What are points worth? Reasonable Redemption Values Explained | Coffee Break Ep97 | 3-17-26
Frequent Miler on the Air
Frequent Miler
4.9 • 638 Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There is no single right answer as to what points are worth. With most points, the value depends upon how the points are used. It's often possible to get great value or very poor value from the same types of points. But in this podcast episode, we'll talk about how a "reasonable redemption value" can help you assess the value of your miles and points.
(01:20) - How can you evaluate credit card welcome offers without an idea of what points are worth?
(02:14) - Reasonable Redemption Values (RRVs) are estimates of how much value you can reasonably expect to get from your points.
(03:24) - At Frequent Miler, we use RRVs to calculate...
(04:40) - Where do our RRVs come from?
(07:14) - Transferable points are a little different
(10:18) - The RRV Paradox
(13:56) - To see our RRVs, go to frequentmiler.com/rrv
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Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a Voyescape podcast. |
| 0:03.9 | You can find all of our travel podcasts from around the world at voyescape.com. |
| 0:11.0 | Welcome to Freakimilers Coffee Break, where we focus on a single topic related to miles and points. |
| 0:16.3 | And each coffee break is limited to 20 minutes or less or your money back. |
| 0:23.3 | Today's coffee break. |
| 0:25.1 | What are points worth? |
| 0:27.2 | Reasonable redemption values explained. |
| 0:29.9 | There's no single right answer to what points are worth. |
| 0:32.3 | With most points, the value depends on how the points are used. |
| 0:36.3 | It's often possible to get very great value from your |
| 0:39.4 | points or terrible value. For example, you might take, let's say, 100,000 airline miles and use |
| 0:46.2 | it for an incredible international business class, live flat seat experience, or you might use it for, you know, a trip, a domestic trip in economy. |
| 0:58.0 | And in the first case, you're probably compared to the cash rates getting unbelievable value. |
| 1:03.1 | In the second case, you're probably getting somewhere around. |
| 1:07.4 | You're often getting less than one cent per point value, depending on the airline mile you use and the situation. |
| 1:13.7 | Even worse, sometimes you're encouraged to use your points for things like to spend at Amazon. |
| 1:19.7 | And in those cases, you get really awful value from your points. |
| 1:24.0 | So overall, the answer to what our points worth is it depends. |
| 1:30.3 | But there's times we really do need to know. |
| 1:33.5 | We have to have some answer, right? |
| 1:36.0 | Yeah, absolutely. |
| 1:36.8 | Because how would you evaluate the value of a credit card welcome bonus? |
... |
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