It’s been one year since I wrote my initial post on miles and points, and a good bit has changed in the last year – such as:
*Delta has switched to a revenue based mileage earning system. That is, you earn miles based on what your ticket costs, not how far you travel. This is a much bigger difference than it may sound like for frequent flyers. There is also much speculation that they will change to a revenue based redemption system in the not too distant future (e.g., every Delta mile is worth 1 cent).
*United gutted its award chart for all of its partners and increased the prices of United award flights as well. United used to be one of my favorite miles, but they’re right in the middle of the pack now.
*United also followed Delta’s lead in changing to a revenue based mileage earning system. This leaves only American Airlines as the sole major airline on which you earn miles based on how far you fly. Many speculate AA will follow the other two majors at some point.
*Speaking of American, AA and US Airways have merged. This places US Airways in the One World alliance.
*Hyatt added a new top award category for its best properties and increased prices across all categories. This resulted in a 50% increase in award prices for most of Hyatt’s nicest properties. That said, Hyatt was due for an adjustment. Overall, it was not awful (see Hilton for an awful hotel point devaluation).
*Citi’s Thank You Points now transfer to several airlines (previously, they were just cash equivalent points).
So with all of that combined with questions I’ve received over e-mail, I figured it was time to update my take on points miles. My original post still has lots of good info I will not cover here, so be sure to read that in combination with this post.
Takeaways from all the changes:
*Transferrable points are generally the best. If a program devalues its award chart, you just avoid transferring points to that hotel/airline.
*Don’t hoard your points and miles. Use them. Points/miles will always decrease in value. This can be true even in the case of cash equivalent points (Southwest airlines and Citi both reduced the cash equivalent value of points.)
*Speaking of cashback equivalent points – they can be a compelling option for many people.
In terms of my favorite points, Starwood Preferred Guest (“SPG”) points are still my favorite. SPG points transfer to my two favorite airlines at the moment. Chase Ultimate Rewards have gone down a notch with the United and Hyatt devaluations. Now I probably place them on par (or slightly below) AMEX Membership Rewards points. Citi Thank You points have improved with the addition of airline transfer partners, but they are still behind the other major transferrable points.
