The schedule to earn ANA international flight awards is somewhat complicated. Here are some of the basics of how it all works:

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In September, 2009, JetBlue announced some major changes to its TrueBlue frequent flyer program, requiring PlasticIQ to completely re-evaluate our estimate of the worth of JetBlue’s TrueBlue points. Previously, we had estimated JetBlue points to be worth about $0.0120 per point. With the changes to the program, that estimate has climbed slightly to about $0.0122 per point.

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Since the federal approval in October, 2008 of the merger between Northwest Airlines and Delta, the two airlines have made strong progress in integration. Of particular interest to PlasticIQ is the fact that their frequent flyer mileage schedules are now identical in terms of miles required to travel to specific regions.

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At a high level, estimating the value of Delta Skymiles is a 3-step process:

• First, obtain the miles redemption schedule from Delta…easily done.
• Next, make some assumptions around what portion of travel will be done during periods of low, moderate and high demand, as the Delta Skymiles program charges different amounts of points for each of these tiers.
• Finally, tie in PlasticIQ’s estimates of typical “market rate” ticket prices, making sure to back out out-of-pocket taxes and fees which miles never cover.  This will enable us to calculate the dollar value per Skymile.

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Quite simply, in almost all cases, non-cash awards (such as store gift cards, frequent flyer miles, hotel points, etc) are not as valuable as the same cash-equivalent award. For example, would you rather have a $100 Amazon gift card, or $100 in cash. Aren’t they worth the same? The answer is a firm NO.

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