Usually needs lower taxes, peak cash fares or hard-to-find routes to stand out.
Enter the award miles, taxes and a realistic comparable cash fare to calculate the redemption value.
Decision guide
Common value benchmarks
Good when the cash fare is meaningfully higher than economy and the mileage gap is modest.
A common sweet spot because cash fares are high and award pricing can still be reasonable.
Best judged against what you would realistically pay, not only the published retail fare.
Formula
Cents per mile = (cash fare - taxes) ÷ miles × 100
Use the cash fare for the same route, cabin, dates and flexibility you would actually buy. A high theoretical fare can overstate value if you would never have paid it.