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Points Value Calculator

The quick version of the question. Enter the fare, the points the award costs and the fees you still pay, and this says what each point returned and whether to spend them.

Enter the fare and the points

Fill in the cash price and the points the award costs to see what each point returned.

How it works

  1. Price the seat in moneyThe fare you would genuinely have paid for the same seat on the same day. Not a refundable fare you were never going to buy.
  2. Take off what you still payTaxes and carrier charges come out of your pocket on an award, so they are not value the points bought.
  3. Divide by the points spentWhat is left, over the points it cost, is the return on each one. The scale beside this says whether that is worth taking.

This is the quick form of the question, with no programme attached. It assumes the seat was available on your dates and that you already held the points. For the same sum graded against a specific programme, use the cents per point calculator.

Start from a scenario

Ordinary redemptions across the whole scale, from a sale fare that is not worth points to a long-haul seat that is. Click any row to load it into the calculator above.

RedemptionCash PricePointsFeesPer PointVerdict
Economy sale fare$20030,000−$200.60¢Poor
Fully flexible economy$30030,000−$200.93¢Average
Short domestic hop$40035,000−$251.07¢Average
Shoulder season economy$52035,000−$301.40¢Good
Standard long-haul economy$85050,000−$501.60¢Good
Last-minute booking$1,20060,000−$801.87¢Great
Peak week business$2,400100,000−$1202.28¢Great
Long-haul business seat$3,50080,000−$2504.06¢Exceptional
FAQ

What a redemption
actually returned

On this scale 1.8¢ and above is a strong redemption and 2.5¢ is exceptional. Between 1.2¢ and 1.8¢ is sound, and anything under 0.8¢ means the points are working harder for the programme than for you. Those bands are a rule of thumb, not a promise, and a cheap fare will always score badly no matter how good the award looks.

Because you still pay them. An award is rarely free: carrier charges and government taxes come out of your pocket on top of the points, so they are not value the points bought. A $500 fare against 25,000 points and $200 of fees returns 1.2¢, not 2.0¢.

The one you would genuinely have booked. Pricing an economy award against a fully flexible fare you would never buy inflates the answer, and so does comparing against a first class seat when you would have flown economy.

It is the same division asked more quickly. This one takes three numbers and gives you a verdict. The cents per point calculator adds the programme and the cabin, and grades the result against an industry average rather than a fixed scale.

No. It means this particular redemption is a poor use of them. A cheap fare is exactly the booking you should be paying money for, and the balance stays whole for a redemption that returns more.

Yes. A strong figure assumes the seat existed on your dates, that the surcharges are the ones you were actually quoted, and that you would really have paid the cash fare. Change any of those and the number changes with it.