a lesser extent, NW and B6 (in terms of variation).
And then there's the partner awards (ie, rack up a ton of UR points and transfer to KrisFlyer for redemption on SQ Suites in F).
And that's probably why everyone says they're worth depending on how *you* use/value them.
For *me* I use the "min" value, but if I have a goal in mind (saving up for say SQ Suites or something), then I know I'll "max" my value (well within reason due to constant devaluation of miles).
For example, AA miles are "valued" at like $0.014 by some bloggers. I racked up 140,000 miles and redeemed for one-way on Etihad Apartment (a $14,000 cash ticket equivalent). But I had a specific goal/redemption in mind.