Many people think of a large balance of frequent flyer or loyalty points as something of a status symbol – the bigger, the better. But points are not like money. I don’t think the number of points you have is necessarily a good metric of loyalty program success.

Of course, having lots of frequent flyer points is nice. You can use those points to do some really cool things. But that’s exactly my point: those points are only worth something when you use them.

The fact is that points gradually lose value over time, as loyalty programs increase the cost of redemptions, and the availability of specific rewards evolves.

There’s nothing wrong with saving up your points for a specific redemption that you value. For example, many Qantas Frequent Flyer members save their points to book valuable Oneworld Classic Flight Reward trips around the world. But if you have many millions of points just sitting in your account, it’s probably a good idea to start spending them!

Points lose value over time

Over time, most loyalty programs have increased the number of points you need to book particular rewards. This may only happen once or twice per decade, or much more frequently. But the general trend is upwards. Points are subject to inflation.

At the same time, you’re not earning any interest on the points that are sitting in your account (instead, the airline is). Depending on your loyalty program’s policy, unredeemed points could even expire if you’re not careful. So, saving points over many years for a rainy day – or retirement – is not really a great strategy. By the time you get around to using those points, they’ll be worth less.

Some loyalty program devaluations are not obvious. An airline could simply reduce the number of reward seats available at the lowest points level, or increase the carrier charges payable. It could even completely overhaul the way redemptions are priced, switching to dynamic pricing.

Some loyalty programs won’t even give notice before making changes that diminish the value of existing points.

This doesn’t just apply to airline programs. I’ve seen people with millions of points sitting in programs like IHG One Rewards, which a few months ago got devalued overnight without warning. When programs do these kinds of things, it makes the concept of saving points a bit silly, doesn’t it?

Don’t accumulate points mindlessly

Some people may even be mindlessly accumulating points with a particular loyalty program over many years, in the hope of redeeming a reward that they won’t realistically be able to get.

I see examples all the time of people with millions of Qantas or Velocity points who discover that there are no reward seats on flights they actually want. They may end up “cashing out” their points for Points Plus Pay or Classic Plus rewards instead – or worse, not using their points at all.

If you have a huge points balance, before continuing to collect more points, you should check that the points you have will actually get you the rewards you’re saving up for. If you aren’t even attempting to redeem your points every now and again, you don’t really know for sure whether your points-earning strategy is working for you.

Points redeemed is a better metric

Frequent flyer points are not like investments, and having points for the sake of having points doesn’t really make sense.

Rather than measuring loyalty program success with points balances, I think a far better metric is the number of points redeemed.

What do you think? You can share your thoughts on the AFF forum!

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.