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A12 BUSINESS
Tuesday 25 OcTOber 2022
The best airlines for holiday

travel on points

(nonholiday valuation: 1.5
cents).
Southwest Airlines: 1.4
cents (nonholiday valua-
tion: 1.5 cents).
Spirit Airlines: 0.7 cent
(nonholiday valuation: 0.8
cent).
United Airlines: 1.1 cents
(nonholiday valuation: 1.2
cents).
Frontier presents a unique
opportunity among the
four front-runners.
For the most part, 1.4 cents
is slightly below the non-
holiday valuation of these
airlines’ miles; American,
A traveler walks through Terminal 3 at O’Hare International Delta and Southwest miles
Airport in Chicago, Ill., Dec. 28, 2021. are usually worth about 1.5
Associated Press cents each.
By MEGHAN COYLE of that conclusion, plus more Frontier is the exception
NerdWallet advice on how to shop hol- where redeeming your
If you’re seeing Halloween iday flights on points. miles during the holidays
decorations at the store, AIM FOR 1.4 CENTS PER MILE is smart because miles are
you should take that as a NerdWallet examined nine worth more than normal.
sign the holiday travel sea- major U.S. airlines and ana- Frontier’s nonholiday valu-
son is just around the cor- lyzed the prices of nearly ation is 0.9 cent.
ner. 600 domestic flights in However, this cost consid-
Cue the expensive flights! 2022. In this analysis, holi- ers only the base fare add-
If you’re relying on points day flights were defined as ed fees for seat selection or
and miles to cover the those departing on Dec. 18 baggage might decrease
cost, you might want to and returning on Dec. 29. your value per point.
consider whether booking Of the nine airlines exam- AVOID USING MILES WHEN
award flights for the holi- ined, four airlines tied for THEY’RE WORTH LESS THAN
days is the best use of your the highest baseline value 1 CENT
travel rewards. for miles spent on holiday This is a good rule at any
In NerdWallet’s annual flights, which was 1.4 cents time, but particularly dur-
analysis of airline mile val- per mile. ing the holidays. A valua-
ues, holiday flights in De- If you fly American, Delta, tion of less than 1 cent per
cember often didn’t pro- Frontier or Southwest, you mile is abysmal consider-
vide the highest per-mile should aim to get about ing you can often redeem
value compared with this much when you divide credit card points for cash
flights booked 180 days the cash price by the num- back at a standard rate
out or 15 days out from the ber of miles. of 1 cent each and that’s
date of departure. With For example, a $600 round- low when compared with
flight prices up 43% from trip flight should cost about travel credit cards that let
last year, according to the 42,857 miles (or less, if you redeem through their
latest Consumer Price In- you’re getting an even travel portals at 1.25 cents
dex data, you’ll likely have better deal). or 1.5 cents each.
to use a lot of miles to pay Here is the full list of each For the holidays, you prob-
for the flight. airline’s valuation per mile ably won’t want to book
If you’re a points and miles when used for holiday Hawaiian or Spirit flights
maximizer, you probably flights. with miles, which are worth
would prefer to save your Alaska Airlines: 1.2 cents 0.9 cent and 0.7 cent, re-
miles for a time of year (nonholiday valuation: 1.2 spectively.
when you might be able to cents). WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T
get more value. American Airlines: 1.4 cents HAVE ENOUGH MILES
But if fares are getting (nonholiday valuation: 1.5 NerdWallet’s data shows
too expensive, you may cents). airline miles are generally
choose to book award Delta Air Lines: 1.4 cents worth slightly less when you
flights instead. (nonholiday valuation: 1.5 use them to book holiday
The best airline for holiday cents). flights.
award travel based on the Frontier Airlines: 1.4 cents That means you’ll probably
value of its points is a four- (nonholiday valuation: 0.9 spend more miles on holi-
way tie among American cent). day flights than you would
Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines 0.9 cent on nonholiday flights. There
Southwest Airlines and (nonholiday valuation: 1 are still a few ways you
Frontier Airlines. cent). can save on holiday travel,
Here’s how we came to JetBlue Airways: 1.3 cents though.q