[Anonymous]

[Lando Marco]

Hi, has anyone worked out the actual value of frequent flier points (on a per point basis)? Some programes sells top up points for between 2.5 to 4 cents per point / mile. So the real value has to be less than that?

[AMcWhirter]

This might help with your question:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/ask-alex/2012/how-much-are-air-miles-worth-to-airlines

[LuganoPirate]

Interesting point. I just made a calculation.

I need 4.25 First Class tickets MXP-ZRH-JNB return for one free F ticket which would cost me about chf 30,600 (assuming I could buy a quarter ticket!)

If I fly MXP-ZRH-LCY return in full fare business, I need 17 roundtrips which would cost about CHF 18,000 to get the same award.

Clearly the London trips represents better value,except I don’t fly 17 times a year but I do fly to JNB 5 times a year.

My other calculation is a European ticket is 40,000 miles in business. A business saver ticket is about chf 750. For 50,000 miles I can upgrade from C to F on my JNB flight for a saving of CHF 2,100

So based on the above, each award mile on the JNB run equates to 5 cents and on the LCY run 3 cents.

[VintageKrug]

I reckon on a simple rate of 100,000 avois is worth around £1000 to me.

So around a penny per avios.

[canucklad]

It probably also depends on the individual FFP redemption rates.

For example , all though i flew twice a week for almost 5 years constant , getting to Gold status and maintaing Gold was quite a struggle because i commuted between EDI and LHR

However through time I managed to gain enough points to fly AC back home, and BD was quite generous.

And thats probably quite a good way to measure as well VK…..although annoyingly before if I book YVR with Avios, i always check KLM’s fares to see what the FF difference is!!

If i had chosen to fly BA, it would have taken me longer to accumulate enough points for the same journey…

Then you need to consider the extras that airlines charge you to redeem points…..especially the double whammy of points plus cash for premium travel.

I would like to see a comparison of how many hours /flights you would need to fly to accumulate enough points to redeem my route EDI-YVR….. Can i get there quicker if i flew KLM rather than BA rather than LH ?

[VintageKrug]

I take into account the additional taxes and fees in my £1000/100,000 avios assessment; as I use my miles mostly for leisure (though have redeemed them on business, too) is benchmark against a typical sale Club World fare to the US or Middle East which can usually be had for between £1000 and £1500 return, depending on route. Remove about £400 in taxes and fees and that’s about the £1000.

It’s a good point about which airline gets you there faster. I liked the bmi scheme and I confess I preferred to fly them when commuting from EDI, and earned bmi Gold off the back of those domestic commutes. Sacrilege I know!

However, I would also take into account the “total value proposition” – quality of the lounges, quality of the onboard product (fully flat bed vs. wedgie) and likelihood of an OpUp to F, or ability to redeem into an F cabin if you choose to do so. For me, unless the bed is fully flat I really don’t count that as business class, more of a premium economy product.

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