Study reveals how much value travel points and miles lose for holiday travel

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — You’re ready to book your holiday flight. Now you have to decide how to pay for the trip: money or miles?

“If you have the option to save your frequent flyer miles, it’s best not to use them during the holidays,” said Julian Kheel, the founder and CEO of Points Path.

He teamed up with The Points Guy to analyze the actual value of travel points and miles during the peak travel season.

“A lot of people, I think, suspect that they’re getting less bang for their buck when it comes to using their frequent flyer miles during the holidays, and that is exactly what our study shows,” he explained.

The study, which used 7.2 million searches, shows for Thanksgiving week, the average redemption value drops by almost 6.5%, from 1.39 cents per mile to 1.3 cents per mile. During Christmas and New Year’s, the average value drops 3.6%.

“You’re going to lose the most value with American and United, but to be fair, you’re also going to get the most value with them, in general,” Kheel told On Your Side. “Delta and JetBlue, you’ll already get less value for their miles and points in general, and that generally stays the same through the holiday season.”

On the flip side, there are some circumstances where your miles may stretch more. “Generally, you’ll get more value for your miles in a premium cabin versus an economy ticket overall through all of 2024 and the holidays,” Kheel said. “You will spend more miles for that ticket, but it might be a good time to treat yourself to a little splurge.”

According to Kheel, an average frequent flyer ticket costs about 38,000 miles. Over Thanksgiving, it’s closer to 50,000.

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