The single most-cited number in points and miles is also the most abused: cents per point. Most published tables anchor to the best possible redemption. Take ANA First Class: on paper it looks extraordinary, but the saver award is 110,000 Virgin Atlantic miles, the seats are 0 to 2 per flight, and the median traveler will never find that space on a date they wanted. That is not a high-value redemption you can plan around; it is a lottery ticket. We are trying to do the opposite and give you a number you can actually use.
Our valuations live in data/programs.json and feed every calculator on the site and the AI advisor. The figure we publish for each program (shown on that program's page and on our valuations index) is what we believe a reasonably flexible US-based traveler can extract on a typical redemption, not the absolute best case. Rather than repeat specific numbers here, where they would drift out of date, we keep the live figures on those pages. Three rules drive every one of them.
Rule 1: anchor to saver award space, not the chart floor. A program's published award chart is the floor, what you would pay if you found space. Most programs no longer publish a chart at all (Delta, Hilton, and Marriott now use dynamic pricing). For chart-based programs, we use the saver or standard award level on routes where saver space is consistently available, not the special peak-season redemptions we have seen once. For dynamic programs, we use the median observed price across the past 12 months on a basket of routes, not the cheapest weekday outlier.
Rule 2: discount premium-cabin redemptions for availability risk. Pure paper math can make a premium-cabin partner award look like 15 cents per point or more at the cash sticker. But adjusted for the fact that you will search for months and might never see space on your dates, that value collapses for anyone with fixed plans. Our transferable-points valuations reflect what most US travelers actually realize, which sits well below the sticker and only modestly above the chart floor.
Rule 3: be conservative on hotels. Hyatt's published category award rates are still real (after the 2024 changes, peak and off-peak pricing is gone but blackouts at top properties remain), so our Hyatt number reflects the median mid-tier award, not a Park Hyatt Tokyo Christmas redemption. Marriott and Hilton are now dynamically priced, so their numbers reflect post-dynamic-pricing reality, where the best old chart redemptions are gone and most stays price near the cash equivalent in dollar terms.
Why this matters when the AI advisor recommends a transfer. The advisor uses these numbers as the floor, not the ceiling, when it tells you whether a transfer makes sense. If your trip prices out below our published valuation for that program, the advisor flags the redemption as below average; if it prices above, it is a good move. The valuation is a calibration anchor, not a promise. The advisor pairs it with a hard rule: award space is the binding constraint, not the chart price, and it requires checking availability before any premium-cabin transfer recommendation. We have indexed the redemptions that consistently price above our valuations so you can target them when space exists.
How often we update. Program valuations are reviewed on a regular cadence against each program's own award chart or dynamic pricing, alongside several independent review-site lenses. When the evidence shows a material change (a devaluation, a new transfer partner, a shift to dynamic pricing) we update the number and note it on the program's page. The data/programs.json file is committed in version control, so you can audit the full revision history.
Where we differ from the headline tables. Some published valuations skew aspirational, anchored to top-percentile redemptions most people cannot book. Others clump every transferable currency together into one blended number. Our approach is closest in spirit to a reasonable-redemption-value framework: anchored to what a flexible traveler can actually book, program by program, and deliberately lower than the headline figures.
If you want to use our methodology on a redemption we have not covered: take the cash price of the equivalent ticket on a saver-availability date (not the highest cash fare you can find), divide by the points required, and multiply by 100. Round down. That is your CPP. If it is above our valuation for that program, transfer. If it is below, do not, because the program offers better redemptions you have not found yet. The whole methodology is one sentence: pay cash when CPP is below average, redeem when CPP is above average, and ignore the chart floor.