Travel Points MathTravel points strategy and award booking
TPMTravel points strategy and award bookingRun the math before you book
A route map with dotted flight arcs from JFK to Lisbon and Madrid, annotated with a sample cash fare and points price
Every route is a math problem first. Sample numbers — re-run before you book.

Run the math first

Cash vs points, one trip

Cash fare$642
Points price48,000 + $87 fees

taxes + fees always move

Value per point~1.16 cents

under baseline → cash may win

VerdictBelow a ~1.4 cent baseline — pay cash, keep the points.

This is the kind of math you run before moving points — transfers usually don’t come back.

Illustrative sample — run your own current numbers before booking.

See the worked guides →

Points Value Index · September 2026

How it’s computed →

What Chase, Amex, Citi, and Capital One points are worth by redemption mode — computed with this site’s points math from each issuer’s own published rates and transfer ratios, checked September 15, 2026.

  • 0.50–1.00¢cash-out, per point
  • 0.70–2.00¢travel portals, per point (top end is promotional)
  • 0.63–1.79¢per airline mile to beat the issuer’s fixed rate
Read the September 2026 snapshot →

Start with the points math

cash fare → fees → point value → transfer risk
  • Write down the cash fare you would actually pay.
  • Subtract award taxes and fees before calculating cents per point.
  • Confirm the exact award is bookable right now, not last week.
  • Check whether the transfer is one-way before you move points.
A notebook worksheet with cents-per-point math written out and a circled verdict to pay cash

Run these before you book

  1. 01Points vs cash decisionsWhen spending points beats paying cash, and when buying miles, waiting for a transfer bonus or holding a balance is worth it. Each guide works one decision through with its own numbers.4
  2. 02Comparing award seats, cash, and portalsHow to put award seats, cash fares, transfer partners, and travel-portal prices on the same scale before booking.12
  3. 03Transfer partner decision walkthroughsBank-by-bank and program-by-program checks before you move points: which partners a bank lists, what the ratio does to the price, and which programs are a one-way door.17
  4. 04Program rules, balances, and points housekeepingThe rules that decide what happens after you book or while you hold points: cancellations, name changes, booking for others, pooling, orphaned balances and estates.11

Latest worked guides

All guides →
Transfer partner decision walkthroughs

Amex Transfer Partners: Every Ratio, the Fee, and the Math

American Express Membership Rewards transfers to 20 programs. 14 are 1:1; Cathay, Emirates and JetBlue give 800 per 1,000 points, Aeromexico 1,600 and Hilton 2,000. Transfers to Delta and JetBlue add a fee of $0.0006 a point, up to $99. Here is what each partner costs from Amex against Chase, Citi and Capital One, and how to tell when a transfer beats Amex Travel.

Sep 26, 202611 min

Assumptions

Why trust these numbers

Award pricing, transfer bonuses, and card benefits change constantly, so every example shows its math and the date it was checked.

  • Every recommendation shows the calculation, so you can re-run it with today's prices.
  • Examples are date-stamped — award charts and transfer bonuses move, and we say when we checked.
  • We never claim guaranteed savings or 'free' travel; points have a real cash value.
  • We stay inside one topic: points strategy and award booking, not generic travel blogging.