How Much Are Points Worth? (Quarter 4 2022)

Now that Quarter 4 of 2022 has arrived, it’s once again time to revisit our Points Valuations, which we update on a quarterly basis.

During the previous quarter, the biggest news came with the ongoing demise of Air Miles. While the program is still slowly falling out of relevance on the Canadian loyalty scene, Scene+ is gladly taking its place.

Meanwhile, changes are also afoot for two major loyalty programs in the coming months. Marriott Bonvoy is transitioning to dynamic pricing, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan cryptically announced upcoming changes to its award chart.

Otherwise, the loyalty scene remains fairly stable this quarter.

Before we delve into the valuations, I should remind you that the focus of these valuations lies in the target redemption value of each points currency, rather than the acquisition cost that you might incur (which can vary significantly depending on how you prefer to earn points).

Air France/KLM Flying Blue

Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles continue to become more interesting and readily available. Each month, the program unveils its Promo Rewards, which reduce the cost of redemptions on specific routes.

In October, the cost for an economy flight between many cities in the United States and Europe dropped down to only 11,250 miles from the East Coast and 15,000 miles from the West Coast. 

Even though flying in economy isn’t the most glamorous way to travel, it doesn’t get much cheaper than that for a long-haul flight across the Atlantic. 

Our valuation of Flying Blue miles remains constant this quarter, but hopefully we’ll see even more improvements to the program that result in an upward shift in the near future.

• Continued valuation: 1.3 cents/mile (USD), 1.6 cents/mile (CAD)

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

After officially joining the Oneworld Alliance, Alaska Airlines has been busy adding a number of partner airlines for earning and redeeming on its Mileage Plan loyalty program. While the redemption rates with some leaves a lot to be desired, the cost for others, such as Air Tahiti Nui, is quite favourable… at least for now.

Recently, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan fired a warning shot, signalling that changes to its loyalty program are coming by the end of 2022. While the exact details of the changes have yet to be revealed, the news came as an ominous sign for the program’s many sweet spots. 

The current award pricing remains until Alaska Airlines announces otherwise. Be sure to lock in your redemptions with Japan Airlines First Class, or if you can find award space, Cathay Pacific First Class, before the changes take effect.

While the valuation of Alaska miles remains unchanged this quarter, this may not be the case in Q1 of 2023 if we see a devaluation with the revised award pricing structure.

• Continued valuation: 1.8 cents/mile (USD), 2.3 cents/mile (CAD)

CIBC Aventura: 1.25cpp Extended Through to December 31

In the second quarter of 2022, CIBC’s Aventura program put on a special promotion, allowing cardholders to use points to redeem against any travel purchase at double the usual rate: 1.25 cents/point instead of 0.625 cents/point.

This promotion, which was originally set to expire on June 15, and then September 15, has been extended to December 31, 2022.

This promotion came to prominence back when CIBC was offering 45,000 Aventura points with no minimum spend and the first-year fee waived on their CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite and Gold cards, resulting in a net $563 earnings per card that you applied for.

For the remainder of the year, the value of CIBC Aventura points is temporarily elevated to 1.25cpp (cents per point).

We expect this to return to our regular valuation of 1.2cpp, which factors in the baseline redemption of 1cpp against travel purchases plus the potential upside of the CIBC Aventura fixed-value redemption chart, next quarter when the promotion ends. 

• Continued valuation: 1.25 cents/point (CAD)

Marriott Bonvoy

The clock is ticking for Marriott Bonvoy’s imminent transition to fully dynamic pricing in 2023. Earlier this year, we saw the elimination of hotel categories and a step towards dynamic pricing, but the full transformation has yet to take place.

We don’t yet know what the future holds for Marriott Bonvoy, but it’s very likely that aspirational hotels are going to get much more expensive as of next quarter. Be sure to lock in any aspirational stays before the new year, otherwise you may wind up losing value from your Bonvoy points.

All signs are pointing towards a devaluation next quarter, but for now, the value remains the same.

• Continued valuation: 0.7 cents/point (USD), 0.9 cents/point (CAD)

National Bank À la carte Rewards

A new addition to our points valuations this quarter comes in the form of National Bank À la carte Rewards. The loyalty program has very recently become more interesting with the latest round of credit card offers from National Bank, which are valid until January 13, 2023.

The National Bank World Elite Mastercard, which is in a league of its own for insurance coverage, has a welcome offer worth up to $300 for travel booked through the À la carte Rewards portal.

Aside from the welcome bonus, the National Bank World Elite Mastercard comes with a 5x multiplier for groceries and restaurants, making it very easy to rack up À la carte Rewards points.

You’ll have to redeem points through the online travel portal to get 1 cent per point, but if you prefer to book travel directly with vendors, you can still redeem À la carte Rewards for a statement credit at a lower value. You’ll get 0.83 cents per point if you redeem fewer than 55,000 points, and 0.91 cents per point when redeeming more than 55,000 points.

Having another points currency at your disposal can never hurt, especially when you can use them for travel expenses that other loyalty programs don’t cover.

• Starting valuation: 1 cent/point (CAD)

Points Valuations, Quarter 4 2022

Here’s a summary of our Points Valuations for Quarter 4 of 2022. You can refer to the Points Valuations page for a full list with additional notes.

Points Program	Value (CAD)	Value (USD)
Aeroplan	2.1 cents/point	1.7 cents/point
Air France/KLM Flying Blue	1.6 cents/mile	1.3 cents/mile
Air Miles	11 cents/mile
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan	2.3 cents/mile	1.8 cents/mile
American Airlines AAdvantage	1.7 cents/mile	1.4 cents/mile
American Express (Canada) Membership Rewards	2.2 cents/point
American Express (US) Membership Rewards	2.3 cents/point	1.8 cents/point
Best Western Rewards	0.7 cents/point	0.6 cents/point
BMO Rewards	0.67 cents/point
British Airways Avios	1.9 cents/Avios	1.5 cents/Avios
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	1.6 cents/mile	1.3 cents/mile
Chase Ultimate Rewards	2.1 cents/point	1.7 cents/point
CIBC Aventura	1.25 cents/point
Citi ThankYou	2.1 cents/point	1.7 cents/point
Delta SkyMiles	1.5 cents/point	1.2 cents/mile
Hilton Honors	0.6 cents/point	0.5 cents/point
HSBC Rewards	0.8 cents/point
IHG Rewards	0.5 cents/point	0.4 cents/point
Marriott Bonvoy	0.9 cents/point	0.7 cents/point
National Bank À la carte Rewards	1 cent/point
RBC Avion	2.0 cents/point
Scene+	1 cent/point
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	1.8 cents/point	1.4 cents/point
TD Rewards	0.5 cents/point
WestJet Rewards	$1.02/WestJet Dollar
World of Hyatt	1.9 cents/point	1.5 cents/point

Conclusion

The third quarter of 2022 has seen relatively minor developments in the loyalty landscape.

CIBC’s Aventura program extended the temporarily inflated redemption rates it offers, which is a boon for Canadians who earn points in the program. Meanwhile, there are imminent, likely negative changes coming to Marriott Bonvoy and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, so lock in your hotel and flight bookings before it’s too late.

Remember, treat these numbers as merely a suggestion for reasonable target redemption values when deciding whether to redeem points or pay cash for your next trip.

Ultimately, the value derived from every redemption will be subjective to the individual traveller, and our valuations are designed to illustrate an average benchmark across the community to help inform your decision as you consider your next points redemption.   

The post How Much Are Points Worth? (Quarter 4 2022) appeared first on Prince of Travel by Ricky Zhang.

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