The cash value of mile is what the free market will buy/sell the miles in large quantities. My assessment for various miles is as follows:

Continental/Northwest/Delta - 1.2 cents per mile
USAIR/United 1.4 cents per mile
AA/BA 1.8 cents per mile
SPG point 2.4 cents per point
Hilton Honors .04 cents per point
Marriott Rewards 1.25 cents per mile
Membership Rewards (Amex) 1.4 cents per mile

Now I've got redemptive values of over 7 cents a point for Starwood and over 4.5 cents per point for Continental. But that's not a market. A market operates at a larger scale. Just cause the local mall store exchanges my USD at 1.10 instead of the market rate of 1.17 for Canadian dollar does not mean the USD is worth 1.10.


Mike