As handy as the BTS numbers are, they re not as up to date as I d like. The results for the first qu

While it won t help you get the best deal on a flight to Honolulu in December, there are some airfare data points that smooth out those nausea-inducing peaks and valleys: the quarterly average airfares tracked and reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).
The great majority of frequent flyer miles are redeemed for restricted domestic coach award tickets, priced at 25,000 miles in most programs. So for purposes of a rough-and-ready calculation, the value of the average the most cheapest air tickets frequent flyer mile is the average the most cheapest air tickets price of a comparable domestic revenue ticket divided by the aforementioned 25,000 miles. the most cheapest air tickets Then, to reflect the hassle factor of finding available award seats, shave off a few tenths of a cent.
By the same token, you can t make an informed decision on whether to purchase frequent flyer miles from an airline, or pay extra to earn miles from a vendor, unless you have a ballpark idea of what miles are worth.
As handy as the BTS numbers are, they re not as up to date as I d like. The results for the first quarter of 2012 , for instance, were only released yesterday. But a slightly the most cheapest air tickets laggy look is better than no look at all.
Using 25,000 miles to pay for a $373 ticket amounts to getting 1.5 cents per mile redeemed. Because award tickets are more restricted than paid tickets, and therefore less valuable, we knock off 0.3 cents, to arrive at an average per-mile value of 1.2 cents.
Broad averages are just that. If you wanted a more precise valuation, you could drill down into the BTS data and use the average airfare for your home airport as the basis of the calculation. For example, if you fly from Cincinnati, the average airfare is $526, resulting in an average per-mile value of 1.8 cents.