Who else has the Platinum, Gold, AND CSR?
#61
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: EWR
Programs: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, UA Mileage Plus
Posts: 1,250
Usually I agree with you, mia, but in this case you’re arguing semantics and the other poster is arguing reality. We come up with all goofy ways to value points. If you have the option of transferring 60,000 UR points to United to redeem for a $900 flight or using 60,000 UR points to purchase a $900 flight, then the obvious better way is to use the points to purchase the flight. Both get you $0.015 in redemption value but one will get you a few thousand United miles. This is why it rarely makes sense to transfer UR to Southwest or JetBlue unless you’re just topping off because those points are usually worth around $0.015/each.
Look at it similarly to the Business Platinum 35% rebate. Your MR are only “worth” 1cpp, as you need 100MR per $1 to make the redemption but you are getting 35 MR back for every 100 you spend. When making this type of redemption we say you’re getting $0.0154 value per MR point.
Neither redemption is worth $0.015/point.
If I redeem 60,000 points for a $900 revenue ticket the value appears to $0.015/point, but it is less because I gave up the 4,500 points I would have earned buying a $900 ticket with American Express Platinum. I really redeemed 64,500 points, and the value is $0.01395.
If I transfer 60,000 points to a frequent flyer program and redeem for an award ticket the redemption value is also less than $0.015 because I need to make a similar adjustment for the points/miles I could have earned by paying -and- flying. This calculation is more complicated because it depends on my elite status with the airline, but it will be less than $0.01395. However, an award ticket is often more flexible than a revenue ticket because the cost to cancel it is low.
In any event, I would not redeem points or miles for a $900 ticket. I would use money.
If I redeem 60,000 points for a $900 revenue ticket the value appears to $0.015/point, but it is less because I gave up the 4,500 points I would have earned buying a $900 ticket with American Express Platinum. I really redeemed 64,500 points, and the value is $0.01395.
If I transfer 60,000 points to a frequent flyer program and redeem for an award ticket the redemption value is also less than $0.015 because I need to make a similar adjustment for the points/miles I could have earned by paying -and- flying. This calculation is more complicated because it depends on my elite status with the airline, but it will be less than $0.01395. However, an award ticket is often more flexible than a revenue ticket because the cost to cancel it is low.
In any event, I would not redeem points or miles for a $900 ticket. I would use money.
If you're going to reduce your redemption value by points forgone, you then need to reduce all of your credit card rewards value by the 2%+ cashback you have forgone. I don't think you're doing that--certainly I'm not.