Questions and Answers

If I need 40,000 airmiles for a round trip from A to B, is that figure the same all year round or it changes with the time of booking and season (low travel season and heavy travel season) as the dollar rates.

Miles needed for each flight is the same year round. Note different award charts and devaluations though, like AA updating their chart and miles needed for bookings made on or after March 22.

However, availability to use points for flights fluctuates and you may find it harder to book tickets on points during high season

It depends on your airline. AA, BA (and possibly others) have off-peak times (usually in the winter) when travel to certain regions is cheaper in economy than at other times. I don’t believe (but could be wrong) that premium cabin space usually costs the same year-round. (Of course we’re not including Delta here since they don’t publish an award chart so nobody but them know what they’ll charge at any given time!)

It really depends on the carrier. As mentioned above some US carriers use fixed charts with breakouts for off season awards. Others like DL are moving towards a more flexible award chart that is more aligned with demand. Then there are others like JetBlue and SouthWest where the points are worth a fixed value towards the cost of a ticket so the cost of the award varies based on the cost of a revenue ticket.