Fair Trading Prices
“Fair trading prices” are the prices by which it is relatively easy or common to acquire points and miles. For more about this, please see: Fair trading prices for points and miles. Still confused? Please see Fair trading prices explained.
Note: Shown below are fair trading prices for redeemable points and miles. Fair trading prices for Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) are determined differently. Currently, the fair trading price for airline EQMs = 3 cents per EQM.
Tables Last Updated: 4/24/2012 (recalculated hotel values and split from main table)
|
Values in bold represent fair trading prices |
Cost to Acquire |
|||
|
Awards Program |
Buy Direct |
Credit Card |
Transfer from: |
|
|
Flexible Points |
Amex Membership Rewards (MR) |
2* |
1.29 |
N/A |
|
Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) |
2.5 |
1.31 |
N/A |
|
|
Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) |
3.5 |
1.95 |
N/A |
|
|
Airline |
American |
2.95 |
1.56 |
SPG |
|
British Airways |
2.3 |
1.29 |
MR |
|
|
Delta |
3.5 |
1.29 |
MR |
|
|
United / Continental |
3.76 |
1.31 |
UR |
|
|
US Airways |
3.5 |
1.56 |
SPG |
|
|
Hotel Points |
Hilton |
1 |
0.48 |
** |
|
Train |
Amtrak |
2.75 |
1.31 |
UR |
* MR points can only be purchased to “top up” a specific redemption
** Based on the blended point earning rate of the Hilton HHonors Surpass card from American Express
Hotel Values
Please see this post for information about how the following table was constructed.
|
Prices are |
Points |
Low |
High |
Fair |
Buy |
|
SPG |
2 |
1.95 |
N/A |
1.95 |
3.5 |
|
Hilton |
15 |
N/A |
0.48 |
0.48 |
1 |
|
Best Western |
10 |
0.39 |
0.72 |
0.56 |
1 |
|
Club Carlson |
20 |
0.195 |
0.36 |
0.28 |
0.7 |
|
Hyatt |
5 |
0.78 |
1.44 |
1.11 |
2.4 |
|
Marriott |
10 |
0.39 |
0.72 |
0.56 |
1.25 |
|
Priority Club |
10 |
0.39 |
0.72 |
0.56 |
1.15 |
|
Wyndham |
10 |
0.39 |
0.72 |
0.56 |
N/A |
Notes
- The “Buy Direct” column is the advertised price to buy points or miles directly from each specific program. The price does not include any specials that may be running.
- The “Credit Card” column lists the best price you could get by trading points from one of the three listed flexible points programs. In each case I tried to find the transfer option that led to the lowest cost.
- Numbers in bold represent fair trading prices for each program.
- For details on how this table was first compiled, please see: Fair trading prices for points and miles
- Tricks, hacks, and promotions that allow points to be purchased less expensively are not included in the estimates above. If interested, please read “When should a hack determine the fair trading price of points and miles?”
- Fair Trading Prices will be updated regularly. Please check back often.
Publishers
You may re-publish the above table under the condition that credit is given to Frequent Miler along with the web address for this blog (http://thefrequentmiler.com/). Please also include a link back to this page so that readers can always see the latest updates.
From a asian that had math drilled into him from his rents. RESPECT on the break down of values per points and the ppm. I am always thinking of the numbers behind purchases to maximize my returns but there is one negative I can no longer sleep at night.
Jeff: Thanks. Yes, I understand the sleeping issue
I don’t have a cure for that!
Just bookmarked. Thanks so much!
hey FM, so MR points are almost the same as UR? Why’s that?…i feel like UR points are best esp for Hyatt hotels and going to United. MR points are good for only BA transfer bonuses and maybe ANA if you want to pay the mileage fees…but i’m relatively new to this so maybe you can clear it up? thanks man
Ryan from MA: Great question. The fair trading prices chart shows the usual cost for acquiring points and miles. It doesn’t say anything about the value of redeeming them. I agree with you that UR points are usually more valuable than MR points, but since both can be redeemed a million different ways, there is no good way to estimate their redemption value. The basic idea of the chart is that you can use these numbers as a benchmark against your redemption choices. For example, if you’re thinking of using MR points in a way that will give you 1 cent per point value, you can see that that’s not a great deal since 1 cent per point is less than the usual cost of acquiring MR points.
Very nice points table.
Is there any place where I can buy points than UR website?
The calculation is based on being able to get 2% cash back from credit card. Which card gives you 2% cash back across the board?
Thanks.
Jim: Capital One Spark Cash is one option, Fidelity Amex is another, Nasa credit union has one. See more here: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/883571/
Would be interested to see the Fair Trading Value of Southwest Miles.
I’m not sure I agree with the chart. For example, I value a United point at 1.9 cents per dollar, and a Starwood point at 2.4 cents because the best value from SPG comes from C+P and not airline conversions. What you’re suggesting is I should take the 2% cash back a Citi or Cap 1 card gives and buy UR or SPG points and come out ahead, and I don’t see how thats possible w/o Chase or Amex shutting down for abuse. How do you consistently and safely accrue URs for 1.31 cents per point?
Ford: Since you can transfer from Ultimate Rewards, the fair trading price would be the same as the other Ultimate Rewards partners: 1.31 cents per point. On the redemption side, Southwest points are different in that they have fixed redemption values: 1.67 cents per point for Wanna Get Away fares and 1 cent per point for Anytime fares.
David: the values given in the chart have nothing to do with redemption values. For airlines, they are based 100% on an estimate of what it costs to acquire the miles through daily spend using credit cards (and giving up 2% cash back). I am NOT saying you should use a cash back card and buy points with your cash! Please read the original post for details: http://boardingarea.com/blogs/frequentmiler/2011/12/13/fair-trading-prices-for-points-and-miles/
FM, 6 months ago I would have said that you’re right using a 2% cash back card as a good benchmark for determining the value of points. But now that I can essentially get 5% cash back for each purchase (“One Card to Rule them All”), I’d argue 5% is the new benchmark.
Brad R: I get your point, but I made a deliberate decision when developing the chart to ignore tricks, hacks, and short-term deals when establishing the “usual price”. Getting 5X everywhere is a great trick that lets you accumulate points at a much lower cost than other people do. I do not see it as the new benchmark.
Great blog! I am just wondering how many credit cards do you have in all in general? I am thinking ahead how much annual fees do I pay?
Is there anywhere to trade points/miles with individuals besides points.com? Perhaps something similar to the Flyertalk CC forum?
pumkinM: I have quite a few. My strategy about annual fees is this:
* If a card has benefits that are worth the annual fee, then I happily pay it. One great example is the Priority Club card that gives you a free night at any Priority Club property (including Hotel Intercontinentals!) for just the $49 annual fee.
* If the card’s benefits aren’t worth the fee then I’ll cancel the card when the fee comes due OR I’ll downgrade to a no-fee version of the card. The latter is a good way to keep up a long credit history (which is good for your credit score). Its also sometimes a good way to keep points that you haven’t redeemed yet.