Comment by ghaff
2 years ago
The value of points is sort of hard to determine.
I'm guessing (but could be wrong) that you would not actually have paid $60K for business class seats for your family had you not had points that would cover. (I have gotten really good deals using points for something I'd have paid for anyway--but it's been rare.)
Only sometimes. Depends how you use them.
If you have some specific flight that you pay for regularly, e.g. to visit family, then replacing that flight's average cost with points gives a concrete number on point value.
If you are using points to fly first class on a trip you would not be taking at all but for the point redemption, then the value gets a lot more muddled.
Absolutely. If you use points for something you'd pay cash for otherwise, they're typically worth something like 1 to 2 cents per point. But a lot of people (and I've done this myself with upgrades now and then) treat them as more of less "free" money. Presumably the upgrade or whatever has some incremental value but we wouldn't have paid for it out of pocket.