Travel Question: Are frequent-flyer points worth it?

Q After some shortcomings on an Emirates business-class flight to Dubai in July, I have been in contact with the airline’s customer services. Initially, my wife and I were each offered 20,000 Skywards points as compensation. Following a letter of dissatisfaction, they offered a further 15,000 points each.

I have been trying to identify the value of these points but without success. How can one obtain a realistic value of the points against flights? And is it reasonable compensation?

Michael B

A The cost of buying points for the Emirates frequent-flyer scheme, Skywards, is straightforward: in a promotion which ends on 20 November, the airline will sell them to you at $30 per thousand (afterwards it increases to $40). By that reckoning, you could infer that the points you were given are “worth” $1,050 (about £820) per person. That values each point at 2.34p. But of course the value to you entirely depends on what you can buy with them.

I checked an economy-class return from London Gatwick to Dubai, which for the next few weeks is available at £442 on a wide range of dates. For exactly the same flights, the reward price is £308 plus 45,000 Skywards points. In other words, to save £134, you would need to use your compensation plus 10,000 of your wife’s points. Each point is worth just 0.28 pence, valuing your total compensation at just £97 each. (Actually, it is even worse than this, because if you buy a cash ticket to Dubai you would earn some Skyward points on it.)

So is your compensation worth £820, or £97, or something between? If you can get an upgrade on an Emirates flight for a reasonable amount of points, then it can be at the top end of the scale (or even above it, depending on the difference between economy and business fares). But for standard reward flights to and from the UK, the high level of supplementary charges makes them look unappealing.

I don’t fly with Emirates frequently enough to have a meaningful collection of Skywards points and experience of redeeming them, but from what I can see the value of your points depends on how skilful or fortunate you are, as well as how much you value business-class travel.

Does the award looks reasonable? Well, given that airlines do not have specific legal obligations to provide every advertised facility in business class, I think it does. Only if you can demonstrate actual financial loss as a result of something the airline has done could you request hard cash instead.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder