How Much Are BA (British Air) Miles Really Worth?
Sunday, May 8th, 2011Last Updated: 5/5/2011
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British Airways offers their Executive Club loyalty program, where frequent flyers earn BA miles which can be applied for free flights or upgrades. Analyzing the value of miles is always tricky business since assumptions like whether you fly first class or economy, domestic versus international, and so on, affect the value of miles. That said, PlasticIQ takes our best shot at it.
The Discover Open Road Card is a cash back card specializing in gas and restaurant rewards. It is hands down one of the most, if not the most, complex rewards programs that I have ever come across. It’s so complex that it took me a full 30 minutes just to figure out how to program it into the PlasticIQ Ranking Engine. While we are big fans of Discover and tout some of their cards, unfortunately this card isn’t one of them (not per se because of the complexity, but simply because the rewards don’t add up). 
The American Express Blue Card belongs to the Membership Rewards Express Points Program–the “light-weight” version of the Membership Rewards Program. Alas, there is nothing particularly interesting or compelling about the Amex Blue Credit Card, it’s just another middle-of-the-road (or worse!) piece of plastic. 
The USBank FlexPerks travel card is quite a strong credit card if you are fine with redeeming your points for airline tickets (due to the very favorable redemption rates for airline tickets provided by this card, discussed below). Other forms of redemption, such as gift cards, cash back, and merchandise, offer far more “ordinary” value for your hard-earned points, and the FlexPerks Travel Card won’t make much sense in these redemption scenarios. 
The Chase Ultimate rewards program powers several major chase credit cards, including the Chase Freedom credit card, Chase Sapphire, and the Chase Ink Business card. In general, PlasticIQ has determined that the value of Chase Points earned via the Ultimate Rewards Program is $0.01 per point. However, if you have either the Chase Ink Plus or 
The Discover Motiva credit card is aimed at the ultra-profitable segment of the credit-using population that pays their minimum balances each month, but nevertheless carries a balance. 
While there are some amazing airline and hotel loyalty credit cards out there, there’s something special about pure cash back credit cards that’s spiritually appealing to our inner capitalist selves. Out with black-out dates and annoying reservation systems; in with statement credits and instant gratification. 
The Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Signature card (for short, let’s call it the Chase Marriott Visa card) is a regular top three finisher in the hotel reward cards category based on the PlasticIQ Ranking Engine. The 
The American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card (aka the “Starwood Card”) often occupies the top spot in our PlasticIQ Ranking Engine for cards offering bonus points for hotel spend.