So the 2.78
cents valuation makes sense in certain circumstances.
Not exact matches
In both cases, the new
valuation of 1.25
cents per point when used in the Travel Center
makes transferring a better option even for these short economy flights.
For the Amex cards, the 2
cents per point
valuation comes in the form of a 50 % rebate, so you'll need double the number of required points in your account in order to
make redemptions with half the points returned afterwards.
If we use Scott's
valuation of Hyatt points at 1.5
cents each (and since Scott is my boss, we will definitely be using Scott's
valuation of Hyatt points at 1.5
cents each), we can calculate that we'd need to save 6,666 Gold Passport points to
make the credit inquiry worth $ 100 more than usual.
Typical
valuations for Ultimate Rewards points range from 1.5 to 2.0
cents per point, which
makes this bonus worth between $ 1,500 and $ 2,000.
I tend to value airline miles pretty conservatively nowadays (airlines keep tweaking the system in their favor so I'm a lot more cautions with my
valuations) so I consider United Miles to be worth somewhere around 1.3
cents each... and that doesn't
make the headline cost of 1.88
cents too tempting for me.
You can always redeem your points for statement credit at 1
cent a piece, but that would be the lowest
valuation for your points,
making this bonus just $ 500.
In practice these are fairly blunt tools that tell me «1
cent a point for American miles is a really good deal» but that I'm not going to spend 2
cents unless there's a very specific scenario — like a few points at the margin to top off an account for an award I've put on hold — where it
makes sense (and in that scenario, my
valuation of each point is higher since they're helping me to save with a real redemption).
This way, you can get 1.6
cents per point, according to NerdWallet's
valuation,
making it a slightly more valuable redemption option.