Time to calculate the value of your frequent flyer miles for your specific itinerary.

Launch your computer’s calculator function. (I’m hoping to have a simple javascript function here someday soon, to simplify matters.)

The equation we’ll be running is simple: (Cost of flight MINUS approximate taxes) DIVIDED BY miles required for ticket. The result is the value of cents per mile, or cpm.

We’ll evaluate the cpm afterwards.

So:

1) Enter the total cost of the flight, which you just determined a minute ago. Use the lowest price you can find.2) Subtract $100 for inter-continental travel taxes/fees, or $50 for intra-European travel, and $20 for other intra-continental travel. (These values approximate the taxes and fees that you would have to pay in addition to miles for an award redemption. Your actual expenses may be slightly higher or lower, depending on the destination, the airline, etc.) Click “total” or “=”.

3) Divide this number by the miles required for such a ticket, which you determined earlier. The most commonly redeemed tickets are intra-USA coach saver awards (usually 25,000 miles in most programs), USA-Europe (50,000), and USA-East Asia (60,000). The resulting number should be a small one, zero followed by several decimals places.

4) Multiply the result by 100. Click “total” or “=”. This is your cpm.

Is the resulting number 2 or greater ? CLICK HERE.

Is the resulting number between 1.7 and 2 ? CLICK HERE.

Is the resulting number below 1.7 ? CLICK HERE.