Hello Folks,

Just want to have the question/discussion about the cents per point (cpp) calculation. This question/discussion is more about the point usage for flight in general, not particularly for UA. As we all know, the equation of cpp is: ($ Actual Flight Value - $ Tax & Fees) / Points * 100 = CPP

• Example: if a UA domestic economy class flight values $200, and point cost 12,500, then the cpp for this flight is worth 200 / 12500 * 100 = 1.6; if wanted more accurate (including tax & fees) => which point cost 12,500 + $5.6, then the cpp should be: (200 - 5.6) / 12500 * 100 = 1.55. And as we collected many DP and/or use other big data tech, we can conclude some airlines have average of 1.x cpp value and other airlines have average of 2.x cpp value.
• Then, when we have long-distance international business class UA flight values $4,000, and point cost 100,000 + $5.6 (in saver award), in this case, the cpp value is gonna be: (4000 - 5.6) / 100000 * 100 = 3.99; this is the time when people usually say you are redeemed in a great value of cpp.

However, all of the case above, and majority of our real-life redeemed situation is in one-way, not round-trip. Many times, especially in international flight, round-trip price is not equal to 2 * one way price.

• Example: Economy flight round-trip between EWR to HND costs $2600 in November; but one-way EWR to HND is $1600 and one-way HND to EWR is $1800 => $2600 < ($1600 + $1800). This is because of the pricing model & strategies behind the scene for different airlines.

From the one-way vs. round-trip comparison above, is the original calculation of cpp: ($ Actual Flight Value - $ Tax & Fees) / Points * 100 still valid? I understand we definitely can't say one-way price of a trip = round-trip / 2, but is there anything we need to change for the formula, or simply using original calculation would be making sense?
Second, is about the flexibility. Currently, AA/UA/DL has waived any change/cancellation fee, airlines like VS/BA charges small amount fee for change/cancellation for all award ticket flights. Revenue-based tickets are mostly non-refundable, or with a certain amount of fee. Do we also consider other factors like this for cpp calculation? If yes, how we gonna quantify them?

Thank you in advance! Please share your wisdom and ideas in this thread.